Rice Habitat for Humanity

Alternative Spring Break
New Orleans, LA
February 28 - March 7, 2010

General Trip Information and Application Timeline
There will be 11 spaces available for students participants on the trip. For more information on the trip or application process, please contact the student Site Leaders, Nick Bridle (nsb1@rice.edu) and Kara Calhoun (kmc4@rice.edu).

Applications can be accessed on-line at the Community Involvement Center's web site (http://cic.rice.edu) by clicking on the "Alternative Spring Break Participant Applications" link. You can also view photos from past trips and read personal testimonies from past participants on the same site. Completed applications are due no later than 5:00pm on Monday, November 2, 2009. Participant selection will occur on Monday, November 9, and applicants will be notified of their status by 5:00pm on Wednesday, November 11. Applicant interviews for this trip will be conducted on Saturday, November 7 (10:00am-2:00pm).  Applicants will be able to indicate their availability for interviews on their applications.

By 5:00pm on Monday, November 23, those selected to participate will need to confirm their involvement by submitting a non-refundable registration fee ($250.00), liability release, emergency contact and insurance information, a signed copy of the Conditions of Acceptance, and 10 letters of solicitation. Details on all these components will be discussed at the mandatory team meeting.

All selected participants are required to attend a mandatory team meeting on Sunday, November 15, 9:00-11:30pm. Please hold this time on your schedule and notify Christa Leimbach (leimbach@rice.edu) at the time of your application if you have a conflict with this meeting. Those that miss the meeting without prior consent will forfeit their place in the ASB program.

Registration Fee and Scholarships
The registration fee includes transportation, housing, meals, materials required for service, some organized group activities, and fees paid to the host agency. In most cases, this registration fee does not even fully cover the cost of transportation to the site. The bulk of the trip expenses will be covered through team and individual fundraising; all participants are required to assist with fundraising activities. Projects may include bake sales, car washes, stadium clean-ups, and other creative ideas. In addition, participants will be required to assist with personal solicitations to friends, family members, co-workers, religious communities, civic organizations, grant funds, and other sources. A small amount of additional personal spending money should be taken for souvenirs, meals on the road, and optional activities.

While this is inexpensive for a week-long service experience, we do not want cost to be a prohibiting factor. If you are concerned about funding your participation, please indicated your desire to apply for a partial scholarship by contacting Christa Leimbach (leimbach@rice.edu) before the application deadline (5:00pm on Monday, November 2). Late requests will not be considered.

Trip Locale - New Orleans, LA
The greater New Orleans area, often known as the “most unique city” in the United States, is an extremely influential cultural center of our nation.  Its claims to fame include Creole and Cajun cuisine, jazz music, architecture, and a blending of many cultures and languages.  As many as 10 million tourists visit New Orleans each year to experience the city and its festivals, most prominently being Mardi Gras.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged cities all along the Gulf Coast.  New Orleans’ federally built levees could not hold back the storm and collapsed, flooding 80% of the city.  More than a million Gulf Coast residents were forced to flee their homes.  Widespread looting further destroyed the city as people began to get desperate with the seeming lack of government aid.  In all, Hurricane Katrina is estimated to have caused $100 billion in property damage.  The storm damaged hospitals, schools, utilities, and many of the city’s cultural landmarks.  Tourism, one of New Orleans’ main sources of revenue, fell by 75% in the following years.  The relief effort has been massive but slow.  Four years later, there are still 12,000 homeless people in the city, many who were displaced by Katrina.  Whole sections of the city have gone virtually untouched as the politics of the distribution of relief funds is very complicated and often unfair.

Host Agency - HandsOn New Orleans
The New Orleans chapter of the HandsOn organization is dedicated to help support volunteers for the Gulf Coast Recovery effort.  HandsOn organizes all sorts of projects including rebuilding houses, restoring schools and hospitals, serving food at soup kitchens, working with the youth of New Orleans, and environmental projects.  Since March 2006, HandsOn New Orleans has restored over 400 homes and worked with more than 15,000 volunteers.  The agency works with the impoverished population of the city, especially those that did not receive full government relief aid.

Service
As HandsOn volunteers we will work on several reconstruction projects across the city over the course of the week. We will primarily be working on home reconstruction projects. These projects will be located in the five neighborhoods of Gentilly, Central City, Martin Luther King Blvd/Oretha Castle Haley, St. Rock, and Hoffman Triangle. Tasks will include painting, room renovations, and building bookshelves. In addition to home projects, school and park projects are also possible. Tasks for these projects will include light landscaping such as pruning, planting, and clearing debris as well as construction tasks similar to what we will be doing in the home projects.

Accommodations
During our stay in New Orleans we will be living in the HandsOn New Orleans volunteer Bunk House. The Bunk House is a coed, communal living facility with 50 beds. All bathrooms, showers, and dining areas are shared. Three meals a day are served in-house and cooked by volunteers. Due to the fact that this is a communal living space, all volunteers are required to perform house duties to help maintain the space. House duties can include morning clean-up, cooking for other volunteers, or dinner kitchen patrol. Community meetings will also take place in the Bunk House in which different volunteer groups will talk about their experiences and all the volunteer work happening across the city.

Activities
In addition to our volunteer work we will have an opportunity to explore the city and experience some of the unique sights and sounds of New Orleans. Before our volunteer work begins we will be taking a bus ride around New Orleans to see some of the damage and assess all the work that still needs to be done in and around the city from Hurricane Katrina. Towards the end of the week we will be participating in cultural activities located in the French Quarter, the oldest and most famous neighborhood in New Orleans. Some of the activities may include cemetery tours, voodoo tours and museums.

Health
Upon acceptance, participants will be required to complete a medical questionnaire. Examples of the kinds of questions that may be asked are as follows:

• Have you had any chronic conditions requiring medical care?
• Will you need any special medications or medical care while on this trip?
• Are you allergic to any foods or medicines?
• Do you have any other dietary restrictions?

Conditions of Acceptance
Although we do not want to discourage anyone from applying, we want to ensure that the conditions of participation are clear. Please take a moment to read the conditions below.

1. Participants in the Alternative Spring Break program are expected to exhibit sensitivity to the host culture; observe local rules and laws; and abide by the philosophy, structure, and regulations of our host agencies.
2. A primary goal of the program is learning. Participants are expected to prepare for the trip by completing the packet of readings provided by the Community Involvement Center and attending pre-trip orientation meetings. In addition, participants will be required to contribute to a group journal and participate in-group reflection while on the trip.
3. The Community Involvement Center will assist in arranging reasonable accommodations on-site and arranging service work to be done in conjunction with the host agencies. Nevertheless, the exact nature and conditions of these accommodations and work cannot be guaranteed. Many of the conditions we expect at home (i.e. hot water, daily showers, washers/dryers, privacy, etc.) may not be available.
4. The participants will be responsible for participating in all fundraising activities, including personal solicitations.
5. It is the participant's responsibility to obtain a passport and any necessary visas (if required for the trip) before he/she goes and to bring his/her own spending money for free-time activities, a few meals, and other personal expenses.
6. It is the participant's responsibility to insure he/she is covered by a travel/health insurance plan for the duration of the program, which includes emergency medical evacuation.
7. The participants are responsible for making all decisions regarding appropriate health precautions.
8. Participants will not consume/use alcohol or illegal drugs, smoke, or engage in sexual activity while on the trip.
9. Participants must at all times be with another member of the group. In general, activities outside the scope of the program will not be accommodated and participants should not make outside commitments.
10. All participants are required to follow all safety guidelines established by the Community Involvement Center while on an Alternative Spring Break trip, as well as during travel to and from the site.
11. In addition, following the trip, group members will be responsible for presentations and information sessions to be given to the Rice community in the fall semester.
12. Once accepted into the program and the registration fee is paid, participants are financially obligated to the full purchase price of their plane ticket, agency fees, and/or any other pre-paid expenses if they drop out for any reason, since these are non-refundable and will likely cost more than the initial $250 registration fee.

Continue to the Application

Community Involvement Center6100 Main MS-200, Houston, Texas 77005-1827       Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1892, MS-200, Houston, Texas 77251-1892

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