TeamVOLS is hosting an all you can eat spaghetti lunch from 11-2 p.m. at the Black Cultural Center on Valentine's Day to raise money for an alternative spring break trip.  This annual event will occur again on Feb. 21 at the International House.  This two-pronged fundraising attempt will fund two volunteer activities for fifty members of TeamVOLS over the spring break.

For $5, you get unlimited salad, spaghetti and breadsticks.  "We're hoping that the usual people that support us will bring dates because it's Valentines," Lyndsey Carmichael, graduate assistant, said. 

The team members act as chefs and servers for this long-standing traditional lunch.  The money raised goes towards funding for meals, traveling expenses and lodging fees for the volunteers.  Carmichael estimates a good turnout this year from the staff, faculty and student organizations that support TeamVOLS. 

These fundraisers raise a lot of money to make the alternative spring break possibly free or with minimal costs for volunteers.  From March 14 - 18, TeamVOLS members will give up part of their spring break to make a difference in a community in the U.S.  Fall 2007 semester took the team members to Baton Rouge, La., and Charleston, W. Va. TeamVOLS has worked with food banks, Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Red Cross and other organizations around the country as part of their services.  

  Lisa Elder, undecided freshman, is a volunteer for alternative spring break.  As her first time participating, she does not mind giving up some of her spring break for a good cause. 

"I'm actually really excited to be doing this for my break; it's an opportunity to do something good instead of nothing," Elder said.

If you want to join TeamVOLS on their community service missions, register at http://web.utk.edu/~teamvols/.