Fall Alternative Break (FAB)

Butler Alternative Break’s fall trip is an annual service trip where students travel to a given location in the United States over fall break in October to assist in various ways. Each year, the location and the project conducted are changed, but the basic premise behind the trip is provide a week of service to a community in need.

Previous Experiences

In 2018 the Fall Alternative Break team went to Hazard, KY and worked with the Housing Development Alliance. They worked with the issue of affordable housing, building the framing for a new home, roofing for homes, and demo-ing a home for reconstruction. One group had an interesting run in with Yellow Jackets in a home and helped exterminate them. Another group helped paint a brad new home for a single mother and her daughters.

In 2017 the Fall Alternative Break crew made their way south-east to Harlan, KY and worked with COAP to participate in different affordable housing projects. While in Harlan, FAB members re-furbished the roof of a house as well as installed hurricane brackets into a home and assisted with the landscaping of a house. On their way back to Butler, the team took a quick stop in Slade, KY for a quick hike.

In 2016 the Fall Alternative Break team traveled to Pipestream, WV and worked with the Appalachian South Folklife Center. While there, FAB team members assisted the Wade Center, local community organization, to provide better living conditions for children in need. The group interacted with the children of the Wade Center, and improve upon the current conditions. With surprises around every corner, the FAB team quickly became more connected with each other, and the Pipestream community!

In 2015 the Fall Alternative Break team went to Hazard, KY and worked with the Housing Development Alliance. They worked with the issue of affordable housing, building the framing for a new home, laying cement for a accessible sidewalk to a home, and demo-ing a home for reconstruction. The group took a quick trip to Natural Bridge and a hike for their free day.

In 2014 the Fall Alternative Break Team went to Jonestown, VA. They worked with the issue of affordable housing, working on the construction related projects.

2013 marked a big year for Fall Alternative Break. Thirty Butler University students traveled to Mullens, West Virginia to work with the Rural Appalachian Improvement League and the Mullens Opportunity Center. While there, students worked together with the community members of Mullens to build a brand new park! The students were able to build friendships and relationships not only with one another, but also with the community of Mullens. They celebrated the community with a talent show and jamboree.

As if that wasn’t enough, students enjoyed their free day of the trip by participating in a white water rafting trip in Lansing, West Virginia.

In 2012 the Fall Alternative Break team went to Hazard, KY and worked with the Housing Development Alliance. The team did mainly construction work, siding houses, building a wheelchair ramp, and raising a wall. The group also went tree climbing on their free day.

2011‘s trip trekked to Pipestem, WV and worked with Appalachian South Folklife Center. The group spent time painting a house for a local family and cleaning up around the Folklife Center. The group also enjoyed the beauty of the land by taking a hike and watching the sunsets. They also were privileged to be present for a local music festival hosted by the center, where they were welcomed by the local artists and enjoyed some mountain music.

The trip went to Maryville, Tenessee where they became one with nature through their work with a group known as Once Upon a Time in Appalachia. As a group, they jumped into discussion of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation and environmental issues in Appalachia. Throughout the week they visited the Sequoyah Museum, volunteered in the Snowbird Cherokee Community, hiked in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and even explored the tunnels of a cave!

Needless the say, the group was all stunned by the beauty of the scenery and the euphoria created by the sheer power of this land.