An annual humanitarian trip to Barbados by Quinnipiac graduate nursing students has been cancelled this year, organizers of the trip said.

“I suppose in a way we were a little disappointed,” said Barbara Moynihan, a graduate professor of Nursing. “You have to remember nobody was recruited.” Moynihan was referring to the random lottery process that selects four Quinnipiac graduate nursing students to go on the volunteer mission to the Caribbean island nation.

The reason for the trip’s cancellation this year was the inability of two Barbadian organizers of the trip to focus enough attention to planning as a result of personal matters, said David Ives, the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac.

In past years, the alternative spring break trip has given selected graduate students, faculty and staff members the opportunity to educate Barbadians about domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and community outreach.

If there are additional setbacks in the future regarding the possibility of having the Quinnipiac team return to Barbados, Ives hopes to send teams of students and professors to other Caribbean island nations. “Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica are countries that we are interested in helping out,” Ives said. “We need to meet with them and match skills for what we do here at Quinnipiac so we can help them.”