Our Chance to Make the World Better

Hi my name is Ana Galloway and I am a “Champion for Change.” This is my first year serving as a Michigan's AmeriCorps member at Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids. My position at Goodwill is the Volunteer Coordinator; I have the privilege of recruiting, orienting, scheduling, and placing volunteers in Goodwill Industries throughout eight Michigan counties. I am currently in contact with 290 volunteers and growing.

I thoroughly enjoy my service because I am able to connect with diverse groups of people, which helps me to grow as an individual. Each day I am able to interact with volunteers of different cultures, races, genders, ages, abilities, religions, education, income, or work backgrounds. I am truly blessed because each day I am able to see diverse groups of volunteers coming together for the same purpose: to make the world a better place. Not only do my volunteers want to make a difference but my fellow AmeriCorps members do as well.

I serve with 18 extraordinary Michigan's AmeriCorps members who strive to make positive differences in on anothers' lives. Each day members strive to Change Lives and Communities through The Power of Work through services they provide at Goodwill. Services my fellow members provide are: help finding employment, resume building, mock interviewing skills, financial opportunities, veteran’s assistance, prisoner re-entry, free computer workshops, career coaching, GED preparation, and career center access. All of those services are provided to the general public in the eight counties we serve in. Together we are committed to making a change in the lives of the people we come into contact with.

For our winter service project, AmeriCorps members from Goodwill served in collaboration with the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program giving back to families in need in the Grand Rapids area. From 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., AmeriCorps members served at the Angel Tree Drop-Off Center at the Salvation Army Dickinson Park Offices. Members helped to unload, count, sort, and then load toys and gifts for children in west Michigan.

As a result of the service project, we were able to provide gifts and food vouchers to 1,553 households! That means that 4,410 children woke up to find gifts under the Christmas tree, and 7,204 individuals were able to enjoy a wonderful Christmas meal. Goodwill AmeriCorps members played an active part in the brightening of local families and children’s holiday season. AmeriCorps members were able to get things done all in the spirit of service.

It is now the New Year and I am excited about the all of the new opportunities and relationships AmeriCorps has afforded me. I plan to build off of the new knowledge I have gained while serving and apply it to this upcoming service year. I challenge you to make this year one of growth, knowledge, and positive relationships! This is our world, and our chance to make it better!

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” ~ John Wesley

Thank You Red Cross!

Hello - my name is Robb Morford. I'm a Michigan's AmeriCorps member serving with the Washtenaw-Lenawee chapter of the American Red Cross through their statewide Together We Prepare AmeriCorps (TWPA) program. In addition to providing immediate assistance to disaster victims, my fellow TWPA members and I also educate Michigan residents on how to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies and disasters.

On October 27th, I was deployed to New York with a few of my fellow TWPA members to support the American Red Cross response to Hurricane Sandy. During the next 20 days, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the greatest people in the United States and serving with some of the most caring and selfless people in the world as we provided water, supplies, and other necessary support to Sandy victims whose lives had been devastated by the storm.

After three weeks of service in New York, I was starting to get tired from fifteen hour days where I went non-stop. In situations like that, you sometimes need a reminder of why you are putting yourself through such torture. I got that reminder one cold afternoon as we were driving down our route.

After helping one of my regular clients who I had grown close to, my partner in the driver seat told me to step out of the back of our truck and look at this house. I got out of the truck thinking it was going to be more devastation or another house boat in the street I just had to see. This was not another house boat or more devastation. It was more impressive than any of that.

Over this client's garage, in many different colors, was a banner that said, "Thank You Red Cross!"
 

After three weeks of struggle, frustration, and pure tiredness, that simple banner and knowing that we were doing something good warmed my heart and kept me going. To that family, thank you. You make it all worth it.