Game Night March 2

Hi All,

I thought it would be fun to meet up as a group before we depart for our trip. I hope you have saved the date for game night! Since your second payment is due that same day (this coming Monday), you can hand it in to me that evening or drop it by my office that day.

ASB Game Night

March 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm (however long you want to play)

1^st Floor Student Activities Center (by the pool table and loveseat)

***Bring board games, Xbox, Wii, cards, etc.

Please let me know if you will attend…

Sincerely,

Sarah A. Meyer

It is a new year and the Finger Lakes Institute and Living Lands and Waters will partner again to host an Alternative Spring Break Trip in Cedar Rapids, Iowa March 14-21. Visit the HWS Crew's website to learn more! http://fli.hws.edu/asb.asp

If you like the outdoors, getting dirty, and love seeing the friuits of your labor, this trip is for you! Roll up your sleeves and get ready to get dirty! Students will join Chad Pregracke of Living Lands and Waters for a fun week of hard work clearing pollution from the riverbanks of the Cedar River.

June 2008 floods left nearly 1,300 Cedar Rapids city blocks inundated with over 4,000 homes evacuated and 24,000 people displaced. The flood took out many homes and businesses; washing an astonishing amount of debris into the Cedar River, that later settled along the shorelines. Student volunteers will spend time traversing the Cedar River both on foot and in boats while working to remove debris (tires, appliances, barrels, etc.) that is polluting the Cedar River and impairing the habitat of indigenous fish, birds, and wildlife.

This is a substance free trip. The trip will begin on Saturday, March 14 with a drive to Lucas, OH for an overnight stay at Malabar Farm Hostel, a 900-acre organic farm. The Malabar Farm Hostel was once the home and farm of Louis Bromfield, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, agriculturist and dedicated conservationist. Today it is part of Malabar State Park with hiking trails, an aviary and an opportunity to learn about sustainable agriculture and care for the animals. On Sunday, students will load vans again for the second leg of the trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where we will meet up with LL&W crew that night. Students will work along the Cedar River Monday through Thursday 9am to 4 pm. Friday, March 20 the group will depart early for Lucas, OH again for an overnight at Malabar Farm Hostel. The trip will conclude in Geneva, NY on the evening of Saturday, March 21.

Should be Shared!

I have been totally impressed with the responses from our student participants to provide feedback about our Alternative Spring Break Trip! I love the feedback and it helps me plan for years to come. Some of the stellar students went the extra mile and compiled their trip reflections into an article and personal web page that I thought should be recognized.

Dealva's Website

Picking up Garbage Ya’ll
An HWS Herald Article by Katherine Hoering and Lauren Ellmers

While many people spent their spring break lounging along pristine blue waters, seventeen Hobart and William Smith students choose to volunteer their week in muddy water picking up trash. The trip involved traveling to Louisville, KY for an Alternative Spring Break organized by the Finger Lakes Institute. As a volunteer, we helped clean the Ohio River with Living Lands and Waters. LL & W is a non-profit organization that focuses on protection, preservation, and restoration of America’s major rivers. Their projects include collecting garbage from major rivers, educating their volunteers through workshops, removing invasive plants such as honeysuckle, and to helping to restore native vegetation by planting river bottom trees, such as oaks and hickories.

Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands and Waters, grew up on the Mississippi River and worked as a commercial fisherman and commercial shell diver during his teenage years. It was during this time that he noted the severely polluted river and shoreline. In 1998, he founded Living Lands and Waters. With a four-fleet “garbage barge” and several small skiffs, him and his crew travel to various shorelines of America’s rivers. The crew along with the assistance of volunteers devote their time and energy to help clean the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

Throughout the week (March 16-22, 2008), our group, along with thirty other volunteers from SUNY Geneseo, travelled to five different sites to pick up garbage. As a volunteer, we started the days early by boarding into boats and traveling down the river to the pick-up sites. We spent our days walking through islands and flood plains searching for trash, and climbing among log jams picking up plastic bottles. We collected an array of items including oil barrels, TV’s, refrigerators, hundreds of plastic bottles, pieces of Styrofoam, and, not to mention, an occasional buried car. Overall, we accumulated an estimated 20 tons of garbage!

Working with the crew from Living Lands and Waters was inspiring. They were all light-hearted, funny, and hard working individuals dedicated to making a difference. Whether it be cleaning a river, or picking up trash on the side of the road, we all can learn from their actions. Collectively, we should do a little more to help clean our environment. Need some ideas as to how to contribute? Pickup trash you see around campus, participate in Recyclemania, or attend the FLI's Seneca Lake Beach Cleanup September 20, 2008.

If you are interested in learning more about Living Lands and Waters check out their website at http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/
If you are interested in learning more about future Finger Lakes Institute Alternative Spring Break Trip opportunities or other public service programs, contact Sarah Meyer at smeyer@hws.edu.

Thanks again! Also, if any other trip participants would like to add their reflections to this blog or would like a link added, just let me know.

-Sarah :)

The Pain Rain

Elementary is pronounced [el-uh-men-tree] -
"elementary. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 18, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/elementary"

It rained a lot today. Chance of precipitation tomorrow... 100%.
Still picking up trash by hand and yearning for dignity.

Love
Julia & Zach (yes, we wrote this in tandem)

First day out

So our first day out was a little chillier than we had imagined, but by the end of the day I think every one was welcoming the cool breeze. All of Chad's team were friendly and hilarious! Jo was definitely giving Sarah the eye. Clearing the Barge was our first job of the day. We worked as a very efficient team and cleared the whole barge within an hour and a half.
We took a break for lunch and got a chance to meet some of the Geneseo team. A lot of them very very nice and funny, some were little shy but warmed up as the day went on. The lunch provided was fantastic we had ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches, chips and cookies.
After lunch we loaded back on to the boats and were off to the Falls of the Ohio. We went through the Ohio locke system. I knew what to expect because of my years living on the Panama canal, but Zach was a little disappointed that it wasn't a faster dropping water level. Chads team passed the time in the locke by creating a few cheers to demonstrate which boat was the best. After our third time through a Row, Row, Row your boat rounds the locke doors opened and we were off to the falls.
At the falls we finally started our first day of cleaning. Some very interesting things were found during our day. Sarah Gall and I found a TV from the '60s full of water and man was it heavy. A car was found along with a big yellow tube that was easily a hundred yards long. Three hours and around 400 hundred bottles, dip tins and sneakers later we were all beat and ready to head home for a hot shower.
We are all sore but happy with our days work and are really looking forward to tomorrow!