Wendy Rappels for Opioid Awareness

Last month, our CEO, Wendy Spencer, participated in an event with Shatterproof to bring awareness of the struggle individuals face in combating drug addiction. Her participation put a spotlight on national service programs that are helping communities and individuals address the growing problem. This week, Wendy will go to Kentucky, where AmeriCorps members serving through Operation UNITE are teaching drug prevention to thousands of Kentucky youth every year.  

Operation UNITE Service Corps AmeriCorps members tutor at-risk students in math and teach students, parents, guardians, and school staff about drug awareness and prevention. AmeriCorps members are active in their local anti-drug coalitions, are liaisons between the community and school, and raise funds for UNITE Clubs, trainings, and school assemblies. 

They partner with local organizations and faith-based groups to bring resources to schools. In the past year, members mentored 4,055 students. They tutored 1,935 students in math; 80 percent improved, with an average growth of 42 percent. Of the 2,463 students they engaged in “Too Good for Drugs,” 86 percent had an average 30 percent increase in knowledge. Members recruited 2,538 volunteers who served 22,500 hours. Nineteen members are also trained and ready for deployment in the event of a disaster.

Thank you to Shatterproof for inviting our CEO to participate and increasing awareness of this important cause.

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.