National Service in the News for Friday, March 24, 2017
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Knoxville: Garden help and how to help the river
Knoxville News Sentinel (TN), March 24, 2017
Master Gardener Mike Powell will discuss how to build raised beds and fill
them at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the Bearden Branch Library and at 11
a.m. Tuesday, March 28, at the Karns Senior Center. The talk will include
choosing the proper size and type of container and mix for those who do
container gardening. The Town of Farragut Stormwater Matters Program will give
away tree and shrub seedlings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, March 31, at
Farragut Town Hall. The plants, which are left over from recent tree planting
events, should be reserved ahead of time. Varieties include bald cypress, black
gum, buttonbush, indigo bush, Shumard oak, Southern red oak, staghorn sumac,
water tupelo and willow oak. All of the seedlings are in bare root form.
Nonprofit
news roundup, 03.24.17
Philanthropy North Carolina (NC), March 24, 2017
Individuals age 65 or older head nearly one in four U.S. households, yet only
six percent of nonprofits that file tax returns with the IRS focus on services
to aging populations, a new report says. “Giving and the Golden Years: The Role
of Private Giving in Aging Services Organization” from the Giving USA
Foundations questions how aging-services organizations will be able to handle
needs of Americans over 65, a population expected to double to 98.2 million by
2060. Over half of all aging-services organizations operate with annual revenue
at or under $500,000, except for nursing facilities and home health services,
and nearly 30 percent of those two groups operate with annual revenue of $10
million or more. Grants and contributions account for over 82 percent of
revenue for aging-services organizations such as food programs, compared to
less than five percent for nursing facilities and home health services, the
report says.
Poetry
contest seeks entries
Record Bee (CA), March 23, 2017
Lake County AmeriCorps in
conjunction with the Lake County Office of Education is sponsoring a poetry
contest for all ages. April is Child Abuse Awareness Month so Lake County
AmeriCorps wants to recognize the role the parents play in the life of a child
through poetry. The winning poems will
be read at the Children’s Festival and Advocacy Walk at Library Park in
Lakeport on April 22. Two poems will be selected from each area of Lake County.
Ribbons will be awarded and the winners will be publicly acknowledged at the
event. Poem themes are “Best Childhood Memories” and/or “Best Parenting
Moment.” The poems are to be two minutes or less in length when read aloud.
Child and parent collaboration is strongly encouraged. Parent or child is
encouraged to read the winning poem at the Children’s Festival event but it is
not a requirement.
Letter
to the Editor: Save National Service
Oak Hill Herndon Connection (VA), March 23, 2017
As an active community volunteer as
well as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Board on Volunteerism and Service,
I have collaborated with many organizations that match passionate volunteers
with service projects designed to meet the needs of the community. One of these
outstanding programs is AmeriCorps, a public service organization that employs
over 80,000 members nationally in public service positions each year, including
5,600 in Virginia. AmeriCorps members are active across our Commonwealth,
working to meet education, health, economic, environmental and other needs in
local communities. Since the program’s founding in 1994, AmeriCorps members have
served an incredible 26 million hours in community service in Virginia. Those
hours translate into dollars. AmeriCorps is partially funded by the federal
government through the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
Through public-private partnerships, grants and sponsors, CNCS leveraged $1.2
billion nation-wide from outside resources in 2015.
Acton
Conservation Trust to host guided walk, presentation
The Beacon (MA), March 23, 2017
Acton Conservation Trust will offer a guided walk of Wright Hill, a
14-acre plot of land in West Acton from 3 to 5 p.m. March 26. The trust will
also hold a presentation about monitoring conservation restrictions from 7 to
8:30 p.m. March 29 in Room 126 of Acton Town Hall, 472 Main St. The guided walk will follow the cart path to views of Mount Wachusett. The
presentation will be led by Lisa Long, Sudbury Valley Trustees' Americorps land
stewardship coordinator. The town of Acton has acquired six conservation lands with Community
Preservation Act funds. Each one is required to have a perpetual conservation
restriction. ACT has accepted the responsibility for holding or co-holding
conservation restrictions on these lands and is interested in involving more
volunteers in the process.
We
should be thankful for AmeriCorps volunteers
Cape Gazette (DE), March 23, 2017
National AmeriCorps Week is a time to celebrate the men and women who give a
year of their lives to better local communities. Similar to the Peace Corps,
but serving here in the U.S. domestically, members contribute to communities by
leading volunteers and performing valuable services through nonprofit hosts.
Habitat for Humanity, Milford Library, State Parks Veterans Corps and Teach for
America host AmeriCorps members who share their time, hearts and expertise with
Sussex County residents. Habitat for Humanity members partner with families and
engage neighborhoods to improve living conditions. This month, AmeriCorps
members will lead over 300 students who will visit Habitat to participate in
alternate spring break activities. AmeriCorps leads volunteers to build and
repair homes, teach budget classes, and celebrate with families who move from
homelessness to decent, affordable housing.
Cesar
Chavez Day to be celebrated at Bobby Vega Park
The Sun (CA), March 23, 2017
Next Friday, community members will be planting a memorial garden at Bobby Vega
Park in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. Bobby would have been so proud. Cesar
Chavez, who would have turned 90 on March 31, was an advocate for farmworkers,
whose poverty and marginalization he had experienced. Bobby worked for troubled
youth, helping them turn their lives around. The two heroes, who will be
celebrated on the last day of March, both believed in working to improve the
lives of others. When Bobby died Feb. 7, 2014, he left a legacy of hope for
inner-city and at-risk young people, that it was possible to earn a high school
diploma and build workplace skills.
Arizona
State Parks holding family campout weekends
Arizona Business Daily (AZ), March 23, 2017
Arizona State Parks recently announced dates for its Spring 2017 Family Campout
Program, which is designed to provide basic camping instruction while promoting
enthusiasm for nature and outdoor activities. Families are invited to spend a
weekend at one of several participating state parks where coordinators will
teach them such fundamental outdoor skills as pitching a tent, outdoor cooking
and building a fire, a release posted on the Tucson Metro Chamber website said.
Campers will also have to opportunity to participate in various outdoor
activities including fishing, archery, hiking or birding. Activities vary
based on park and facilities. Registration is $70 for a family of four with an
added $5 fee for additional family members. Groups larger than six will need to
arrange for special accommodations. Registration includes tents, activity
equipment, snacks and beverages. Families are required to provide all personal
items, bedding, and meals.
Helping
people help
Moab Sun News (UT), March 23, 2017
As the 2017 federal budget takes shape, one thing is eminently clear: social
programs are going to take a major hit. The Department of Health and Human
Services will lose 16.2 percent of its annual budget. Community Development
Block Grants, the program which covers Meals on Wheels, will lose 13.2 percent.
The National Institutes of Health funding is being reduced by 20 percent. The
same kind of draconian cuts will hit the Department of Education, the
Corporation for National and Community Service, the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program and the Community Services Block Grants. Without even
considering the elephants in the room (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid),
that doesn’t bode well for the poor, the disadvantaged, low-income children or
the elderly.
‘I
Have a Dream’ program hosts 37 AmeriCorps members
The Aurora Sentinel (CO), March 23, 2017
Genevieve Spina was passionate about education, but wasn’t sure what her next
step should be after graduating from college. The Chicago native looked into
alternative programs and landed on the AmeriCorps service program. She’s now in
her second year working with students at Longmont’s Rocky Mountain Elementary
School in the “I Have a “Dream” Foundation’s program — and knows she wants to
go to graduate school to be a school counselor. “A lot of the students I’m
working with have a lot going on in their lives, but they’re still expected to
memorize their multiplication facts,” she said. “School counselors are the
advocates for students.” The “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County,
which provides long-term academic support and college scholarships to students
from low-income households, hosts one of the largest local AmeriCorps programs.
Kindergarten
Round-Up scores big with families
TC Palm (FL), March 23, 2017
Hundreds of families came out to the Pre-K Party and Kindergarten Round-Up
hosted by the Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative and School District of
Indian River County on Feb. 25 at the Indian River Mall. The goal of the
event was to educate parents and connect them with resources to prepare their
children for kindergarten. The School District of Indian River County had staff
on site from all 13 elementary schools in the county.
Slocum:
How can we heal divisions in our politics?
The Post Bulletin (MN), March 23, 2017
Attending a reception for a retiring legislator with whom I had worked on jobs
and educational policy, I was pleased to see a mixed group of Republicans and
Democrats have a good time together in saluting a fine person. We were seated
next to a couple who soon expressed a frustration over the rank partisanship in
political campaigns and especially the so-called attack ads. These folks did
not seem to us to be sophisticated insiders of great experience in politics of
any kind. But they wanted to talk to someone and we were it; their tone lacked
any kind of partisan invective. "We'd like to see campaigns actually spend
their money in a way that benefits our nation," one said to us, followed
by the suggestion that the campaigns themselves figure out ways to survey the
voters who elect them and then somehow require that candidates spend their time
and money further engaging the public on the major issues and potential
solutions.
Dune
grass planting scheduled for Saturday at Island Beach State Park
92.7 WOBM (NJ), March 23, 2017
“Dune grasses are vital to protecting the island because they hold the dunes
together with their web-like root systems,” added Jen Clayton, park manager at
Island Beach State Park in a statement. “The blades of the grass catch sand during
high wind events such as nor’easters, and help to grow the dune, adding even
more protection.” AmeriCorps New Jersey volunteers will be working alongside
the Barnegat Bay Partnership, State Park Service and the NJ Department of Environmental
Protection on Saturday from 9:30 am until 12-noon to dig holes
for 30,000 American Beach-grass plants. “Not only do these plants help
strengthen the critical dune system, they beautify the beach and bring together
volunteers for a good cause,” said Mark Texel, Director of the DEP’s
Division of Parks and Forestry in a statement.
County
Officials Honor the Work of Americorps Cape Cod
Cape Cod Today (MA), March 23, 2017
Barnstable County Commissioners Leo Cakounes, Mary Pat Flynn, and Ron Beaty
will join more than 2,800 county executives and mayors across the country in a
nationwide bipartisan initiative to highlight the impact of national service in
addressing critical local needs. On April 4, 2017, county executives will thank
those who serve and recognize their impact on the County Day of Recognition for
National Service. On Cape Cod, the Barnstable County AmeriCorps Cape
Cod’s thirty-two full-time members provide vital services such as responding to
environmental and natural disasters, propagating municipal shellfish stocks,
mitigating wildfire risk, delivering environmental education lessons, improving
threatened habitat, building trails, and leveraging community volunteers.
AmeriCorps Cape Cod, now in its 18th year, is funded by the
Corporation for National and Community Service through the Massachusetts
Service Alliance and match funded by Barnstable County with residences provided
by the National Park Service Cape Cod National Seashore and Barnstable County.
Sierra
Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership celebrates with work across the Sierra
The Sierra Sun (CA), March 23, 2017
The Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP) program celebrated national
service with events across the Sierra for AmeriCorps Week, March 4-11. AmeriCorps
Members from the SNAP Program joined with other members nationwide to raise
awareness about AmeriCorps and national service. SNAP members traveled to
Groveland, Calif., to join with National Civilian Community Corps teams, the
Tuolumne River Trust and community volunteers to plant around 3,000 trees in
the Yosemite Rim Fire burn area. Other SNAP members presented about AmeriCorps,
the SNAP program and local environmental issues to students ranging from
elementary school to community college.
Women
veterans of WWI—so many stories yet to tell
Last Best News (MT), March 24, 2017
An Army veteran from Laurel has been working for years to prepare for an
event that will take place on April 6—the dedication of a memorial to women
with ties to Yellowstone County who served in the military during World War I. But
Ed Saunders’ work is far from done. He continues to search for the records of
female veterans of the war from all over the state—and just this week he made
one of his most exciting discoveries yet. On Monday, Saunders confirmed that
Regina McIntyre Early, an Army nurse who served in four hospitals in France
during World War I, was an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes in northwestern Montana.
The 'Hidden
Figures' of SLO
Her Campus (MA), March 23, 2017
Barneberg was born in San Luis Obispo on September 24, 1877. She left briefly
to attend university at Stanford University, graduating in 1901 with a degree
in History. Ultimately, she returned to San Luis Obispo and began a legacy of
community outreach. Like Margaret Chase, Barnberg served as the president
of the Monday Club and during a time of club expansion. In 1928, the Monday
Club membership was up to 350 people and they were in need of their own
clubhouse. At this time, renowned San Francisco architect Julia Morgan was
working with William Randolph Hearst to build Hearst Castle in nearby San
Simeon. Barneberg was instrumental in recruiting Morgan to help design the
Monday Club house, reaching out through Morgan’s cab driver to ask if she would
be interested in the opportunity. Morgan agreed in exchange for the Monday Club
membership arranging for her room and board when she came to SLO.
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