SVSU student Ericka Gutierrez, of Saginaw, to spend spring break volunteering

2015 Mar 2

Ericka Gutierrez, of Saginaw, will participate in Saginaw Valley State University's Alternative Breaks program, which is a student-led organization that sends its members to various states and countries to do volunteer work during traditional school break periods such as the upcoming spring break.

Gutierrez, a social work major, is among a group of students traveling to Springfield, Mo. to assist the local Habitat for Humanity sites with home building. This group of students will be working on multiple sites performing a variety of tasks including wall building, landscaping and painting.

This initiative is one of seven trips being organized by SVSU's Alternative Breaks during the university's spring break from March 1 to March 8.

The initiatives include students traveling to Nicholasville, Ky., where they will aid the Kentucky Equine Humane Center in working with aged and injured horses; to Chicago, where students will work with YMCA sites in the area to serve the community; to Tulsa, Okla., where students will help the organization The Little Light House work with disabled children from the ages of 1 to 6; and to Murphy, N.C., where students will help plant seedlings and remove invasive animal species from the area with the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition.

More Alternative Breaks initiatives include students traveling to Detroit, where they will work with the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System to assist patients; and to Charlotte N.C. and Springfield, Mo., to assist the local Habitat for Humanity sites with home building.