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by Avril King, intern

How are you spending your Thanksgiving Break?

Many students are looking forward to going home and spending some time relaxing with their families. Others are content to stay on campus and hang out with their friends.

The members of the Alternative Break Program (ABP), however, are gearing up for their first big event of the 2017-2018 school year.

The ABP is a relatively new group on campus. First founded in 2015, it was originally created with the intention of allowing students to spend their free-time away from school volunteering and giving back to those in need.

Each semester, the club takes its members to an area in need. Many times, the fall trip is focused on Buffalo, but the spring break event has taken students as far as Kentucky. The members of the club are passionate about helping others.

“I wanted to go back and help people because I always say, ‘I want to go abroad, I want to go somewhere else to help,’ and it’s right in my own backyard,” said Maia Kozak, a junior Communication Disorders and Sciences major. “I’m from Buffalo and there’s so much poverty.”

Kozak first got involved with the club in the fall of 2016. Afterwards, she was so inspired that she put on her own clothing drive in her neighborhood. Receiving hundreds of pieces of clothing, she was able to return to the places she had visited with the ABP, as well as others, and donate to them.

“It really is a life-changing opportunity. Even though it is such a small thing, it really opens your eyes to how people live that you’re not used to seeing everyday,” Kozak said.

The current president of the club, senior speech pathology major Lindsay Ryan, shares Kozak’s passion for giving. She joined in the spring of her sophomore year, traveling to Kentucky with the rest of the group. After a few trips, Ryan decided that she wanted to move up in the club’s ranks.

“I wanted to see how impactful it was first-hand. So, I wanted to take charge and choose what we got to do,” she said.

The club is always looking for new members.

“If you have an open mind and a giving personality, I think that it would be something a lot of people would benefit from,” said Ryan. “I feel like it sounds lame to spend you break volunteering but it’s not treacherous work, we do fun stuff.”

Ryan mentioned that, in the past, the ABP has painted bedrooms for homeless teens at Compass House and even helped out at the “Rock out Hunger” radio show in Buffalo.

“This is something I look forward to,” said Kozak. “Even though some people look forward to going home and relaxing and even though I have had a crazy semester, I’m so excited to go. The people are so fun.”

If you are interested in giving back with the ABP, get in touch with the group’s members. Any of them would be happy to help.