Lynn University’s 2010 Curriculum Includes Travel to Haiti and Jamaica with Food For The Poor
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (December 17, 2009) – In January, 29 Lynn University students and faculty members will step off a plane in Haiti or Jamaica as part of Lynn University’s 2010 J-Term. The groups will travel Jan. 11-15 with Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States.
“The J-Term courses have been a tremendous success across the university,” said Patrick Hartwick, Dean of Ross College of Education at Lynn University. “The changes observed in the students has been one of tremendous appreciation for the life they have, and all of the opportunities available to them.”
“Those who travel, give selflessly the gift of presence to those they meet,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director. “Whether it is an afternoon of soccer, face painting, participating in a home building project, serving warm meals, or exchanging a smile, their presence has made a positive impact on someone’s life.”
For the second consecutive year, Lynn students will spend their next two-and-a-half week J-Term in much the same way as they spent their first – learning in some unconventional, exciting and often experiential ways. Lynn’s 2010 J-Term roster offers 72 unique on-campus, domestic and international opportunities in all areas of study.
Service-learning is a relatively new concept in education, but one that has many educational and social benefits, including scholarships, career direction, along with recognition from community partners as well as President Obama, who has said he supports the concept.
“Students are engaged and enjoy the range of experiences available to them,” said Hartwick. “We have found the service-learning experience to be rewarding and challenging for faculty and students. It is great to see the students challenge themselves, and encourage and support each other in a setting that is far different than anything they might have experienced.”
During the two volunteer service-learning trips to Jamaica and Haiti, students will build or paint Food For The Poor homes for the destitute. Since 1982, Food For The Poor has constructed more than 55,000 housing units for people in desperate need of adequate shelter.
“I am looking forward to our trip to Haiti and Jamaica [with Food For The Poor] to share again with another group of Lynn students serving others in need,” said Hartwick.
More than 5,500 people have journeyed with Food For The Poor to the Caribbean and Latin America. Each trip offers a unique opportunity to engage and interact with the poor.
In Haiti the students will tour and assist with the feeding program at Food For The Poor’s warehouse in Port-au-Prince. Each day from Monday to Saturday, the feeding center serves approximately 15,000 meals a day to residents from Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities.
Students from previous groups have said they were inspired by the difference they saw Food For The Poor make in the lives of children through orphanages, schools and a home for the handicapped, and the older residents who are cared for at Food For The Poor’s Villages for the Elderly.
In 2008, hoping to contribute to the good work they witnessed, students created the group Students For The Poor after their return from Haiti. The group has since raised money to build homes, a school and for feeding programs.
“It has moved some of the students to commit themselves to continuing to work with service to the poor through Lynn University’s Students For The Poor, and for others it has been an opportunity to explore service to others, and give back,” Hartwick said.
To support their effort, checks should be made out to Food For The Poor and include a special source code “SC# 64619″ so the money can be tracked to Lynn University’s Students For The Poor campaign. A donation of $2,600 can provide a destitute family sturdy, safe shelter.
To learn more about Food For The Poor’s 2010 mission trips for college students to Haiti, Jamaica and Nicaragua, please e-mail [email protected].
“The Ross College of Education and the Institute for Achievement and Learning have sponsored these trips because we support service-learning for college students that are interested in working with others in the community to improve the human condition in these very poor countries,” Hartwick said.
To learn more about Lynn University’s J-Term, visit: http://www.lynn.edu/about-lynn/news-and-events/news/fla.-house-majority-leader-hasner-toms-shoes-ceo-among-guests-joining-faculty-for-lynns-2010-january-term.
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information please visit, http://www.foodforthepoor.org.
Contact:
Jennifer Leigh Oates
Public Relations
(954) 427-2222 x 6054
