#911Day of Service @ Washington, DC VA Medical Center

In collaboration with the Washington DC VA Medical Center, VA Voluntary Service (VAVS) hosted a barbecue (sponsored by the Benevolent & Protective Order of the Elks) for the residents of the facility’s Community Living Center and to celebrate the 108th birthday of Ms. Alyce Dixon, one of our Nation’s oldest living female Veteran on this day. Volunteers helped prepare and serve food and visit with the residents. Director of the VA DC Medical Center, Brian Hawkins, served with the AmeriCorps members.

#911Day of Service @ A Wider Circle

Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO, Dana Hyde, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation President, Elizabeth Littlefield, joined AmeriCorps NCCC and MCC and OPIC staff for national service at A Wider Circle. A Wider Circle provides basic need items, education, and long-term support to individuals or families to ensure that every child and adult has the chance to succeed and the opportunity to live well. Volunteers organized clothes, furniture and toy donations, and helped clients in the career center by finding suits and providing feedback for professional development including writing resumés and interviewing skills.

#911Day of Service @ Points of Lights of on the National Mall

CNCS CEO Wendy Spencer shared a moment of silence with AmeriCorps NCCC members, military families, and area youth at the Washington Monument with Points of Light. Points of Light conducted a signature event called Generational Ties – to both recognize the men and women who served in uniform during military conflicts throughout our nation’s history and pay tribute to military families affected by the conflicts after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. A diverse group of war veterans shared their military experiences with local youth; the children documented those stories and assembled books that later will be given to children who have had parents deployed after 9/11. AmeriCorps members and other volunteers helped the participating children capture the veterans’ stories and assemble the books. Points of Light mobilizes people to take action on the causes they care about through innovative programs, events, and campaigns.

#911Day of Service @ AARP Foundation and a Celebration of Service

The AARP Foundation and A Celebration of Service brought together thousands of volunteers on the National Mall to pack more than 1 million meals for struggling seniors, including veterans and first responders.  Teams worked in one-hour shifts to pack meals that will be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank.  Director of Peace Corps, Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Small Business Administration Deputy Administrator, Doug Kramer, and Carla Hall joined in the event with AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers.

#911Day of Service @ Food & Friends

Wendy Spencer, Paul Monteiro, director of AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps members volunteered at Food & Friends an organization whose mission is to foster a community caring for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses by preparing and delivering specialized meals and groceries in conjunction with nutrition counseling. Volunteers helped prepare and package meals that will be delivered the following day.

AmeriCorps VISTA Serving Eastern Kentucky through Education and Technology

On August 31, Wendy Spencer visited Leslie County High School in Eastern Kentucky. She will meet with Dreama Gentry, Executive Director at Partners for Education at Berea College; Robert Roark, Principle, and 15 AmeriCorps members. Wendy, alongside AmeriCorps members, attended Senator Mitch McConnell’s ‘Washington Update’, hosted by Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Programs, Inc and the Kentucky Career Center JobSight in Hazard, KY. 

Wendy also attended KentuckyWired celebration and launch. The broadband initiative is one of the most significant aspects of SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region). Once completed, Kentucky’s network will be one of the fastest, high-capacity networks in the nation. One of the most important reasons for bringing broadband to eastern Kentucky is to help out-of-work coal-miners and other unemployed people get jobs, which is exactly what AmeriCorps VISTA members serving through SOAR are doing.