Spring break is usually a time for Sacramento State students to study, rest or have fun. However, some Sac State students chose to volunteer their vacation time with Alternative Break this week.

Brendan McVeigh, community partnerships coordinator at the Community Engagement Center, said Alternative Break is for Sac State students to volunteer with organizations in the Sacramento community.

On Thursday and Friday, 12 Sac State students volunteered with the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization that builds houses for low-income residents in the region.

Team leader Jannie Pangsruntip, senior business major, said the group was using shovels and picks to dig trenches in a vacant lot near the intersection of El Camino Avenue and Colfax Street.

Victor Chan, junior liberal studies major, said volunteering is a way to give back to the community. Another reason is he wanted to meet new people.

“A great group of people who came out for a good cause,” Chan said. “(There’s) not a better way to spend spring break.”

The students were able to meet the future homeowner, Alemnesh Haile because she was working alongside of them.

Haile, a single mother, works as a nursing assistant. When the three-bedroom, two-bath unit is finished, it will be the new home for Haile and her 4-year-old and 6-year-old children.

Haile said she appreciated all the Sac State volunteers helping out. She is required by Habitat for Humanity to volunteer 500 hours of sweat equity in order to receive a house at a zero interest loan for the actual cost of construction for 30 years.

The homeowner will also make $350 payments each month on an approximately $150,000 home, said Terry Hardin, a Habitat for Humanity employee and one of three site supervisors in Sacramento.

“It’s a hand up and not a hand out,” Hardin said.

It will take six to nine months to complete the nearly 1,100 square-foot, single-story house because there are also five other homes under construction, Hardin said.

Alternative Break is a collaborative effort between the Community Engagement Center, the Student Activities office and the Student Health Center.

Heidi van Beek, program advisor for clubs and organizations in the Student Activities office, personally volunteered on Monday for Cesar Chavez Day at the Washington Neighborhood Center. The activities included weeding the grounds and learning about Barrio Arts.

“(I wanted) to meet new people and learn about the Sacramento area,” van Beek said.

For more information about the Community Engagement Center’s Alternative Break visit the Center. To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, visit the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity website.

Leonard Low can be reached at [email protected].