• Planted over 20,000 trees
• Built a school
• Conducted peace rallies with children
• Tutored children
• Built footbridges and trails in the mountains
• Assisted with GED programs
• Prepared and served hundreds of nutritious meals to people living with AIDS
• Conducted music therapy sessions
• Painted murals on buildings

With quality education, training, and orientation, students can tackle numerous projects, fulfilling your organization's unmet needs, energizing the community, and raising students' social awareness. When designing a project, consider both the needs/goals of your organization as well as the students' goals. Students look for sites that offer the opportunity for community interaction as well as direct service.

• Nature Conservancy, Northwest Florida Program - Planting new saplings, starting new seeds in greenhouses, and discussing the destruction of eco-systems and the difficulty of rebuilding them.
• City Year Boston, MA - Integrating students into existing teams of City Year corps members to work with ongoing service projects in the neighborhoods and schools in Boston.
• United Farm Workers, TX - Building an organic co-op farm, including the farm's first greenhouse.
• Women's Bean Project, CO - Working alongside employees and other volunteers to produce and fill orders during the busy season, packing baskets, building crates, sorting beans, and making soup mixes.

• Organizing a work project for an alternative break group (they generally average in size from 8 - 12 individuals), with the help of the student contact(s), that will involve strong direct service and community interaction. A solid backup plan is also essential in case of poor weather, unexpected problems, or fast workers!
• Communicating expectations regarding work, behavior, alcohol policy, and other concerns.
• Supervising the project by creating a daily schedule, assigning work teams, and directing tasks.
• Publicizing the project to the community by issuing press releases and involving other interested groups in your area.
• Assisting students with logistics, such as locating housing, and bath & kitchen facilities for the groups during their stay. Local churches, YMCAs, and colleges are often helpful.
• Orienting students to your organization and training them to perform the specific tasks necessary to complete their work. Orientation can take place through community tours, local exhibit and museum visits, evening speakers, and other events.

1. Click here to register your organization as a Break Away Host Site.
2. After receiving your username and password, create a SiteBank profile of your organization and its volunteer needs directly through the Internet.

Your organization will be added to our SiteBank database and webpage as a community-based organization interested in hosting Break Away volunteers. In their search for work sites, students across the country will explore Break Away's SiteBank online. If interested in your organization, students may use the information available through the SiteBank to contact you directly. You and the students will then work together to organize the nuts and bolts of their specific alternative break experience.

Join Break Away as a Host Site Member. Your membership demonstrates the importance of using quality alternative break programs to develop lifelong active citizens. Our programs are centered around Eight Quality Components, including community voice, extensive education and reflection. Membership benefits include ongoing technical assistance, discounts on all products and services, access to the members listserv, including the ability to post job and internship opportunities, and a complimentary copy of our Hosting an Alternative Break Manual. Annual nonprofit membership dues are just $100.

• Learn more about being a host site by purchasing and utilizing Break Away's Hosting an Alternative Break manual, written expressly to help organizations set up and host quality alternative breaks.
• Tell other organizations about Break Away, alternative breaks, and the opportunity to become a host site. You may even recommend other sites to us!
• Attend Break Away's Alternative Break Citizenship schools, an opportunity to network and learn about developing quality alternative breaks.

• Hosting an Alternative Break manual (new members);
• Access to the national members email listserv;
• National media referrals;
• Opportunities to be featured in the Break Away newsletter;
• 20% Discount on all products and services, including training;
• Ongoing technical assistance from Break Away;
• SiteBank listing and special recognition as a member on the Break Away webpage.

* Break Away: the Alternative Break Connection, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, funded entirely through membership fees, contributions, and fees for service. We understand the financial challenges that nonprofit organizations often face. Regardless of your ability to support our work financially, Break Away is committed to giving all nonprofit organizations access to volunteer groups of the highest caliber, such as the Break Away volunteers that utilize the SiteBank. If your agency cannot afford membership and the benefits that accompany it, you can still receive a free basic listing in our SiteBank by doing three things:

1. Send us a letter from your Executive Director or financial officer that explains your financial situation;
2. Provide a letter of support to Break Away for the work we are doing, including how our volunteers may impact your organization;
3. Provide an alternative break experience that enables the student volunteers to learn about and understand the root causes of social issues, helping us to inspire lifelong active citizenship.

Join the movement!