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State to Get $5.4 Million in AmeriCorps Funding

West Virginia’s U.S. senators say the state has been awarded more than $5.4 million for AmeriCorps volunteer and service programs.

According to Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, $4.1 million will go to the state’s Volunteer West Virginia to support 655 positions.

The AmeriCorps members in West Virginia can also get more than $1.3 million in post-service awards to help pay for college or repay student loans.

Designated funding is for 510 positions through West Virginia University to provide summer learning and nutrition services, 40 through Appalachian Forest Heritage Area to work and recruit volunteers for conservation and community projects in Appalachian towns, 35 through The Education Alliance to provide mentoring and 70 to work under the United Way of West Virginia on community service projects.

W.Va. Volunteer Groups Prepare For Long Term Flood Recovery

Following the flooding in June, thousands of volunteers have been involved in recovery efforts in West Virginia. Long term, there will be more need for volunteers to help flood victims repair their homes and their communities. AmeriCorps is just one organization looking at training volunteers to serve flood victims.

The number of West Virginians signing up to join AmeriCorps has increased in the past year. People in this state sign up for AmeriCorps at a higher rate than 47 other states.

Part of the reason could be that so many people here volunteer as children, or watch their parents or grandparents helping in their community.

“West Virginia is kind of built on this culture of taking care of each other. I think that’s one of the things I love the most about our state,” said Heather Foster, executive director of Volunteer West Virginia, and a former AmeriCorps volunteer herself.

Volunteer West Virginia coordinates the various AmeriCorps programs in WV. Foster says the flooding has reinforced how willing West Virginians are to help out their neighbors. She says thousands have volunteered to help with the flood recovery.

AmeriCorps volunteers have been on the ground doing everything from mold assessment on flooded houses to helping children get help dealing with the emotional trauma.

But it’s not just the culture of helping that’s causing such an increase in the number of West Virginians signing up to join AmeriCorps. The poor economy here also means that a lot of people are looking for any kind of work they can find, even if it doesn’t pay much.

There are 1,000 AmeriCorps volunteers serving in West Virginia this year.

Foster says she’s not sure if they’ll receive a lot of additional funding for more AmeriCorps positions next year. But they are hoping to see an increase in the number of projects related to long-term flood recovery. For example, this fall, they’ll be working help remove debris in flood-impacted communities.

She’s also working to get AmeriCorps volunteers trained to do construction so they can help rebuild or repair homes.

Note, reporter Roxy Todd is a former AmeriCorps volunteer herself.

West Virginia Ranks 3rd in Enrolling AmeriCorps Members

The agency that administers the AmeriCorps program says West Virginia residents rank third among states in enrolling volunteers in the program.

The Corporation for National and Community Service says West Virginia has produced 12,000 AmeriCorps members since the organization was formed more than 20 years ago. The organization said in a news release that the members have given more than 18 million hours of service and received more than $28 million in scholarships.

The organization says it’s investing more than $12 million in national service projects for West Virginia, including funding for more than 1,000 AmeriCorps members currently there.

AmeriCorps members serve through nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations at 21,000 locations.

Wheeling Jesuit University Welcomes ServeCon

More than twenty programs will be recruiting service-minded people at Wheeling Jesuit University this week in the first-ever ServeCon event.

ServeCon is kind of like a service-job fair. It’s a free conference where service programs and organizations come together hoping to attract applicants. Participants can apply for more than 5,000 available positions. Over 20 programs, including the Peace Corp, AmeriCorp, Habitat for Humanity, and the Nazareth Farm will be represented.

Full-year and summer opportunities are available for community members of all ages and skill levels. Program participants might tutor and mentor children; or address issues of homelessness and poverty; provide kids with meals through summer months; develop heritage sites; or recruit and manage volunteers.

“We’ve got secular, we’ve got spiritually-oriented, we’ve got a lot of different opportunities for people who aren’t quite sure what to do with the next year. If they want to get involved with something good or build their resume or just gain some real-world experience,” said Nic Cochran who in the Appalachian Institute of Wheeling Jesuit University.

In addition to WJU, The Franklin Project, Campus Compact West Virginia, and Volunteer West Virginia are all sponsoring the free event which runs from 2-4 p.m. February 23rd on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University.

Programs present at the event will include:

The Christian Appalachian Project
Girl Scouts of Black Diamond
Horseshoe Leadership Center
Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center
Faith in Action Caregivers, Inc.
City Year
Habitat for Humanity
Nazareth Farm
LifeBridge AmeriCorps
Corporation for National and Community Service
Volunteer West Virginia
AmeriCorps on the Frontline
STEM Network Schools Program
Preservation Alliance of WV
Peace Corps
VISTA Collaborative
WV Promise
Energy Express

Former Coal Miner Now Helps Fellow Veterans Through Vet Corps Program

In this story, we meet an AmeriCorps volunteer who helps veterans find housing, education and employment. AmeriCorps is an anti-poverty volunteer service program, like the Peace Corps, except members serve in the United States. They work on projects that range from tutoring children to helping restore flood damaged homes to helping people in need find healthy food.

Wayne McDonald is an Army veteran who served during the first Gulf War. Although he was never involved in combat in Iraq, he was involved in stressful situations along the Mexican border, where drug smugglers would often shoot at him.

After serving for three years, he returned to his home of southern West Virginia.

“I really wanted to come home. My mind wasn’t right. I knew I needed to come home,” said McDonald.

McDonald returned to West Virginia in 1992, but he wasn’t diagnosed with PTSD for about 10 years. He found work as a mining mechanic and a strip miner.

“When I came back, the coal market was basically how it was now, you couldn’t get a job, there was nothing available, and I had a wife and a little baby boy, and I had to figure something out,” said McDonald.

But he says his time in the Army left him emotionally unstable. He found help when two volunteers at the Henlawson Veterans Center, Rudy Varney and Andy Clark, recognized that he needed to see a doctor. But McDonald didn’t want to reach out for help.

“I had to get some papers filled out one day. And I came over here and things didn’t go my way and I kind of lost it. And they locked the doors and wouldn’t let me out. They called my wife and made her come and get me and take me to the emergency room at the VA hospital, and they was waiting for me. And that’s when they diagnosed me with anxiety disorder, and PTSD.”

The Vet Center in Henlawson, in Logan County, is a place where veterans help other veterans find resources, like doctors and psychologists. Volunteers also help veterans get to the VA hospital in Huntington.

Last year, Wayne McDonald started working as an AmeriCorps Vet Corps member here, helping other veterans.

“And at first I said no. I was afraid. I didn’t know how to work a computer, I didn’t know how to work a copier. I didn’t know none of this. They talked me into this.”

As an AmeriCorps member, McDonald earns a small living stipend, health insurance, and an education award after their year in service.

It’s nothing like the type of pay McDonald was earning in the mining industry. Still, he says he’s gained something far more important to him than a high salary. He’s discovered that he can do things he never imagined himself doing in the past.

Recently, McDonald has enrolled in college. He’s studying Social Work, so he can continue to help veterans after his AmeriCorps service.

Donna Decker is another veteran who serves in AmeriCorps here in Logan County.

“I think it is very hard to come home to a rural area. If you came home to Charleston, or if you even came home to somewhere that had a military base or a VA just down the road. When you come home to Logan, it’s rural, you don’t have that military community any more. Who do you turn to for help?” said Decker.

Decker and McDonald’s main project right now is helping connect with young veterans and letting them know how to find help. Their project is sponsored by the local Vietnam Veterans chapter and LifeBridge Vet Corps.

Most of the people who work and volunteer here at the Henlawson Vet Center are veterans themselves, like Andy Clark, a Vietnam veteran and one of the AmeriCorps’ mentors.

“We’ve got to help each other. This building this chapter this vet center saved my life. In 1990 I threw everything away and was on the streets for two years. They diagnosed me with PTSD. There’s help. If a veteran’s out there, we can help them,” said Clark.

The Henlawson Vet Center helps veterans in five counties in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

For more information on the Henlawson Vet Center, call (304) 752-4453.

New Study Shows West Virginians Rank 5th for AmeriCorps Volunteerism

Volunteerism is a strong part of West Virginia culture- neighbors helping neighbors in times of disaster.

A new study released this month says West Virginia has the 5th largest number of people signing up to join AmeriCorps. Those volunteers serve in West Virginia and across the country.

AmeriCorps is a national service program that was created by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and is often referred to as the domestic Peace Corps.

Some of the programs in West Virginia where AmeriCorps members serve include:

1. Energy Express: a tutoring and literacy program

2. Lifebridge: AmeriCorps who are veterans help veterans transition back to civilian life

3. DisasterCorps: AmeriCorps train with the Red Cross to assist communities hit by floods and other disasters

4. Appalachian Forest Heritage Area: AmeriCorps work on cultural and forestry programs, based out of Elkins.

Click here for a complete list of AmeriCorps programs in West Virginia that are accepting applications

AmeriCorps members Torya Cummings, Jamielle Jackson, and Christin Shinaberry have signed up for a new program, called Disaster Corps

West Virginia has a long history of strong volunteer programs, going back to the sixties when VISTA volunteers came to help people in the coal fields. Bill Basl, director of AmeriCorps, says he thinks one of the reasons so many West Virginians are signing up for his program is because many of them grow up volunteering in their local community.

“It’s that neighbor helping neighbor ethic, that ethic of home grown service, that helps then an individual make that step. So a step to AmeriCorps may not be as big to an individual who has already volunteered in their community, and then says, ‘well maybe I can make that kind of commitment for a year.'”

Basl adds that another reason for the high number of AmeriCorps could be the lack of employment options in the state. AmeriCorps members serve 1-4 years and are paid a living stipend (usually between $900 and $2,000 a month) and receive health benefits. AmeriCorps members also receive an education award at the end of their service.

AmeriCorps members helping a community in southern West Virginia clean up after flooding in March

The Corporation for National and Community Service says volunteers living in rural areas have a 55 percent higher likelihood of finding employment after their service.