For students who are looking to spend their spring break giving back, Big Rapids offers multiple opportunities.
One of the groups from Ferris that volunteers during spring break is a partnership between the American Welding Society (AWS) and the Fellowship of Christian Students.
“Last year we went to Manning, South Carolina, to help repair some storm damaged houses. The house we were working on, the flood waters had actually come about halfway up their living room wall, we went in and did as many repairs as they needed done,” Ferris welding engineering junior Robert Watson said. “People who didn’t know how to hang drywall or put up siding, they painted or did anything else that needed to be done.”
Watson also added that the trip isn’t all work. The group also hangs out and does some sightseeing in the areas that they visit.
In addition to the AWS and Fellowship of Christian Students spring break volunteer trip, there are many other ways students can get involved in Big Rapids or throughout the country during spring break.
In Big Rapids, there are always volunteer opportunities available to the public. Some of those opportunities are with the Mecosta County Commission on Aging and Senior Center. For students who are planning on staying in Big Rapids over break, they have opportunities to volunteer to be a crafter, bingo caller or just a companion with the elderly on Tuesdays and Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m.
“I’ve considered doing volunteer work over spring break, except I’ll be very honest, I’m not sure if there is anything I’m currently interested in,” Ferris per-optometry sophomore Sandra Tome said.
Tome added that she thinks Ferris could do a better job of making available volunteer opportunities easy to locate.
“The more activities that there are in Big Rapids or here at Ferris the better, I don’t think anyone would be against being able to get more involved as a student,” Tome said.
As another local option, the Animal Rescue Coalition of Mecosta County also offers a variety of volunteer opportunities for animal lovers that will be in the Big Rapids area for break, they even let you choose if you are more comfortable working with cats or dogs.
For students who are trying to leave the cold weather, websites such as volunteermatch.org allow users to type in any city in the world and find a vast range of different volunteer opportunities accompanied by the dates those opportunities are available.
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