Office of Public Relations

Pomona, NJ 08240

 

Stockton Students Help Less Fortunate on Alternative Spring Break

Trip to West Virginia

 

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, March 31, 2006

Contact: Tim Kelly

Stockton Public Relations

(609) 652-4950

 

Galloway, NJ While many of their peers were soaking up the sun in exotic locations, six Richard Stockton College of New Jersey students under the direction of Assistant Director of Student Development Jennifer Forman were helping to repair homes for needy residents in Beards Fork, West Virginia.

 

The students raised their own funds to finance the trip and worked 10 hour days once they got there, painting, building and repairing homes for those less fortunate.

 

Not all of us had construction skills when we arrived, but we did have a willingness to learn and to help, Forman said. We also worked with a group called Youth Builds. This group was comprised of former offenders who were trained in the building trades as a way to start a new life. Some of these individuals had been in prison and had children of their own. They were about the same age as our own students, so it was a pretty intense experience.

 

Forman, of Audubon, said one of their members, Nick Sena of Moorestown, had some construction experience and was helpful to the others in the group By the time the week was out, they had had reconstructed a back porch on a home, put on a roof and completed extensive interior work.

 

Now my mother wants me to come over to her house and build her a deck, Forman laughs.

 

A serious lesson of the trip was that giving up a traditional Spring Break didnt have to mean giving up any enjoyment.

 

It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time. She said the satisfaction of the final result was the ultimate reward. Forman said the man who resided at the house was grateful for the help and praised the Stockton students for the amount of repairs completed during the week.

 

The participating students included Mary Lehr of Cinnaminson, Tom Sunchuck of Toms River, Rhiannon Napoli of Westville, Andrew Tobin of Bridgeton, Sena, and Kristen Rasinya of Hazlet.

 

# # #