Una Students Use Fall Break To Help Those In Need

Oct. 13, 2009

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - A group of 20 University of North Alabama students have decided to spend their fall break doing local community service.

The UNA Alternative Break Board, a student organization, is planning a trip to Huntsville's impoverished Lincoln Village to assist Lincoln Village Ministries with various community projects. The group will leave the UNA campus Oct. 22 and will participate in the project through Oct. 24. "With this trip, we want students to see that poverty isn't just something in huge cities," said Scotty Rainwater, president of the Alternative Break Board. "Here is a place we can help that is right next door." The students will refurbish houses, clean, do yard work and assist in after-school programs. "We want to promote the idea of getting involved in your community," Rainwater said. The student group is also putting together comfort packages through a non-profit group called Project Night Night. The comfort packages are including children's books, blankets and stuffed animals for children who are victims of domestic violence and are seeking the services of Safeplace. "We feel that service to the community should be a large part of the educational experience," Rainwater said. The UNA Alternative Break Board is planning trips for spring break, as well.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.