Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #7

Hello! My name is Asa Lockett and I serve with AmeriCorps at City Year Detroit. Our program provides service by tutoring and mentoring students K through 12 and running after school programs where we hope to dramatically change student’s views on equality, idealism, and diversity. City Year now has sites in 19 cities nationwide as well as an international site in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our primary goal is to build democracy through citizen engagement, leadership development, and social entrepreneurship.

This past Monday, January 19, we hosted the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service at Chadsey High School in Southwest Detroit where we had over 100 volunteers come out to help paint bathrooms, hallways, classrooms, and the gymnasium. Seeing these dedicated and diverse individuals pour their hearts out for service was amazing and shows that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream still has wings. It was beautiful to see strangers work side by side and unselfishly help redecorate a school in need and commit their time to a community other than their own.

Here at City Year and in AmeriCorps, we understand the importance of serving and putting others before ourselves. It is truly a wonder to see how lives can be changed and communities can be strengthened when people work together one task at a time in order to see a larger positive change. We still have dreams of transforming this nation into a much better place but in order to do so we need the help of more open-minded and self-sacrificing people willing to dedicate a year of service to empower and uplift others in need. It sounds challenging but comfort is the enemy of achievement.

City Year’s vision is someday the most commonly asked question of a young adult will be, “Where are you going to do your service year?” So I ask you…when will you?

Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #6

Hello, it's Matthew Reaume again from Huron Pines AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps and environmental stewardship both strive to accomplish the same goal, which is to create a better world. We cannot make a better world without dedicated individuals who believe change is possible only when people act.

John F. Kennedy once said "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." AmeriCorps embodies this spirit.

When committed people serve their community and country by giving their time and energy to eliminating poverty, educating those who've fallen behind, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the homeless, we are certainly advancing our goal to create a better world. But how exactly does environmental stewardship contribute to this?

The first reason is because without environmental stewardship, human beings could plausibly alter the environment beyond the earth's natural ability to recover and stabilize. This would of course result in worldwide catastrophe including, but not limited to, massive drought, famine, flooding, fires, disease outbreak, starvation, and death on a biblical scale. There is overwhelming scientific agreement on this statement. It would be hard to imagine a better world on a planet described above.

But even if one is not particularly inclined to subscribe to the first reason, they will certainly recognize the practical effects of the second reason. The second reason is environmental stewardship is necessary to create a better world due to its economic implications. Sound environmental policy can have positive effects on the economy. A struggling economy however may make it difficult to fund these policy changes.

The articles found at the following addresses discuss the balance between the economy and the environment in greater detail:

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007445.html

http://www.onearth.org/article/a-strong-economy-is-a-green-economy

But if we understand that by conserving our environment, we are securing economic prosperity, then we should also recognize why a strong economy is vital to creating a better world. A strong economy has a positive effect on the world AmeriCorps is dedicated to improving.

Take poverty for example. It is hard to imagine in today's economic climate that enough employment opportunities exist to allow for economic mobility upward for the impoverished. Of all the things that have been done to help the poor up to this point, without job-growth in this country, we are facing a road-block.

This is just one example that illustrates how the AmeriCorps' mission to improve the world through national service is inextricably linked with service to and for the environment.

What are some other ways in which the idea of environmental stewardship aligns with the goals of AmeriCorps?

Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #5

My name is Kathleen Grandy and I am a member with Downriver CARES AmeriCorps. Our program’s host site is The Guidance Center, which serves Southeast Michigan in a mental health capacity. The Guidance Center’s programs focus on treatment, prevention, and growth and education, serving nearly 18,000 clients each year. In my AmeriCorps service placement, I teach parent-child interaction groups and coordinate a tutoring program for grades K – 5.

This past summer, an elementary school in one of our served communities, River Rouge, closed due to funding and low numbers. The school’s closing was upsetting to the community, which was already facing severe economic difficulty. Seeing this school shut down was like adding a load of hopelessness to an already bleak situation.

With the help of our AmeriCorps team, The Guidance Center was able to lease the building and turn it into a Community Resource Center. Downriver CARES engaged in all of the brunt work; preparing the building for a mixed-use space that would welcome the community back. We put months of work into the restoration of the Center and finally, in early December 2008, we were ready for a grand opening. The weekend before the grand opening though things took a turn for the worse - a pipe burst which caused the back half of the center to be covered in six inches of water.

We were broken hearted. Our months of hard work were ruined in one short weekend. As a group, we decided to postpone the party and focus on keeping a positive attitude and getting things done. People came from all over to help us clean up the Center and everyone was so cooperative. Before we knew it, the water was pumped out, everything was clean and in working order, and new carpeting was installed. It has now been only one month and we are back in business and working better than ever!

The Community Resource Center offers several programs including: GED tutoring, grades K-5 tutoring, Head Start preschool, parent-child interaction groups, mental health support and rehabilitation classes, a computer lab, and a clothing closet. We are also planning a summer day camp for the future. With that project, all of the services will be provided by The Guidance Center’s AmeriCorps members. It is exciting to be a part of the building’s redemption. Without our AmeriCorps team, none of it would have been possible. What is your story of redemption and perseverance?

Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #4

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a happy holiday and great start to the New Year.

My name is Savanah Zednicek and I’m representing Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps on the Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Council. Our ten full-time members with the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District serve in area elementary schools assisting children in grades K-5 by building bonds and being positive role models who demonstrate exactly where hard work, determination, and integrity can take you.

Through academic mentoring, members assist children in improving their performance in core subjects, with a primary emphasis on building fluent reading skills that will assist them for the rest of their lives. Members also provide further training in conflict resolution and social skills where the focus is on how to resolve conflicts in a civil and appropriate manner that will decrease violence and conflict within the schools and the community.

I find myself close to half way through my second year with Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps and I continue to be amazed each day. Through working with a caseload of 21 at-risk students I find myself engaging one-on-one or in small groups with the same children each day. I have been fortunate enough to serve in the same school both years and it’s amazing to see how the children I worked with, and those I continue to work with, have changed over my two terms of service. I know each of us AmeriCorps members has at least one amazing story to share about an accomplishment we have made and I’d like to encourage all of you to share one of those stories in response to this blog. For those of you who may be site supervisors, family, or friends, I’m sure you’ve seen or heard a story from an AmeriCorps member you could share or something that may have inspired you.

So here is one of my most recent proud moments:

While assisting my school's fourth grade students with a service project to benefit the annual “Toys for Tots” holiday drive, I found myself with a group of boys who were ready to hit the stores in search of the perfect toys. Their excitement was high and their thoughts were running crazy, but they were surprised when we reached the store and they were faced with many challenges. Among these challenges were the cost of toys in comparison to their share of the money (approximately $28), compromising over a gift they all approved of, and sharing the opportunity to give to yet another organization.

After some debate and a little help we were walking to the check out with a Trouble game and a truck. After paying and thanking the cashier they found they had one dollar and change left. Wondering what to do with it I suggested they place it in the red kettle for the Salvation Army. The boys liked this idea, but there was one dollar bill and one coin with three boys. After some discussion, they decided the boy who was carrying the toys would be the one who didn’t place money in the kettle.

Just behind the boys was a kind elderly couple who overheard their conversation. The lady asked the boys to stop and handed change to the boy who had none. She thanked all three boys for being so kind and complimented their giving before she asked them to place the money in the kettle. With a smile from the couple and the boys we walked out the door with a Merry Christmas wish.

On the way back to the school the boys and I discussed the gift choices, skills they learned, and why the lady may have given them change to place in the kettle. With ideas and thoughts abound we all decided it was because the gift of giving can be contagious and that our group had inspired others to serve in a time of need.

I believe this story captures the idea of service and the spirit it can bring to all those who are surrounded by volunteers. Please share your stories, thoughts, and opinions about this story and stories of your accomplishments, things you have seen accomplished, or perhaps something you are working to accomplish.