INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S OUTREACH INC

“ICO-aB”
ALTERNATIVE BREAKS PROGRAM

International Children’s Outreach (ICO) serves your volunteer team so you can focus your energy on direct community service. We do all the logistical planning so you can hit the ground running. Upon arrival at your ICO Alternative Break Project, we take care of food, lodging, tools, safety equipment and all project coordination. We work year after year in many communities on a variety of projects addressing issues such as homelessness, the environment, early childhood education, disadvantage children, and poverty. ICO has worked with over several colleges and universities and hundreds of student volunteers. ICO’s founder is a past alternative breaker; she started ICO after doing aB projects for several years as an undergraduate student at Florida International University. She knows the need of the volunteers and creates a specialize program for each alternative break project.

ICO also conducts projects for volunteers who has graduated from college, ICO’s team understand civic engagement doesn’t stop once you graduate, so we have created an alumni program, which host past alternative breakers or new volunteers who wants to be apart of service learning projects. The rules are a bit different from traditional breaks but the concept is still the same. The trips will typically be a 3 day weekend, due to job schedules and other responsibilities of working adults.

ICO also has a high school program, many students are more involved in community service and we will work with high school students who understand the importance of civic engagement.

Please contact us and we will provide you with additional information about our programs.

International Children’s Outreach Inc.
Mailing Address
2701 NORTH STATE ROAD 7
LAUDERHILL, FL 33313
Phone: 1-888-880-0426 Email: icocharity@gmail.com/info@icocharity.org

PROJECT SITES:

Fall Break: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jamaica, Guyana, and St. Lucia
Winter Break: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jamaica, Guyana, and St. Lucia
Spring Break: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jamaica,South Africa Guyana, and St. Lucia
Summer Breaks: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, South Africa, Thailand, Jamaica, Guyana, and St. Lucia
Issue: Education, Community Outreach, Youth Development-Poverty, Homeless/Orphans, Health

Below are lists of social issues that you can choose from. Your team has the ability to choose one social issue or several. The projects are all done in the same area so access to the facilities is feasible. Once you identity what issues you would like to work with, ICO will then identify the exact projects and provide you with a detailed daily itinerary of what you will do.

Please visit our website www.icocharity.org, where you will find pictures and testimonials of past projects both locally and internationally.

SOCIAL ISSUE: EDUCATION

Childhood in ‘Third World’ countries has many facets and for the majority of children it differs greatly from developed countries. In 2006, approximately 75 million children were not in school, limiting future opportunities for the children and their communities. What today is known as child labor or child exploitation can be regarded as a perversion of what formerly allowed children to participate in the world of adults according to their abilities. Education is the road that children follow to reach their full potential in life. Yet many children in need around the world do not get a quality education where they can learn and develop. To advance learning, ICO supports education programs for children in the classroom and at home. ICO currently support children who otherwise would not be able to attend school by providing school supplies for children with low socio-economic status.

PROJECT

For your alternative break project you will have the opportunity to work at a local school, where you will help to beautify the facility for the children. Many of the schools are dilapidated and are in great need of redevelopment. Your team will be able to help in the beatification process whether it’s to repaint the school, build a library for the children, create a playground or even start a community garden. Your team will also have a fun day with the children, where they will get to play and enjoy the services that was provided to them.

SOCIAL ISSUE: COMMUNITY OUTREACH

ICO has a community outreach program that complements and strengthens our many efforts to protect children, families and the community in concrete ways through a range of activities and initiatives. We provide school uniforms and supplies to underprivileged children, many students can’t afford school uniforms so their only alternative is to stay at home and do errands for people within the community for small tips. By providing the basic necessities for these children they are able to gain a valuable education. In addition we provide assistant with food, clothing and medical supplies supplies for children living in poverty. ICO is interested in impacting the local communities which are in desperate need of assistance.

PROJECT

For your alternative break project you will have the opportunity to work local families who lives within the villages. The main focus of your project will be to collect donated used clothes, shoes, school supplies where you will give to individual families who are in need. You will personally get to meet with each family, spend time at their homes and have to opportunity to hear their stories. You will also be able to provide other assistance to them such as beautifying their homes.

SOCIAL ISSUE: HEALTH

Worldwide, 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized. Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. Children health is very important to ICO because staying healthy for kids is vital for proper growth and development of their mind and body. They require enough energy to spend the entire day in school. They should be able to focus in the classroom and fully participate in the activities. For this, they need proper nutrition which includes carbohydrates, proteins, calcium, minerals, etc. Through donations funded to ICO, we will supply proper and healthy food to children and also seek and find children who need medical care and provide assistant to those who can’t afford treatment.

PROJECT

For your alternative break project you will have the opportunity to work a local clinic where you will able to provide medical assistance to those in need. The debt of your project will depend on how the comfort level of the team. You will not have to part take in a project that you’re not comfortable with. You will also have to opportunity to help beautify the facility and even help with organization of the medical supplies which will relieve a lot of burden from the under staffed facility.

SOCIAL ISSUE: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT-POVERTY

More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death. ICO works directly with communities and seeks to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them. ICO works in the midst of disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can’t win against nearly impossible odds.

PROJECT

For your alternative break project you will have the opportunity to work directly with young adults who have dropped out of school because they simply can’t afford it. You will be able to have a workshop with individuals where you can tell them your story and listen to theirs and in return provide hope for those young adults. You will also be able to provide assistance to them whether it’s clothing, food or medical supplies.
The team along with ICO will host an empowerment minicamp for the individuals where we will expose them to different skills such as sewing, masonry, carpentry, and computers and so on. This will help them to potentially find something they are interested in pursuing as a trade and in return this will keep them away from crime and be able to provide assistance not only for themselves but for their families.

SOCIAL ISSUE: HOMELESSNESS/ORPHANS

The greatest need is to help the needy. ICO is dedicated work with other agencies which will improve public policies to eradicate hunger and under-nutrition nationally and internationally. ICO supports and empowers the homeless to alleviate suffering, provide food and clothing and ultimately touch the mind, body and spirit of those they serve. ICO believe everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their personal circumstances, and offered the skills, knowledge and assistance they need to help themselves lead healthy and productive lives.

PROJECT

For your alternative break project you will have the opportunity to work with orphans, homeless children and families. You will be able to work at an orphanage to provide assistance to the children by donating clothing, food, school and medical supplies. You will also help with beautifying the orphanage for the children whether it’s repainting their rooms or living area, creating beautiful murals so they can feel at home and not institutionalized. You will also have to opportunity to cook and serve hot meals to homeless people at a shelter and also provide hygiene products along with clothing to assist them.

SITE FEES

•Price per person depends on the location and duration of your trip. ICO offers weekends and one to two weeks trips. Please contact us for more information,

• Includes all project related supplies
• Includes meals- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Transfer, as necessary, for aB site, airport pick up and drop off
• Includes water at sites
• Optional Free Day varies depending on country and expeditions
• Site Fee does not include airline ticket; however ICO will work on getting a group rate and or discount once the service agreement is made between ICO and your team.
• Discounts are available for returning ICO volunteers.