Volunteering with Alma’s Alt. Breaks

ALLI WICHERT
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

LEXIE THAYER
LAYOUT EDITOR

10/20/2025

During fall break, many Alma College students participated in one of two alternative break programs, volunteering at either Karma Kat Café or Rise Advocacy in Mount Pleasant.

For students who volunteered at Karma Kat Café, responsibilities included various maintenance and cleaning tasks for the cats residing at the café. 

“I obviously enjoyed all my tasks, but the highlight was socializing the cats. We got to acclimate them to people so that they can hopefully become adopted, which felt so impactful. The process at Karma Kat is honestly just so amazing.” said Joshua Kase (‘28).

The café itself is a licensed animal shelter that innovates the traditional pattern of adopting cats. Instead of visiting cats in individual enclosures, Karma Kat allows visitors to play with all the cats in a large area, so that guests can fall in love with their potential new animal best friends.

Karma Kat will also host fun events, such as cat yoga, art with cats, and student study nights, so that even community members who may not be able to adopt a cat can interact with the sheltered cats, creating a positive environment for both the cats and visitors. 

For individuals interested in volunteering individually at Karma Kat Café, their website includes information on how to get involved. Even for those without time to volunteer, Karma Kat also takes donations that go one hundred percent into caring for the cats. 

For students who volunteered at RISE advocacy, responsibilities included hosting a Halloween carnival, where fall activities such as pumpkin carving and coloring were offered to RISE clients.

“My favorite experience from the alternative break was connecting with people who have had different experiences than I have,” said Charlotte Rockwell (‘28).

“We got to interact with the RISE clients on an interpersonal level…We are taught to humanize victims, and this one-on-one interaction really helped show me that these are real people just like us who happened to end up in bad situations,” said Emma Millard (‘28).

RISE advocacy provides support services for survivors of both sexual abuse and domestic assault. Free services provided by RISE include emergency shelter, counseling, and legal advocacy. 

Additionally, RISE also provides the Men Overcoming Violent Encounters (M.O.V.E) program, a 26-week program in which mandated attendees or volunteer attendees are taught non-violent relationship skills to those who have used physical or emotional abuse tactics towards members in their household.

Despite the limited amount of time available for students to volunteer, both opportunities allowed students to get involved in their local communities.

Students who are interested in taking an alternative break can follow Alma College’s Alternative Breaks Instagram @ac_altbreaks or scan the QR code around campus. 

Anyone who is concerned that they or a loved one may be experiencing domestic or sexual violence can contact RISE’s 24-hour emergency hotline at 844-349-6177.