Campus Kitchens, a Marquette volunteer program dedicated to fighting hunger in the Milwaukee area, will be hosting a service trip to New Orleans over spring break.

The trip, from March 19 to 24, will focus on helping out with a food recycling program and preparing and delivering meals to children in need of adequate nutrition throughout the New Orleans community, according to Marquette University Campus Kitchens Coordinator Erin Yudchitz.

The Campus Kitchens Program, a national organization, has had a chapter at Marquette since October 2003. The Marquette chapter currently does two hours of food preparation every other day and delivers the food, Yudchitz said.

The trip will not only be a way for Marquette students to give back to the community, but will also be a "good opportunity for Marquette to find ways to improve their own Campus Kitchen program," said Radha Duggal, national programming coordinator for Campus Kitchens.

Participants — who will work with members of nearby Dillard University's Campus Kitchens program — will visit youth centers and schools, such as the St. Philip Community Kids Café, to work with inner-city children to address the hunger and nutritional problems the children may have.

Apart from completing the usual Campus Kitchens activities of preparing and delivering meals, students will be able to interact with the youth by "hanging out, playing games and helping with other after-school activities," Duggal said.

Andrea Walker, a junior in the College of Health Sciences, said she is planning on applying for the trip.

"Last semester I volunteered twice a week, and the people involved are really cool," Walker said. "I think that going on the trip is a good thing to do for spring break. It's not just another spring break trip to Cancun."

While some students are in New Orleans, other Marquette Campus Kitchens members will meet and work with students from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, who will be coming to Milwaukee to help with the everyday duties of Campus Kitchens on Marquette's campus.

All Marquette students, regardless of whether or not they are a current Campus Kitchens volunteer, are encouraged to apply for the trip to New Orleans. Seven to eight people will be selected to drive down with a hired van to Louisiana for the service trip, and the cost will be around $100. Fundraising will keep the cost of the trip down, Yudchitz said.

For students who are interested in making the trip to New Orleans, an information session will be held Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Service Learning office, which is in the 707 Building room 303. Applications can be obtained by calling Erin Yudchitz at 288-0342.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 25 2005.