Google Video available here.

Powered by Wufoo

As most of the college students in the country jumped on planes for Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Cancun, Loyola University Chicago freshman Bola Olukanni headed down to St. Charles Louisiana for a very different Spring Break experience. Bola chose to spend her week off volunteering to help people whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Rita.

After reading about the opportunity on MTV’s website, Bola applied to be an Alternative Spring Break Volunteer with United Way. She could choose between United Way projects in three locations: Lake Charles, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi and Detroit, MI.

Bola chose Lake Charles and began packing her bags not with a bathing suit, but with work clothes. It’s a choice that Bola says she would happily make again.

“It was really amazing,” Bola says. “It was just so great because everyone there was to help.”

From March 1 to 9, Bola and her fellow volunteers spent their days rebuilding and reconstructing houses, repairing local schools, and working to rebuild camp shelters and a nature trail damaged by Hurricane Rita.

“The staff who worked for UWA was amazing,” Bola recounts. “Everything was organized and fun.”

Bola spent the beginning of her week at a house that was nearing the end of construction. Her job was to work on the bathroom and one of the bedrooms. Toward the end of the week, she helped stock a ship that brings help to disaster-stricken areas.

The experience was one that Bola will not soon forget.

“I would definitely do it again,” Bola says. “It was fantastic.”

Alternative Spring Break is a United Way program that engages young people between the ages of 18 and 24 years old in meaningful volunteer service. For the last two years, think MTV and United Way partnered to create a week-long alternative spring break in the Gulf Coast. This spring, 500 students lent their spring breaks to make communities stronger by volunteering with United Way. For more information about Alternative Spring Break, visit http://unitedway.org/asb

In recognition of National Immunization Week, April 19-26, United Way is encouraging all parents to make sure their children are up-to-date on their vaccinations and providing an online chart to make record-keeping easy.

If your child is not up-to-date on immunizations, he or she could be at risk for serious diseases like mumps, whooping cough and measles. United Way provides an easy chart to keep track of your child’s immunizations, as well as a booklet with vaccination information, here. Print one and keep it up to date. It could make a difference in saving your child’s life.

National Immunization Week is an annual observance to highlight the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases and celebrate the achievements of immunization programs and their partners in promoting healthy communities. Since 1994, National Immunization Week has served as a call to action for parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers to ensure that infants are fully immunized against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases.