Michael Moore’s Alternative Spring Break with Greening Forward

This article is a post that comes from Greening Forward’s legacy blog. It was originally written on March 13, 2012.

Editor’s Note: This reflective blog post is a part of series of blogs written by students from Grand Valley State University who spent their Spring Break volunteering with Greening Forward in Atlanta, Georgia from March 3–10.

This past week I went on an Alternative Breaks trip to Dacula, Georgia, where I and nine other students engaged in Sustainability-oriented service learning projects. Although I was reluctant to go on an Alternative Break at first, ultimately I found this week very rewarding and exciting. Greening Forward was an essential part of this experience.

Our week of volunteering began on the night of Saturday, March 3rd, when we arrived at Rancho Alegre Farm in Dacula, Georgia. Pilar, the farm’s owner, and Sergio, the farm manager, were both overwhelmingly hospitable, and without them providing us a place to stay and work to do our week would not have been nearly as enjoyable. Monday and Tuesday saw us volunteering at Sylvan Middle School, where we helped tend and plant their organic garden, and speaking to Mill Creek High School’s Key Club about Alternative Breaks and the importance of volunteering. As the week progressed our group began to work directly with our site contact Charles and Greening Forward.

We met Charles for the first time on Wednesday, as well as Mrs. Larkin, a Mill Creek High School teacher and Greening Forward member who helped facilitate our volunteering at the school that entailed helping out some teachers and cleaning up many trash bags worth of litter. Later that day we met Holly Elmore, who had some fascinating environmental thoughts and ideas to share with us. On Thursday we volunteered at Sweetwater Middle School, where we worked alongside the school’s Earth Savers Club to plant an herb garden and paint a mural. Friday was a relatively relaxed day that involved Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt and a hike to the summit of Amicalola Falls.

Wherever the week’s agenda took us, we were able to glean a positive and rewarding experience. I bonded a lot with my group and enjoyed myself ten times more than I would have to stay home and partying away from vacation. Working with Greening Forward has inspired me to be more sustainable in my everyday life and hopefully, this movement and others like it can affect real, lasting change in this country and around the world.