Category Archives: Service News

12.04.09
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New Eli Segal Fellow Announced: Teach For America Alum Iris Dooling

Iris Dooling

Former Teach For America and Indiana Reading Corps member Iris L. Dooling has been named 2010’s Eli Segal Fellow.

The Eli Segal Fellowship annually brings former AmeriCorps members to the headquarter offices of the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, DC, to serve in the Office of the CEO. The fellowship is named for Eli Segal, the first CEO of the Corporation and its board founded the fellowship in 2006, the year Segal died.

According to today’s announcement from CNCS:

A native of Hobart, Indiana, Dooling, 26, started her AmeriCorps service with the Indiana Reading Corps-AmeriCorps at DePauw University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in English Continue reading →

12.02.09
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Giving Thanks and Giving Back: A Family Spends Thanksgiving Volunteering…at a Country Line Dancing Bar

Local church youth group volunteers making some plates to go

This guest post is contributed by Jung Fitzpatrick, a former AmeriCorps VISTA member, and staffer here at Idealist.org.

When I called my mom about going home for the Thanksgiving holiday, she told me she was going to volunteer at the Brandin’ Iron. (You may know the BI from a quick mechanical bull riding scene in Borat.)

BI was going to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the hungry.  What else was I supposed to do but say, “Hey, count me in!” I loved the idea of volunteering with my mom.

On the day, my mom and I along with my brother, Sean, and his friend, Will, all headed to BI.  My mom country line dances every week at the BI and heard about the volunteer opportunity from there.  As it turns out, Continue reading →

11.03.09
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“The Way We Get By” Film to Air on PBS and Online Next Week

A new film shares the story of an community of service in Maine.

On Veteran’s Day, The Way We Get By — a new documentary about senior volunteers who staff a welcome center in the airport at Bangor, Maine, to receive returning military folks — will premiere on PBS stations as part of POV, “documentaries with a point of view.” (Check the broadcast schedule.)

From the show’s synopsis:

On call 24 hours a day for the past five years, a group of senior citizens has made history by greeting over 900,000 American troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. The Way We Get By is an intimate look at three of these greeters as they confront the universal losses that come with aging and rediscover their reason for living. Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaudet find the strength to overcome their personal battles and transform their lives through service. This inspirational and surprising story shatters the stereotypes of today’s senior citizens as the greeters redefine the meaning of community.

Participants of the Conference on Volunteering and Service in June 2009 were invited to a preview of the film, but now anyone with a television or internet connection (Nov. 12 through Dec. 12, the film will stream online) will be able to view the film.

Here are other ways to share the film’s message in your community:

10.26.09
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Senate Committee Hearing Thursday on the Public Lands Service Corps

This coming Thursday the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will look at a bill to strengthen national service activity on public lands.

The Public Lands Service Corps Act, s. 1442, would amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 and would:

  • provide service-learning opportunities on public lands
  • establish a grant program for Indian Youth Service Corps
  • help restore the Nation’s natural, cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, and scenic resources
  • train a new generation of public land managers and enthusiasts, and promote the value of public service

The bill was introduced in July by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), who is also the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) cosponsored the bill.

According to its blog, The Corps Network is providing information to help land management officials prepare their testimony for Thursday’s hearing.

These Senators are on the Energy and Natural Resource Committee and will be considering the legislation:

Senate Energy + Natural Resources Committee Members

Senate Energy + Natural Resources Committee Members

In March, Congressional Representatives introduced similar legislation (H.R. 1612) in the House. That legislation passed out of committee in June, and has the past week been added to the Union Calendar in the House (Calendar no. 177).

Learn more about Public Lands on the Public Lands Day site.

10.24.09
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Make a Difference Day

Today marks Make a Difference Day, when volunteers and national service members take on community service projects across the country.

Every October, on the fourth Saturday, people implement service projects to improve their communities — anything from “beautification” projects to improve the grounds of schools, urban areas, and public gardens to canvassing neighborhoods door to door on behalf of breast cancer awareness (October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month).

In many places, national service groups are encouraged to lead community volunteers in special one-day projects in addition to their regular service assignments. For example, this weekend:

For service project leaders today and everyday, check out these discussion prompts that help volunteers reflect on their service experience and connect their efforts to social impact careers.