TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Several groups of students from The University of Alabama will participate in Alternative Spring Break, a program that gives students the opportunity to perform community service.

The program, held during UA’s spring break week March 28-April 1, helps the community with tangible work and service while giving students the life-changing experience of serving others and getting a broader understanding of the world around them.

Students from the UA Wesley Foundation will be traveling to Pensacola, Fla., to help with Hurricane Ivan clean up and disaster relief work. The group will be working with the Alabama West-Florida UMC Disaster Relief Organization. They will be hosted by the First United Methodist Church in Pensacola. Contact Rev. Ken Smith at wesley@dbtech.net or Kori Mosakowski at mosak001@bama.ua.edu for more information about this trip.

Some 145 students sponsored by Baptist Campus Ministries will be traveling to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, on a mission trip, leaving March 25. The students participating in the mission will be divided into 11 teams to perform community service. Their projects will include community service, kids clubs (after-school educational and recreational programs), home and church construction, sports clinics, religious education, and a mobile medical clinic traveling to impoverished neighborhoods in the city. Baptist Campus Ministries is partnering with several churches in the area to make this happen, including Calvary Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, Forest Lake Baptist Church and Five Points Baptist Church. Contact Matt Kerlin at 205/345-3983 or mkerlin@bama.ua.edu to learn more about this trip.

Another group of students will serve the West Palm Beach, Fla., community during spring break. The students will spend their time building houses with Habitat for Humanity. The trip coordinator can be reached at wilso129@bama.ua.edu to find out more about this project.

All of the students participating should provide help to needy areas as well as obtain a unique and memorable experience.