Kathryn Carroll Helped Restore Gulf of Mexico on Butler University Alternative Spring Break

2013 Mar 22

This spring break, 30 Butler students, including Kathryn Carroll from Garden Prairie IL, constructed baskets out of chicken wire, cleared trails with power tools, and tore up damaged tile and carpet. Butler's Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program took the students to Biloxi, on the southern coast of Mississippi.

The students and three advisors made the 15-hour bus ride to Biloxi, where they worked with Community Collaborations International (CCI). The organization provides teams of college students with alternative break service projects all over the country, as well as housing and food during their service.

Butler's ASB students assisted CCI's work to help restore the environment in the Gulf of Mexico, damaged by the BP oil spill in 2010. For two of the four days ASB helped with this project, the students constructed oyster bags to stop erosion on the coast.

The first day, students created the baskets with chicken wire and set a new record, creating more than 1,300 baskets during their shift. Two days later, the students returned to the area to fill all of the baskets with scavenged oyster shells and place them on pallets to be used to prevent erosion.

During the trip, students used weed wackers and power tools called "billy goats" to clear trails at a nearby state park. They also assisted in cleaning up tornado damage in Hattiesburg, Miss. The group traveled to a school and church where they tore out damaged tile and carpet cleared debris.

At the end of their week in Biloxi, the group had given lots of sweat, hard work, and more than 300 hours of service to communities in Mississippi.