UCSD Students Will Hold Benefit
Dinner To Raise Funds For Global
Service Projects During March Spring Break

February 21, 2007

By Jan Jennings

To serve society and help make the world a better place to live, a group of dedicated students at the University of California, San Diego will spend their spring break helping those in need across the globe.

Fifty UCSD students will travel to China, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, and local National Parks to implement a community service project during spring break, March 21-31.

To help fund their trips, the students will hold a benefit dinner, Spring Into Action: Challenging Students to Serve Our Global Community, from 6 to 8 p.m. March 8 at the Great Hall on the UCSD campus.

Alternative Breaks are national or international service learning trips that incorporate community service, education, diversity, reflection, and reorientation geared to make a direct and lasting impact on both the students and the communities where they volunteer.  Alternative Breaks @ UCSD aims to cultivate socially active and globally conscious leaders.

The March 8 benefit dinner will feature a global buffet and a night of multi-cultural entertainment.  Prominent New Yorker Andy Nahas, president of The Prospect Fund and a 1981 UCSD alumnus, will be honored for his commitment to Alternative Breaks @ UCSD.  In addition to being a successful business leader and investor, Nahas serves as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a non-partisan organization formed by former President Bill Clinton to bring together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the worlds’ most pressing challenges.

UCSD Alternative Breaks’ student leaders hope the benefit will attract interested persons from both the San Diego philanthropic and business communities. 

Yvette Longduriyang, UCSD student site leader for Guatemala, said, “Alternative Break trips are an invaluable part of our education and experience, helping us to become socially active and globally conscious leaders.  We’re hoping that the greater San Diego community will join us in our efforts – and help change our lives and the communities we will impact.”

For more information on Alternative Breaks @ UCSD or the March 8 benefit dinner, contact Andrea Yee, student co-coordinator, (415) 335-2385, or andreajyee@gmail.com.

 

Media Contact: Andrea Yee, (415) 335-2385 or Pat JaCoby, (858) 534-7404