Standing beside a newly framed house, more than 50 AmeriCorps volunteers posed for a photo Friday.
The Habitat for Humanity house, one being rebuilt after a tornado destroyed the original nearly six months ago, is one of several sites where the volunteers will work today in honor of Make a Difference Day
The service project is part of this year’s AmeriCorps program launch.
“I just love it,” said Heather Strong, a 30-year-old mother of two from Big Stone Gap, Va., who tutors children through AmeriCorps and came to Friday’s regional launch.
“I love being able to help with their work and see their little light bulbs come on and see their little faces shine when they understand something that they didn’t before.”
AmeriCorps is a federally funded program that pays a modest stipend to volunteers for a yearlong commitment to community service. Make a Difference Day is a nationally promoted effort to encourage community service.
Most of those in attendance Friday were Southwest Virginia volunteers who work in their own communities for programs that address literacy, workforce development and other community development issues. There was a wide range of ages, from teenagers to senior citizens.
One of them was Danielle Fields, a 19-year-old community college student who says the experience of tutoring kids has changed her life.
With a goal of becoming a chemical engineer, she was working at Eastman in addition to attending school. She added AmeriCorps on top of those commitments but found she couldn’t do all three.
“I came to the point where I had to choose between AmeriCorps and my Eastman job,” she said, “and I chose AmeriCorps.”
That meant a significant pay cut, but she says she’s found her passion.
Tonyia Gibson, director of an AmeriCorps program in Carroll County schools, said most of her volunteers are moms in their 30s and 40s, who sought involvement as a means to help out in their communities and supplement their families’ income.
“In our community, most of those who are doing this are doing it as a job,” Gibson said.
The stipend for a full-time volunteer is about $12,000 a year to live on, a $5,500 education award and some health benefits.
Today’s Make a Difference Day projects are in addition to regular AmeriCorps volunteer programs.
At the work site, Travis Staton spoke to the group on behalf of the United Way of Russell and Washington Counties.
“Thank you for coming to our community to help us rebuild,” Staton said, expressing hope that their efforts would help in the larger effort to get several new and repaired homes ready to be occupied this fall.
“With the good Lord’s help, hopefully we’ll have all of them done before winter is on us.”
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