Service Stories
AmeriCorps Members Stories of Service
2009-2010
-
“The Community Dad’s Group, started in January 2009. With a generous grant from SE Uplift we are able to provide food and incentives at each group. This father-led play group began meeting on the first and third Mondays of each month. As interest for the group increased, the facilitators suggested adding an additional meeting time on a different day of the week. The increased commitment from our dedicated volunteer facilitators means we are able to offer a dad’s group almost every week of the month. At the group’s inception, one father in the community volunteered as a facilitator. Since then, five more fathers have stepped in to leadership roles, guiding discussions and building relationships. With such a large facilitator base we are able to offer increased services, including a greater number of monthly meetings, two facilitators present at each group and at least one bilingual Spanish-speaking facilitator. Their enthusiasm for the group has been a driving force behind its expansion and everyone is excited to continue developing a stronger presence in the community.”
-
“I knew I wanted to try to connect with one of our neighboring high schools and start a partnership. I e-mailed the site supervisor of the SUN program at the High School a couple of months ago to see if there was any interest in collaborating. I was happy to receive a quick response. She was interested in finding ways to bring their students to our school as tutors and mentors as part of their Pathways Program, which has a requirement that each student complete 30 hours of volunteer service in their community. I was very excited about this prospect because I believe strongly in our students having positive youth role models. Today I completed a training for our first batch of High School student volunteers who will tutor in our Homework Clubs and Study Halls. I was excited to find them enthusiastic and eager to work with our youth. As part of the training we had them check out our 3rd through 5th grade Homework Club in action, and I could see a spark of energy and interest. This is pilot program and partnership and I'm excited to see what the future holds.”
-
“We were challenged by our principal to have a fantastic Parent Tea. We worked so hard planning and trying to get the word out to parents. We tried tons of new ways to notify parents, and get parents to the school. It went incredibly well and for the first time it really seemed like the parents were ‘engaged’ in an event that we put on. The principal spoke and had a lot of people laughing. We then went on a tour of the school and went in to all of the classrooms so parents could see what was going on. As we toured the school many of the parents were smiling, and talking amongst themselves as we walked the halls. They even got to go see the 6th graders dissecting turtles. They genuinely seemed to enjoy it, and all of the attention from staff and students. It ended in the library where parents asked questions of the staff members. It was all in all a great parent event, and I was really happy to see the parents truly engaged and wanting to be there.”
-
The One Night Homeless Count took place in Central Oregon on January 28th. I had the privilege to be involved with a Pet Food and Blanket drive to help provide distribute materials for those in need during the Count. All together this drive brought in about 400 pounds of kibble to donate to the Count - over 1,000 pounds of pet food was distributed on the 28th, which is very comforting. In addition, I volunteered for 6.5 hours helping to offer compassion and complete surveys for the One Night Count. I encountered several wonderful people on this day that were open to sharing their stories of hardship. One woman in particular was in a crisis situation and very emotional about the recent passing of her husband and the terminal illness of her beloved dog. It was really rewarding to offer comfort to this woman. We were able to get a local Hospice representative on-site to help usher this woman through the deep grief she was moving through. I will be a lifelong volunteer for this event.
-
Recently, I worked on the homeless count for Marion County and was struck by one of the comments made by one of the respondents. One of the questions on the survey asked, "What is the hardest thing about being homeless?" He replied, "Not being able to turn on a light switch." At first I felt “yeah right,” but then I realized the power of his statement. To me, it was very profound. How much do we take for granted of this little switch? You turn on lights, heat, appliances, TV’s etc with a switch. In essence, his comment summed up everything about being homeless.
-
After working 16 hours overseeing Yamhill County's Homeless Count, turning away single men back into the streets with just a bus pass and some telephone numbers I went home and cried. What does it matter if I have a "successful" homeless count if I can't actually serve anyone? The next day one of the men came in again, and, other than letting him use the phone, I had nothing to give. He came back again on Friday, still nothing. He just wanted a warm, safe place to sleep. Tuesday he came once again. But this time just to say thank you for connecting him to a shelter that finally had a bed open up and the bus pass helped him get to WorkSource so he could get set up looking for work. So there is one person I helped that day, out of the 967 that we counted. That made it worth every second.
