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Alternative Break Trips

TeamVOLS has held Alternative Break community service trips for UT students since 1993. During these trips, students give up their time to serve others in a new community. This year, there are three Alternative Fall Break trips and two Alternative Spring Break trips. AFB is Thursday through Sunday and ASB is Sunday through Saturday.  Team members are chosen through an application and interview process, and the team members will meet during the weeks leading up to the trip in order to get to know one another in advance. Teams also participate in fundraising activities such as spaghetti lunches and dinners. To keep the trips focused on service, the trip destinations are not revealed until after the team members are chosen!

The mission of the Alternative Break Program of the TeamVOLS Office, a part of the UT Office of Student Activities, is to engage students in meaningful and collaborative community service in an effort to increase awareness of social issues and strengthen the communities in which they serve as well as foster a strong sense of community among trip participants and to the university as a whole.

In past years, Alternative Break teams have participated in a wide variety of community service activities. We have worked with organizations including the Salvation Army, Goodwill, Boys & Girls Clubs, Habitat for Humanity, and Ronald McDonald House. We have also worked with state parks, local charities, nursing homes, animal shelters, and food banks. Trip Leaders are responsible for creating the agenda of service opportunities for the trips. Trip Leaders are members of the TeamVOLS Leadership Board. They are selected via the Leadership Board application and interview process, and they must have previously attended an Alternative Break trip.

Destinations for 2008-2009 included Roanoke, VA; Asheville, NC; Cincinnati, OH; and Washington, D.C. Destinations for 2009-2010 included Appalachia; Louisville, KY; Winston-Salem, NC; New Orleans, LA; and Charleston, SC! AFB 2010 went to Danville, KY and Nashville, TN and ASB 2011 went to Chicago, IL and Biloxi, MS!

Applications for ASB 2012 are now CLOSED! Selected trip participants will be announced no later than Tues. Jan. 31 via email. If you did not get to apply, or were not selected, please reapply for a future trip as ASB 2012 saw RECORD numbers of applications!

ASB 2012 will take place Sun. March 18-Sat. March 24, 2012.