Manalapan resident and University of Hartford student, Samantha Fucarino spent her spring break with 29 other students helping the residents of Tuscaloosa, AL rebuild their community after last year's devastating tornado.

Fucarino and her classmates were in Tuscaloosa from March 16 through March 24 taking their "alternative spring break", where students choose to volunteer rather than take a vacation.

The Hartford crew received Red Cross disaster training, worked on reconstruction, home improvement, debris removal and tree planting projects. Fucarino and the others also volunteered their time at food banks, Head Start programs, free clothing outlets, Boys and Girls Clubs, and soup kitchens.

While in Alabama, the college students visited Birmingham where they took a Civil Rights Walking Tour of the city and visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The University of Hartford was founded in 1957 with a missiong to be a "private university with a public purpose," according to a press release issued by the school. The college, made up of about 7,200 students, offers undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in the arts, humanities, business, engineering and technolorgy, education, and the health professions.

For more information on the University of Hartford, please visit their Web site.