While many Binghamton University students are rushing out to buy suntan oil and bathing suits this week in preparation for Easter/Passover break, some students are preparing to devote their vacation to charity work.

Groups such as Hillel and the campus’ Habitat for Humanity chapter have sent students on what many call ‘alternative spring break trips’ over the past years.

Since this year’s break coincides with Passover, Hillel will not be organizing a trip.

Habitat for Humanity, however, is sending 20 students to build houses in Hilton Head, S.C.

‘We’ll be working on building houses in different stages of completion,’ said Christina Gallus, a junior biology major and co-president of Habitat for Humanity.

In previous years the group has traveled as far as Hawaii to build homes.

This year’s program is a collegiate challenge, where each week a different school arrives to continue the work of those that have gone before.

While a great deal of their time will be devoted to physical labor, Gallus said that students will still be able to enjoy the warmer climate.

‘We’ll spend about six hours a day working on the homes,’ she said. ‘We’ll get to spend the afternoons doing some kind of outdoor activity like kayaking.’

Groups, however, are not the only ones making the charitable trek to areas in need.

Steve Cormier, a sophomore sociology major, has made two trips to New Orleans to help rebuild the area since Hurricane Katrina hit, through Common Ground Collective, an organization that offers free food and housing to volunteers in the region.

‘There is such a need there,’ he said. ‘Nobody else was doing it, so I was like ‘Let’s go!’

Cormier said he spent much of his trips ‘gutting destroyed buildings.’ Despite the amount of physical labor involved, he said he really enjoyed both trips.

‘It is in a sense a vacation, but a different style,’ he said. ‘I seem to find myself having a better time helping people as opposed to sitting on the beach.

He added that the best part about his visits was the ability he had to interact with the residents of New Orleans.

‘Just lending an ear for a little bit can do so much,’ he said. ‘It’s about working and coming together, realizing that we’re all in this together.’

Gallus agreed that students gain a lot more than building experience at these events.

‘We build in Binghamton throughout the year, but we get to build a network with other schools when we go on these events,’ she said.

She believes the students are able to grow a lot during the week they spend on the trip.

‘Some students in the beginning who have little building experience are hesitant to get into the work,’ she said. ‘When they see the outcome in the end and the families that they’ve been building the homes for ‘ it’s all worth it.’