Ramapo College’s Civic and Community Engagement Center (CCEC) encourages students to be more civically knowledgeable and active.
As part of their call for students to be more involved in their communities and carry out their civic duties, CCEC hosts alternative breaks for students. Through the alternative break program, students are able to go on two to ten-day-long trips through CCEC to different areas of the country to help with a particular issue facing that community.
“All of the trips we offer have educational and service-based components. Some trips we offer are more service-heavy; meaning that students may participate in service most days during the trip. Others are more focused around civic engagement and education, but still contain service components,” Coordinator for Community Engagement with CCEC Allie Shapiro said to The Ramapo News.
This year, the alternative break schedule was adjusted to include a trip to Asheville, North Carolina the week of Spring break, March 15-22, 2025. Shapiro said the adjustment to include a trip to Asheville “felt natural” but did require some detailed planning.
Alternative break trips in general take a lot of careful planning on Shapiro’s part, starting just after students leave campus for summer break. For this upcoming spring semester, plans had already been in place for students to visit Sandyston, N.J., Boston, Mass. and New Orleans, L.A.
“When Hurricane Helene hit in late September, it felt like the right thing to do. We still had the time and resources,” Shapiro continued in an email with The Ramapo News.
Shapiro’s experience with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, she stated, was what led to finalizing the trip to Asheville and their partnership with All Hands and Hearts.
“Two days after the hurricane’s landfall, we reached out to [All Hands and Hearts]. A little under three weeks from that initial contact, we were able to confirm that we would be heading down in the spring!” Shapiro stated in an email.
All Hands and Hearts, the organization CCEC will be working closely with throughout the trip, started out as two separate entities — All Hands Volunteers and Happy Hearts Fund — and joined forces in 2015 to help aid in recovery efforts in Nepal following a devastating Earthquake.
“We are an organization committed to effectively and efficiently addressing the immediate and long-term needs of global communities impacted by disasters,” All Hands and Hearts states on their website.
The organization’s hard work does not go unnoticed. “I love the All Hands and Hearts model. They meet volunteers where they are at, whether someone has three days or one month to serve the community, All Hands and Hearts welcomes them with open arms,” said Shapiro.
As the trip is taking place several months after Helene ravaged Asheville, the work the students will be doing alongside All Hands and Hearts will look a little different than what is currently being done in the community. By March, says Shapiro, All Hands and Hearts will be looking to shift their energy from relief to recovery.
“As of now (late October), they are still doing immediate relief work; this entails assessing homes for emergency assistance, completing debris removal, mucking, gutting, tree removal, and other such tasks. Come March, they will be entering their recovery phase, which means the beginning phases of building new homes, the occasional mucking and gutting project, and other forms of community support such as distributing food and other crucial supplies,” Shapiro told The Ramapo News in an email.
As they head into the trip this March, it is Shapiro and CCEC’s hope that students gain valuable experience in working with All Hands and Hearts and help to make the community of Asheville’s transition into recovery from the devastation Helene left in its wake.
Applications for the Asheville, North Carolina trip are open now through Dec. 2. Visit CCEC’s website or contact them at ccec@ramapo.edu.
mkane10@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @carlsonphotos, Instagram
