Conducting Service in the Upper Peninsula

Hello everyone! My name is Melinda Seppanen and I am a second-year member serving with Superior AmeriCorps. During my first year, I served with the BHK Child Development Even Start program assisting parents in receiving their high school diploma or GED. This year, I have the honor of serving preschool students. Let me give you some basic information on our AmeriCorps program.

The Superior AmeriCorps program is funded to operate in Baraga, Dickinson, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The program focuses its efforts on a single priority area: education. Forty-six full-time members serve in schools, service agencies, and nonprofit organizations throughout the program area. School-based members tutor and mentor students who need support to achieve school success. They also initiate safe, enriching after-school and summer youth programs. Members in pre-school centers work with young children to nurture their development and enhance their school readiness.

I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss our Make A Difference Day service projects this past October. One of our new projects we were very proud of this year was based on community gardens. A group of members spent many hours tending to the community gardens designed to quell many of the problems inhibiting residents of the area; including allowing for an area for low-income people to grow their own food, creating an educational site to teach people about horticulture, teaching students about eating responsibly to fight adolescent obesity, and simply giving people a creative environment for sharing. They worked on five different gardens.

Some other projects included painting the railings at a local high school, conducting a blood drive, and cleaning nature trails. AmeriCorps members also held a clothing drive in two of the seven counties we serve. Various types of clothing were collected and donated to the Department of Human Services office in each county. More than 200 items were donated! Some members also participated in supporting our troops by collecting donated goods and stuffing them in Christmas stockings.

For Make A Difference Day, Superior AmeriCorps put on eight different services projects. Our members cover a wide area of the Upper Peninsula, which gives us the opportunity to assist many people! What service projects are you proud of?