This week, more than 250 NC State students are on 16 Alternative Service Break (ASB) trips across four continents. Five of them, accompanied by two co-leads and a graduate student advisor, are spending their spring break helping a rural community in western North Carolina recover from the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Helene last fall. With them is a 50-member group of college students from five schools in the U.S. and Canada doing similar recovery work in the area.

NC State writer Tim Peeler is providing stories and photos from the trip, which can be viewed in the links below. 

A Service-Oriented Spring Break in Western N.C.

NC State alumni John and Lisa Vance met and fell in love on an ASB trip to the Dominican Republic as students in 2004. Community service has continued to be a large part of their lives over the years, and now they are co-leading students on the 2025 excursion.

Restoring Hope — and a Little Color — to a Family-Owned Enterprise

Last September, Suzanne and Jared Garland watched their family-owned campground and their livelihoods be swept away by the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. With some help from community volunteers, an NC State ASB team and some landscape architecture students, they hope to reopen their sole means of income by Memorial Day.

ASB Participants Hear About Helene’s Looming Crisis for Schoolkids

An Avery County elementary school principal shares his thoughts about the storm’s lingering mental health effects on Helene’s youngest survivors.

Wrapping Up ASB in Western N.C.

Students spent the latter half of their Alternative Service Break assisting a widowed storm survivor, a thrift shop and a food pantry in their Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Participants Reflect on Service Experience

In their own words, Wolfpack volunteers describe the life-altering impacts of their spring 2025 Alternative Service Break trip to western North Carolina.