Spring Breakers Head to Brick For a Good Cause

Students on spring break headed to Ocean County to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. (Supplied Photo)

Brick Township might not be one’s typical destination for college spring break, but for students from schools across the country, Brick offered something Cancun or South Padre Island never would – the chance to change a family’s life for the better.

Students from Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan spent their spring break volunteering with Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity through the Collegiate Challenge program in Brick Township, where they participated in the organization’s “A Brush With Kindness” program, in which volunteers help residents make necessary improvements to their home that they otherwise would not be able to afford.

Students on spring break headed to Ocean County to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. (Supplied Photo)

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“Instead of packing our bikinis and trunks, we packed work boots and headed to New Jersey,” said volunteer Morgan Yordy.

She and about a dozen of her classmates spent over 12 hours on the road, travelling over 700 miles to get to Brick.

Their scope of work included exterior home painting in Brick, as well as power-washing, raking, major shrub removal and other yard work for an Easter Seals group home in Manchester Township. They also cleared the lot for the newest Habitat construction site in Berkeley Township.

“I met some of the most kind-hearted, passionate and hard-working people while working with the A Brush with Kindness program,” said volunteer Kayla Ratajczak. “Doing an alternative break with Habitat opened my eyes and heart to another area of the country that needed our help.”

Students on spring break headed to Ocean County to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. (Supplied Photo)

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The group also volunteered in the Northern Ocean ReStore, the affiliate’s thrift shop in Toms River, which sells gently used furniture, appliances and household items with all proceeds directly supporting the construction of affordable housing and A Brush with Kindness projects.

“The staff and volunteers at Northern Ocean Habitat were great to work with,” said junior BSN nursing major Katelyn Weaver.

To date, the Northern Ocean affiliate of Habitat has completed 16 new homes, over 60 Superstorm Sandy critical home repairs and over 114 exterior repairs through the A Brush with Kindness program.

For more information and to find out how to get involved, ‘like’ Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity on Facebook, visit nohfh.com or call 732-228-7962.[/box]