What is Spring Break Workfest?

Over the past several weeks you may have seen, read, been intrigued by, or noticed… various advertisements and promotions for our annual SPRING BREAK WORKFEST trips. However, some of you who are unfamiliar with the program may be wondering… What is Spring Break Workfest?!?!

Well, Spring Break Workfest is a lot of things… and I know it will sound incredibly corny, but it’s incredibly true, that Spring Break Workfest is something you really have to experience in order to understand, but I’ll do my best:

Spring Break Workfest is a week-long experience (and 30+ year tradition!) that offers hands-on opportunities to take a closer look at issues facing people and communities in particular regions of the United States, offering our time and service while developing personal relationships in the community we serve. The program is student-led and student-driven, and students serve in communities throughout the United States – in communities such as New Orleans, Santa Fe NM, New York NY, the Appalachian Region, and other communities. Students who partake in SBWF enter into solidarity with a cross section of the nation to build relationships that surmount economic, regional, and cultural differences.

Now, this is definitely only the “brochure” version of what SBWF is; the experience itself is so much more… So very often, I find our students can much better represent what the program is all about. Here are a few things our recent students said when asked “What was the most meaningful part of Spring Break Workfest for you?”:

• I think the most meaningful part of SBWF was seeing firsthand that, yes there may be a lot of social inequality and tragedy in our country but, there is so much good left in people’s hearts. I saw so many people who were struggling financially giving to others in the food pantry line because they thought they could use it more than they could.

• All of the people we got to help and learn from. They were such spiritual and genuine people that the most meaningful part of the trip was just making those connections with people and seeing how much their faith meant to them and how our help was so appreciated.

• I truly formed some amazing bonds with the people on the trip, and overall my eyes were definitely opened to different cultures as well as new experiences. We met some amazing people at each of the different work sites who were just oozing wisdom.

• Serving God through serving others. Learning that when you serve others, they serve you in ways that you never thought could be possible and bonding with my group.

If you find yourself wanting to know MORE about Spring Break Workfest, or maybe even sign up, our Mercy Center team would LOVE to talk to you about Workfest! You can reach us in the Mercy Center (2nd floor of Heffernan) or through the contact info below.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out, we can’t wait to answer all your Workfest inquiries!