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Community Outreach

Alternative Breaks - Week Long Trips

Pine Ridge, SD, Immersion Week March 5-13, 2010 (Spring 2010 Trip)

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General Program Information
Issue Focus: Native American Culture & The Culture of Poverty
Cost of Trip: $1,175.00
Student Trip Director(s): Nicole Rubin, Trip Director (uconn.co.southdakota@gmail.com)
Acceptance of Applications: September 10, 2009
Application Deadline: PASSED
Notification of Participation: November 14, 2009
Trip Leaves: March 5, 2010
Trip Returns: March 13, 2010

** Price will vary based on program expenses and fundraising efforts.

Discussion of the Issue:

The poverty on Pine Ridge can be described in no other terms than "third world." It is common to find homes terribly overcrowded, as those with homes take in whoever needs a roof over their heads. Many homes are without running water, and without sewer. A few key statistics about Pine Ridge Reservation include:

  • Unemployment rate of 80-90%
  • Per capita income of $4,000
  • 8 Times the United States rate of diabetes
  • Alcoholism rate estimated as high as 80%
  • 1 in 4 infants born with fetal alcohol syndrome or effects
  • Life expectancy on Pine Ridge is the lowest in the United States and the 2nd lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Only Haiti has a lower rate.

We will be staying on the Pine Ridge reservation with the organization Re-Member. Re-Member is a non-profit organization, developed in 1998, which works with the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota. Volunteers participate in various work projects across the Reservation, helping to rebuild relationships, homes, and lives. Re-Member is an organization that exists to recall our country's treatment of the Native people of the Americas and to repair the broken pieces of that relationship. Guided by the aspirations of the Oglala Lakota communities we serve, Re-Member seeks to improve the quality of life on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota through relationships, shared resources, and volunteer services. Through work projects and cultural immersion, we continue to develop a growing circle of advocates standing in solidarity with the Lakota people on Pine Ridge. Re-Member is not a church-sponsored organization, but rather a non-profit corporation.

From that small beginning, Re-Member now brings more than 1000 volunteers to Pine Ridge each year, not only building bunk beds, but doing home repair, helping the elders and disabled, and affording volunteers an immersion experience in Lakota culture. Located on a 2.5 acre site with five buildings including a fully-equipped workshop, kitchen facilities and the ability to house more than 100 volunteers and staff at a time, Re-Member is firmly established as a permanent presence on Pine Ridge. We also have a growing number of Lakota employees on staff, allowing us to address another vital need on Pine Ridge; jobs. Now embarking on an ambitious and exciting plan to renovate older homes and build new ones, Re-Member looks to the future with excitement and promise, working with the Lakota people to improve lives on Pine Ridge; better homes, better jobs, better health, and a better life. (www.re-member.org)

Trip Preparation

Alternative Breaks are a full immersive experience and require a large commitment during the trip as well as before and after the experience. Each trip will hold MANDATORY Pre-Trip Meetings to prepare for the trip and become educated on the social issue. Education is one of the three critical components of an alternative break and allows participants to understand the reason for their service-learning experience. Meetings are generally held once a week leading up to the trip and run on average about an hour and a half. Participants will meet to discuss educational materials, trip logistics, fundraising efforts, and to participate in group builders.

Trip Logistics

Trip planning is headed by the student trip directors and occurs in the first months of school. Trip Logistics are gone over more in depth as you are selected for the program and begin attending pre-trip meetings. This is a major part of pre-trip preparation is ensuring all participants are on the same page with trip logistics. Here are some standard trip logistics that most experiences have:

Trip Length: Week
Cost of Trip: $1,175.00
Amount of Pre-Tip Meetings: 8
Mode of Transportation: Flying
Amount of Participants: 12 Students, 1 Student Leader, 1 Staff
Food: All groups generally cook most of their meals themselves. However, sometimes the agencies that we work with will do the cooking for us and provide us with all of our meals for the week! Most of our meals are simple to create a full immersive experience.
Sleeping Quarters: The majority of our trips “rough-it” and generally sleep on floors of churches, on cots, and sometimes in beds. We require all students to bring sheets, blankets, and their own pillows for the most part unless the agency supplies these amenities. Sleeping quarters are separated by gender unless extenuating circumstances arise.
What to Bring: (Sample packing list COMING SOON!)
Activities (Social & Service): Each trip has a healthy balance of service and social activities and down-time. Service generally takes up 6-8 hours of each day. Each trip has one social day where the group can go out and explore around the city they are in doing agreed upon activities by the group. Nights provide time for reflection activities and rest & relaxation as well as an opportunity to get to know your group even better!
Sample Schedule: Coming Soon!

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