Raritan Students Will Help Rebuild Jersey Shore During Spring Break

While teens across the state head to sunny vistas or enjoy a week sleeping in late, a group of Raritan High School students will spend spring break giving back to their community.

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Click video at right to view Raritan students rebuilding homes in New Orleans in 2011.

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The 31 students will take part in Alternative Spring Break, an annual program led by Raritan teacher Andrew LaBarbera. The students, with the help of nine adult chaperones, will join Restore the Shore to help the post-Sandy cleanup effort in Ortley Beach and Lavallette. This year’s effort by members of the school’s Interact Club is their third trip to an area in need.

“We were supposed to go to Birmingham, Alabama but after Hurricane Sandy we changed focus and wanted to do something in New Jersey,” LaBarbera said.

In previous years, the club took the Alternative Spring Break program to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and to San Francisco. The students assisted in neighborhood revitalization efforts, donating their time and labor on a variety of construction tasks.

While visiting an area of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina proved an intense experience, LaBarbera said he expects this year’s trip will be particularly challenging because the impact of Sandy hits close to home.

“They’re going to be pushed on every emotional and physical level,” he said.

Students will replace dunes, put up a fence, rebuild a section of boardwalk and work on a small business and home under the direction of construction foreman during the course of the week. The teens will be grouped with other students who aren’t necessarily in the same classes or clubs.

“We try to push students outside their comfort zone and outside of their traditional peer group,” LaBarbera said. “The goal of this trip is for personal growth on all levels.”

The trip will mark the culmination of several months of fundraising efforts. Interact Club members sold 10,000 chocolate bars, held car washes and a spaghetti dinner to raise $30,000 to fund the trip. The money is used to pay for travel expenses and the cleaning and building supplies the students will put to use in Ortley Beach and Lavallette.

For more information or to donate to the Raritan High School Alternative Spring Break program, contact LaBarbera at alabarbera@hazlet.org.