Hard Corps for America

Uncle Sam wants you to help your neighbor, and he's willing to pay you for it.

As the nation prepares for what may become the biggest launch of public works projects since the Great Depression, a local AmeriCorps team is looking to more than double the size of its paid staff to 60 for year-long community service projects.

And the number of paid AmeriCorps volunteers serving the metro Grand Rapids and other areas could grow much larger in coming months if legislation passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives becomes law. 

For recent college graduates like Natassja Markham, AmeriCorps is a tremendous opportunity to help others locally while learning about herself.

“I specialized in a handful of different topics as an undergrad and wasn’t sure which I wanted to continue my education in,” says Markham, 22, who now plans to pursue a career in immigration law. “Joining AmeriCorps allowed me to gain work experience in one of the areas I had studied in college before committing the rest of my life to it.”  She holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from  Michigan State University and may continue studies at graduate school. 
 
“I get the greatest kick out of meeting and working alongside the people our programs are created to help,” says Matthew Zoerhoef, 26, who developed a program that teaches developmentally disabled persons how to prepare for emergencies. “When I see them smile, when I hear their stories, when I make a difference in their lives – that’s what makes it all worth it.”  Zoerfhoef graduated from Davenport University last summer with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Those responses are music to the ears of Jordan O’Neil.

More Opportunities
As AmeriCorps Program Director at the Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids, O'Neil will oversee the hiring of 26 people by June 1 and another 34 people by September 8 for one-year stints as AmeriCorps volunteers.  About half of those hires could potentially be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic stimulus package signed into law in February by President Obama.

Started by President Clinton in 1993, the AmeriCorps program employs more than 70,000 Americans annually in community service work for about 3,000 nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based and other community organizations.  But that number will skyrocket this year if Congress passes the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act of 2009 that will fund AmeriCorps positions for 250,000 volunteers nationally.  Michigan currently has about 1,000 volunteers spread throughout the state.

"AmeriCorps is trying to fill the gap of some of the country's most critical needs by asking citizens for basically a year of intensive service," O'Neil says. "It's essentially people devoting a year of their lives in service to their communities."

Though AmeriCorps only requires that applicants have a high school diploma and be 18 or older sometime during their stint, the program tends to attract recent college graduates who use their year of service to refocus academic and professional goals, O'Neil says. AmeriCorps volunteers receive an annual stipend of $11,400, health benefits, and an educational award of $4,725 in exchange for 1,700 hours of service. Many graduate programs also have scholarship money set aside for AmeriCorps alumni. 

A Servant's Heart
But the program does require that volunteers feel a passion for community service, particularly in the areas of safety, education, public health and the environment. Under the program O'Neil is administering, volunteers can be asked to perform any aspect of American Red Cross service, except for fundraising.

That turns out to be a surprisingly wide range of options. 

“The Red Cross is here responding to local disasters every day,” says O’Neil, a Long Island, N.Y. native who has been worked nine years for the organization. “We also do a lot to prevent disasters from happening through education.”

The Red Cross dispatches volunteers to emergency sites, providing immediate assistance and follow up for victims. Preparedness education ranges from traditional courses like fire safety and babysitters’ training to unexpected offerings like wilderness safety and pet first aid. “You actually use pig parts to learn how to do stitches in wilderness safety,” O’Neil says, while pet first aid “is exactly what it sounds like”—class attendees learn to perform mouth-to-mouth on their dog or cat.

One function that has grown sharply over the past several years is emergency communication between U.S. military personnel stationed anywhere in the world and their families in this area. “The only way a soldier can be released (from active duty) is if there is a Red Cross emergency message,” explains O’Neil. “We can locate any soldier whether they are in the Persian Gulf or in training.” Red Cross volunteers verify the birth, illness, or death of a soldier’s family member, the three circumstances warranting release from duty.

The Red Cross also conducts blood drives, provides transportation for seniors, and helps refugees trace loved ones.

Together We Prepare
AmeriCorps members help coordinate these Red Cross initiatives statewide through the Together We Prepare program, which O’Neil launched in Michigan.  He was motivated to start Together We Prepare out of his own extensive service experience, including AmeriCorps stints at Red Cross chapters in Philadelphia and Anchorage, Alaska. In Philadelphia, he worked with grieving families who had lost their homes in fires, and in Anchorage he responded to wildfires, floods, avalanches, storms, and earthquakes.

“I was a sign of hope for people in times of need. It felt great. I got hooked on doing whatever I could to help others,” O’Neil says. “I wanted other people to have that same experience.”

After four years in Anchorage, O’Neil transferred to the Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids, where he lost no time pitching Together We Prepare to his new supervisor.

Since 2005, Together We Prepare volunteers have helped 3,192 individuals through emergencies like residential fires and tornadoes and have educated over 56,000 people about disaster prevention.

The plethora of Red Cross projects ensures AmeriCorps volunteers are always on the go.

Taking the Lead
“Every volunteer position I had in college was a disappointment because they didn’t put me in a position that utilized my potential,” Markham says. “AmeriCorps has been completely different. "When we walked into our positions, we were given a large amount of responsibility. They trusted us and our abilities.”  Volunteers work four 10-hour days a week.

Zoerhoef also relishes the chance to take the lead on projects. “AmeriCorps members not only carry out and enhance current programs, but also create new and innovative programs to meet the growing needs of the community,” he says. “With just the right structure in place for us to succeed, we are often given free reign over projects." As an example, Zoerhoef cites the "A Safe Community Begins With You" program that he recently started.

“Individuals with developmental disabilities are becoming more and more independent, but there is little to no education for that demographic related to disaster preparedness,” Zoerhoef says.

Ruth Terry is a freelance writer living in the East Hills neighborhood. She also works as a grant writer for an international nonprofit organization.  Matt Gryczan is the managing editor of Rapid Growth.

Photos: