NATCHEZ &045; Not too long ago, college students across the country faced a multiple choice question: would you rather spend your spring break partying at the beach, visiting family and friends back home or volunteering in a faraway corner of the nation?

For at least two groups of college students, the choice was clear &045; volunteering in Natchez.

Students from Boston University and Quincy University, respectively, are spending their spring break this week volunteering at the Natchez Children’s Home and with Adams County Habitat for Humanity.

Although the groups aren’t affiliated with each other, they both found out about volunteer opportunities in Natchez via the Internet.

Children’s Home and Habitat representatives said volunteer help is invaluable, saving them both time and money, both of which are hard for nonprofits to come by.

And student volunteers said they get satisfaction from knowing they’ve spent their spring break helping others in tangible ways, not just working on their tans.

Volunteering during spring break is nothing new for Stan White. The sophomore and more than a dozen others from Boston University spent Monday repainting the interior of the Children’s Home and organizing items upstairs for a fund-raising garage sale.

White has already taken part in one volunteering project &045; helping out last year with various tasks for the Nature Conservancy in Florida.

&uot;It’s a way to get community service in, to really help people, Š which gives you a good feeling,&uot; White said.

&uot;It’s a good chance to go South to experience the culture here, and the weather is warmer. Besides, I’m from California &045; it’s too far to go home, anyway,&uot; he said with a smile.

For Emily Lukasewski, a sophomore from Connecticut, a highlight of the trip has been getting to know the people. &uot;I’m always heard about Southern hospitality, but to experience it firsthand has been amazing,&uot; she said.

Joe Mitchell, development director at the Children’s Home, said he has emphasized to the volunteers that the work they’re doing &uot;isn’t just busy work to give them warm fuzzies.&uot;

Clothes and other items organized for the garage sale are sold to get money to pay the nonprofit’s bills, and interior improvements help improve the morale of the children and workers alike, Mitchell said.

Next, the volunteers were set to repair playground equipment and make improvements to the houseparent’s residence, among other tasks.

&uot;There’s always something else for them to do around here,&uot; Mitchell said.

Several blocks away on Smith Street, six students from Quincy University in Quincy, Ill., and one of their friends, a student at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, worked on the interior of a Habitat house.

Monday’s tasks included installing insulation and sheetrock, said Duncan McFarlane, treasurer and board member of Adams County’s Habitat chapter.

Because local volunteers can usually only work on the house twice a week at the most, the students &uot;can get done in a week what we would usually get done in a month,&uot; McFarlane said.

For Quincy student Jacquez Chills of Chicago, volunteering for the Habitat project was a way to get back to what was once one of her favorite pastimes &045; community service.

&uot;It was a way for me to get back in the spirit of giving again,&uot; Chills said.

Compared to your usual spring break, added Quincy sophomore Steve Riederar of Kansas City, &uot;it’s a lot more fulfilling. What we’re doing has a purpose.&uot;

Both groups of students, who will work on their projects through Friday, are being housed at Community Chapel Church of God during their stay.