We’re Busy at Camp Fire USA!

Recently, a student in my after-school class of seventh and eighth graders asked me, “Why are you here? Why aren’t you doing something else! You could be a doctor or a lawyer and then you wouldn’t have to deal with us everyday!”

His question was honest, and he was genuinely surprised that some people might choose to spend their time with him and his friends. Although my AmeriCorps service can be exhausting and frustrating, it is also rewarding, inspiring, and challenging in the very best way. This year has been a lot of fun – I feel blessed to serve in a setting where I can step back from my students or my team and remind myself that there is no where else I would rather be.

Hi, everyone! My name is Karlee Kage, and I am a first year AmeriCorps member with Camp Fire USA: West Michigan Council. It has been a busy past couple of weeks for my fellow AmeriCorps members at Camp Fire, as well as all throughout Michigan!

My team consists of about 15 members, and we lead classes of elementary and middle school youth, assisting with homework, leading activities, and teaching Camp Fire’s curriculum. The kids are a lot of fun, and I have had a blast serving in a variety of schools this year. Some highlights have been judging an epic paper airplane contest, helping my students build remote controlled Lego cars, and baking cookies together and then decorating them with sprinkles, bananas, and fruit snacks, piled on top of lots and lots of frosting! At one school, we set up a “zoo” in the gym, and kids walked around, petting stuffed polar bears, feeding fuzzy ducks, and running away from the threatening snakes! Recently, my middle school students have enjoyed serving the community by picking up trash around the school and neighborhood.

We are currently preparing for a change of pace by finishing up the regular school year after-school program to prepare for our summer programs. We have also been busy teaching self-reliance courses all over Grand Rapids. Our grade-specific curriculums, “I’m Safe and Sure,” “I Can Do It,” and “I’m Peer Proof” run for five weeks, and it has been fun interacting with so many different kids and schools in the community. The students love the games we play with them, and it is amazing how much information they recall week after week.

Another exciting event, the 8^th Annual Grand Rapids Public Schools Collaborative Youth Fair, was held Saturday, May 22, at Creston High School. Students from each of our after-school sites displayed art projects they made throughout the year. It was great to see all the kids’ creativity on display and to have students from all the after school programs in one place.

As you can see, it is certainly a busy time with Camp Fire USA and AmeriCorps, but it is fun and there is always plenty of excitement. For more information or to volunteer for our summer programs, check out our website at http://www.campfireusawmc.org

Signature Service Project Wrap-up

Hello again! This is Rachel Freedman-Doan, serving with Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership. I hope everyone had a fantastic 2010 AmeriCorps Week! There were some great projects all around the state – from Detroit to Gaylord members were engaged in some great service all week. We capped it off with one final event this past weekend – the Russ Mawby Signature Service Project (SSP).

This past Friday and Saturday (May 14 and 15), nearly 250 AmeriCorps members from all around Michigan gathered together in Kalamazoo for a day and a half of service. SSP is a great way for members from different programs to get to know each other and provides important service to the community. This is the fourth annual SSP, and Kalamazoo was a great host city! Members spent the two days in the northside neighborhood working with Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity (KVHH) on various projects; including cleaning up the banks of the Kalamazoo River by removing invasive species, restoring a playground for area children, and cleaning up Habitat for Humanity’s Restore.

Our team (Team 9) spent day one serving with Ministry with Community (MwC), a day shelter that provides breakfast, lunch, laundry services, mental health services, birth certificate and identification assistance, employment assistance, and other free services to community members. We spent our time beautifying the grounds, cleaning the barbershop and computer lab, and organizing the storage areas. MwC relies heavily on their volunteers, their contributions in 2009 equaled 12 full-time employees.

Day two was spent with Habitat for Humanity. Our group was lucky enough to work on a house with KVHH. Working with the family who will be moving in later this summer, we spent the day landscaping and putting some finishing touches on the inside of the house. Our team dug drainage trenches, moved 20,000 pounds (really!) of dirt and nearly 18,000 pounds of rocks to beautify areas around the home and fill in low spots on the front lawn, and caulked around all the interior windows, walls, and doors.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and sore (my arms are still hurting from all that dirt), but excited to see the work we had done to help Tami and her family be able to move into their home. A big thank you to Don and Lee with KVHH for all their guidance with our project, and to Tami and her children for letting us into her home – we truly enjoyed working with you on Saturday.

SSP was a great way to hear about the service projects happening all around the state, get to know fellow AmeriCorps members, and engage in some fantastic service. SSP even got some media coverage! Check out these stories at mlive.com and at FOX 17.

What did you do for the 2010 AmeriCorps Week? Are you looking forward to next year’s SSP? I know I can’t wait!

Earth Day and Beyond

Hi everybody! This is Trevor Pegues serving in the Faith In Youth program in beautiful West Michigan. Here in Holland, the Tulip Time Festival is in full swing, and the streets are humming with tourists and freshly de-hibernated locals. Our crew had the opportunity to participate in the festivities by marching in the “Street Sweeper” parade. It was a unique and exciting outing for the entire service crew. Marching through downtown Holland, proudly displaying our AmeriCorps grays and banners which displayed our site names, was a fresh experience (even for a second year vet like myself!). I especially enjoyed the opportunity to let such a large group of people know about what we do at Faith In Youth.

Speaking of which, I haven’t informed any of you readers about my service experience, what we do, and who we serve. Please allow me to illuminate. The Faith In Youth partnership works in collaboration with three area school districts, nine area churches, and youth ministry organizations to provide programming for at-risk middle school youth, including; tutoring, one-on-one mentoring, and drop-in after school activities.

We have recently jumped out of our busy schedules to participate in a variety of service-related community activities, all of which are leading up to the 2010 AmeriCorps Week and annual Russ Mawby Signature Service Project. We began our festivities by conducting an Earth Day Project, which consisted of cleaning up neighborhoods in an urban residential area near downtown Holland. As people from all places gathered to begin the event at Cornerstone Ministries it was amazing to see how each person came for two purposes, making our Earth a cleaner place and volunteering as a team. Two teams started off and walked the nearby streets of 16^th through 20^th in a contest to see who could gather the most trash. After two hours of picking up items our team was ready to celebrate our success in making the neighborhood greener by having a community celebration consisting of serving hot dogs, vegan dogs, and nachos!

Our crew would not stop here though because we were all excited about our next opportunity to serve! Our goal was to take our volunteering in a different direction and help support a local organization that trains abused horses for therapeutic riding for children and teens. As a start-up organization, their needs ranged from grooming horses to removing stumps to adding a brand new gate to a fence. Our group gathered together with teenagers from one of our sites and we started tackling each of the tasks one by one. Removing the stump proved to be the most exciting part as not only is it thrilling to see a large stump removed but also because we got to see the horses run around! As we got to experience nature with the horses, the middle school students who ride them also had the chance to get their hands dirty. After this experience, they claim they enjoyed themselves but prefer city living!

Finally with the 2010 AmeriCorps Week drawing near, our team is ready to expand our efforts beyond being a neighborhood or even community project, but to go all the way to a county-wide project. With spring in the air and summer quickly approaching, Faith in Youth contacted the county parks and asked what their needs were entering the summer season. Next week, Tunnel Park, Riley Park, and Hemlock Park will undergo an intensive spring-cleaning. Our team will split into three groups to make sure signs and picnic benches are painted, and that each park is cleaned and groomed for a busy season of spring/summer fun.

This year our service focus was being out in nature so we could enjoy the fresh air downtown, in a neighborhood, out on a farm, and in a county park. But it was also time for our team to expose the AmeriCorps name. It was apparent our community will benefit richly by not just understanding what AmeriCorps is but also how they can become involved in our efforts to improve the community. These past few weeks have been a time of bonding with other teammates, community members, and feeling good about keeping our Earth happy and healthy!

Alcohol Awareness Month

Hello, friends and community members, Yasmine here and I am genuinely excited to tell you about this past month in service. In April, Superior AmeriCorps – along with the generous support of more than 60 community businesses – hosted the 13^th annual Alcohol Awareness Month (AAM). Our purpose was to provide activities throughout the month where students in grades fifth through twelfth could engage in safe and alcohol free functions. This year we were happy to sponsor a t-shirt logo and slogan contest, bowling event, basketball tournament, and an all-school dance. We were also very excited to be able to coordinate two mock accidents to educate students on the dangers involved in drinking alcohol.

To kick the month off, we held an AAM logo and slogan contest. Students in grades fifth through twelfth were given the challenge to come up with their own unique logo and slogan that was to be used throughout the month. The winning combo was then screen printed on t-shirts and handed out to tournament participants and volunteers and used as prizes for other events. This year’s winning slogan was “Take a Stand to be Alcohol Free.”

The first weekend our bowling activity was geared towards fun for the whole family and the all-school dance had a “Dancing through the Decades” theme where students were encouraged to dress up. Before the music started all students were led into the dance arena and asked to sit down to listen to a presentation and slide show. They were then told that during the middle of the dance AmeriCorps members would have trivia questions about alcohol and the dangers of drinking. This was the first time we attempted to do this so all members were anxious about participation, but when the time came and the music cut out everyone was eager to participate and ask questions.

The eighth annual basketball tournament held by Superior AmeriCorps was very popular as we had more than 25 teams register to play. We had referee volunteers from Michigan Tech University and a local reporter volunteered to work the time clock and help out at the Victims of Drunk Driving Display in the hallway. We wanted to ensure teams understood the reason behind Superior AmeriCorps putting on the tournament. Myths and facts about alcohol were placed throughout the gym and each team received more alcohol-related information.

This is the first year our members coordinated a mock accident. Second year members had toyed with the idea last year and felt the time was right to incorporate it into Alcohol Awareness Month. It was an amazing effort by AmeriCorps members to organize local police, volunteer fire departments, the community hospital, and others for this mock accident, and it came together nicely with many schools able to benefit from the demonstration.

We are also very grateful to the Michigan State Police for allowing us to use their Drunk Driving Goggles as well as the use of their Victims of Drunk Driving Display throughout the month. The Drunk Driving Goggles simulate conditions experienced when impaired by alcohol and students at various AAM events were asked to try and walk in a straight line while wearing the goggles. Not one single participant was able to take one step without stepping outside of the line and each was given a “citation.” The display board had portraits of many children, teenagers, and adults that had lost their lives because of a drunk driver. All the victims were from the Copper Country area and that struck a chord with some of the participants.

Although AmeriCorps members work extremely hard to coordinate and have these events flourish, Alcohol Awareness Month would not be possible without the help of our local community volunteers, donors, and participants. I would like to thank all who contributed to make this a positive success. We appreciate it!