LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- A group of Rider University students with Caribbean heritage have been doing their part recently to help out those who are less fortunate.

The Rider Organization of Caribbean Affiliated Students (ROCAS) will lead a University-sponsored contingent to Jamaica for a volunteer work project. The project will be held from Friday, January 3 to Thursday, January 16, 1997.

Over a dozen students and administrators will arrive in Kingston, Jamaica and work with children in the Carron Hall orphanage and the Pringle Home for Children through January 10. From there, the group will travel to Ochiorios to work at the Iona School. While in Ochiorios, the students will be exposed to Jamaica's landscape and culture, viewing Dunes Rivers Falls and the Blue Mountains in addition to visiting the University of the West Indies, the Bob Marley Museum, and several local church services. They will also visit Spanishtown in St. Catherine, home of Rider senior and ROCAS president Warren Scott.

"Most of our time there will be spent doing direct work with kids," said Don Brown, director of Rider's multi-cultural center. "Most work will be tutorial and play with the children. In past years, we've done repair work to some school or church buildings, and we'll do that again if help is needed. We'll also be bringing down t-shirts, blankets, and over-the-counter medicine for the schools and orphanages."

Participating students will be eligible to receive one academic credit at Rider for their efforts.

In October, ROCAS also sponsored a Halloween Haunted House on campus for area children. Those who attended the event were asked to bring a canned food item to gain admission. The cans of food collected were then donated to the Trenton Soup Kitchen in Trenton, NJ, to be served to homeless or hungry area citizens.

For more information on the Jamaican work project or other ROCAS events, contact Mr. Brown at (609) 895-5781, or Reverend Nancy Schluter, campus Protestant minister and ROCAS advisor, at (609) 896-5180.

Rider University is a private, non-sectarian institution located 60 miles south of New York City and 35 miles north of Philadelphia, PA in Lawrenceville, NJ. It is divided into five academic units -- the Colleges of Business Administration, Education and Human Services, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Continuing Studies, and Westminster Choir College. U.S. News and World Report again ranks Rider in the top tier of regional universities and colleges in the north.