Soup feed, auction support trips

Since 2004, Alternative Week of Off Campus Learning has been a sanctioned organization at the University of South Dakota.

On Nov. 28, USD’s AWOL club will be hosting its biannual soup feed, one of the group’s many events and one of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

“It provides an opportunity for all participants to get to know who else is going on trips different than their own trips, and it is a good way for students and the community to come together to enjoy a meal,” said senior Eric Schlimgen, president of AWOL.

“AWOL stands for Alternative Week of Off-Campus Learning. We are a student-led service learning organization,” Schlimgen said. “We provide education, service and post-trip reflection. Our end goal is to get the students involved in AWOL to become active citizens that are conscious about making community a priority in their life choices.”

A variety of people attend the soup feed, he said.

“People going on the trips tell their friends,” Schlimgen said. “We’ve had a good turnout with faculty who know what AWOL is. People who are involved with their churches sell tickets there. There is a good spread between students, faculty and community members.”

Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door, Schlimgen said.

First-year student and AWOL member Courtney Rohlik is helping with the November soup feed.

“It is volunteering and helping others, so of course I will be part of it,” Rohlik said.

Schlimgen said AWOL has been lucky in the past years with getting soup donations from local businesses.

“RED Steak House, Raziel’s, Mr. Smith’s, and now, Hy-Vee work with us to donate soup to offset the cost,” Schlimgen said. “Ninety-percent of the money raised at the soup feed goes towards the AWOL volunteers’ personal trip expenses.”

The silent auction is another AWOL fundraising event. Members collect and bring in different items to auction off. One hundred percent of the money raised goes to the members’ personal trip expenses.

Rohlik also said she intends to help out with the silent auction.

“I was thinking of bringing something for the silent auction as that money goes towards our trip expenses,” Rohlik said.

Other fundraising events include DakotaDome concessions, selling hotdogs downtown and personal letters sent out to family members and businesses to raise money.

First-year student and AWOL member Leslie Henderson said she enjoyed selling hotdogs downtown.

“It’s cool how people from different trips got together,” Henderson said. “Also, most of the passersby were kind and donated money when they were told what we were raising money for.”

Schlimgen said AWOL has grown from one total trip when the group first started to one summer trip, four winter trips and seven spring trips this year. Participants can go around the world or around the country, he said.

This year’s trip locations include Honduras and 13 U.S. states. There have been over 50 trips in the past eight years, said Schlimgen.

AWOL also does alternative weekends at closer locations such as Omaha or Sioux City, and have assisted with local social issues in these locations.

Rohlik said she joined AWOL because she enjoys helping others.

“I wanted to join AWOL because one of my top goals is to help and serve others and hope to better other’s lives,” she said. “I also like to travel, so when you add in the education that we will get from the service-learning trips, it just makes the trips 10 times better and worthwhile.”

Schlimgen said AWOL work has covered a wide range of social issues.

“We’ve been to different locations and helped with issues such as suicide prevention, homelessness, animals shelters, AIDS and healthcare,” he said.

Schlimgen said AWOL discourages “voluntourism,” when students go to the locations just to sightsee.

“We try to downplay the location and highlight the social issues,” he said. “It is not a vacation; it’s an intensive week of service, reflection and education, where members work hand-in-hand with community. Location doesn’t matter, the service being done there does.”

Henderson is going on the Dallas, Texas, trip over Christmas break.

“I felt Dallas was a good choice for me, because I will enjoy working at the Bryan’s house. It houses kids with AIDS and HIV,” she said. “I like kids, and my major deals with healthcare.”

Schlimgen said AWOL’s main purpose is to inform students about social issues they may not be aware of before and to make them conscious of the social issues of the community at large.

For Schlimgen, AWOL volunteer trips have been a life-changing experience.

“The common thing is to come back and instantly change majors or ideas of what it means to be homeless, for example,” he said. “The trips cause a positive change in the members’ lives. It is definitely an eye-opening experience.”