One Conversation at a Time

“So, tell me about your service Rhonda,” I said bending over to pull a luscious and prolific green plant from the ground. I was standing in a field of garlic mustard – an invasive plant that is crowding out native vegetation in much of southwest Michigan – on the banks of the Kalamazoo River. I was one of 10 women, each of us quietly plucking tall plants from the ground, adding to the arm load we were already carrying. When our piles became too heavy, we would pick our way back to the bike path where garbage bags had been stationed for collection. All around us, AmeriCorps members from across the state were busy removing other invasive plants – Tree-of-Heaven, dame’s rocket, honeysuckle, and buckthorn.

My name is Abigail Ertel, and I was part of the “River Crew” for this year’s Russ Mawby Signature Service Project. Although I am a second-year member serving with Huron Pines AmeriCorps in Grayling, this was my first time joining more than 350 AmeriCorps members, Alums, VISTAs, and community volunteers in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood on May 14^th and 15^th. Volunteers helped build playgrounds, fence community gardens, paint houses and buildings, and complete the clean-up along the Kalamazoo River corridor. Michigan’s AmeriCorps and Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity accomplished a great deal during the weekend, but in addition to physically completing projects, it was a time for members to make connections and to better understand the impact AmeriCorps has on Michigan’s communities.

As Rhonda began to tell me about her term of service, I was struck by the scene unfolding around me. As each person diligently pulled, cut, or piled brush and plants along a mile of riverfront, they were learning about each other. There were quiet conversations describing programs, laughter over shared interests, and soft murmurs of understanding as one member could relate to a difficult time another had experienced in their program. I began to realize the situation I had found myself in on the river was familiar. It was being repeated over and over again at each volunteer project my program coordinates.

Signature Service Project was a chance to see how AmeriCorps is strengthening communities on a grand scale, but for me, my experience in Kalamazoo helped illuminate the bigger picture of my program’s service in Northeast Michigan. While serving the Northside Neighborhood of Kalamazoo, we created our own small community right there on the banks of the river. We were depending on one another to complete the tasks given to us, and building relationships along the way. It’s true that for most of us, these relationships will remain in that moment – we won’t make weekly phone calls or visit each other’s homes – but the memory will stay with us. I began to realize that Huron Pines AmeriCorps is also creating a community of people invested in conserving Northeast Michigan’s natural resources.

Our projects provide community members the opportunity to participate in hands-on river, wildlife, and forest restoration work. While some of our volunteers know each other before arriving at a project site, they are more often strangers at the beginning of the work day. As they sample bugs from a river to determine water quality, they may ask each other why they decided to attend the event, or as they place large woody debris on a stream bank creating fish habitat, they may ask about each other’s families, jobs, or interests. No matter what the question, they are learning about and investing in each other, and celebrating the results of the work they are doing together. Their decision to participate in that particular project provides a greater understanding of what Huron Pines AmeriCorps is doing to conserve the natural resources of the area, but also highlights that there are other people in the community who  believe this work is important. These volunteers find strength in their common interest and are more likely to volunteer again, knowing there are others who believe these efforts are essential to the health of their community.

I would probably never have met Rhonda if it had not been for Signature Service Project, but that brief encounter has redefined the importance of community service for me. Now, every time I volunteer or attend a service project I’ll be making an effort to connect with those around me because I know it only enhances my experience. As I continue to coordinate projects and recruit community volunteers for Huron Pines AmeriCorps, I will draw on my experience in Kalamazoo as the moment where I really began to understand that volunteering is about more than successfully completing a project – it is about building community.