Summertime and the Great Outdoors
Today marks the first day of summer, and we can almost hear Mom's voice telling us to go play outside. And, frankly, there's no better time to start than Great Outdoors Month.
This annual celebration of outdoor activities and their benefits has grown from a week-long celebration in 1998 to cover the entire month of June. Whether you are into fishing, camping, hiking, biking, or other outside pursuits, there are plenty of places to enjoy them. You could spend all summer exploring some of the 419 locations in National Park System, or visit some of the thousands of state and local park facilities near you.
The Corporation for National and Community Service leads AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs that serve as stewards for many of the outdoor spaces we have in this nation. The natural beauty we experience in our public spaces requires a lot of work to protect, and these national service members help maintain and preserve recreational areas for everyone to enjoy.
Let's take Mom's advice and go have some fun outside. It would be a shame to let all of that beauty go to waste.
In service,
CNCS Office of External Affairs
Editor's note: By clicking the links below, you may be connecting to websites created by parties other than the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The CNCS Office of External Affairs provides links to these stories because they contain information that may be useful or interesting to the national service and volunteering community. These links are for reference only, and CNCS does not endorse the individuals or organizations associated with these links, and cannot attest to the accuracy of the information provided by websites outside of our control.
More than 200 volunteers engaged in trail restoration, landscaping, and other maintenance projects at and around Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C., last week for The Corps Network’s sixth-annual Great Outdoors Day of Service. Speakers at the kick-off for the event included Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt; Chief of the U.S. Forest Service Vicki Christiansen; Director of AmeriCorps Chester Spellman; and Superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Charles Cuvelier. Senator Lisa Murkowski also attended to volunteer with members of her staff.
Introduced in 2009 and celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2019, the Yankees' HOPE Week initiative (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) is rooted in the fundamental belief that acts of goodwill provide hope and encouragement to more than just the recipient of the gesture. On each of five consecutive days during the celebration of HOPE Week, the Yankees shine a spotlight on a different individual, family or organization worthy of recognition and support. Each year, the Corporation for National and Community Service recognizes the Yankees for raising the profiles of unsung heroes in their community.
Share It: See AmeriCorps #ServeOutdoors
   Each week, we provide a social media shareable for your networks. This June, millions of people will recognize Great Outdoors Month: a celebration of the many ways to enjoy America’s lands and waters. Our friends at The Corps Network shared a blog about the ways they serve the outdoors, and we want you to check it out. Click the buttons above and help us share this story through your social media networks.
News Chief, Florida
(Editor's note: The father served as an AmeriCorps member, which helped pay for his education.) If Fredrick “Roy” Sosa and his daughter, Tiffany Anderson, happen to run short of conversational topics on Father’s Day, they can always engage in an academic discussion on the principles of psychology. Sosa and Anderson, both Lakeland residents, recently earned bachelor of arts degrees in psychology from Saint Leo University. For Sosa, 54, that meant returning to college more than three decades after he had discontinued his education. Anderson, 34, had also experienced an interruption of her education as she married and became a mother. The pair strode across the stage one after the other to accept diplomas during Saint Leo’s spring commencement ceremony at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.
KXII-TV, Oklahoma
Gay Cunningham had been working on getting a new senior citizen center in Durant for 11 years. In just one month, she was able to help raise over $200,000 to buy the former home of Northwest Church of Christ. "It was amazing how it all came together," said Cunningham. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP, is a non-profit that serves seniors out of another building in Durant, and they are running out of space.
Fox News
Walking down Boston's infamous "Methadone Mile," 39-year-old Tyshaun Perryman can say he is a changed man. About four years ago after he was picked up by police on a misdemeanor charge, an officer sat him down in a holding room at the police station. "The police asked to come in, and said to me, 'Hey listen, sit down and talk with me, we want to help and support you," Perryman said. "I was shocked."
As the addiction epidemic across the country continues to break records, police departments are rethinking their approach to how they interact with people with substance abuse disorder. Instead of arresting them, they are urging them to get treatment and helping them get into recovery. One such effort is the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative's Recovery Corp program. It is an AmeriCorps-affiliated program that is placing volunteers like Tyshaun in police departments across the country as a resource for their communities.
High Plains Public Radio
For Louanna Fowler, becoming homeless didn't happen little by little — it happened all at once. One day she was living in a foster home, the next, she had aged out and was on the street. "When I first got homeless, I didn't have a tent, I didn't have a blanket, and it was snowing outside," Fowler said. "So that same year that I was out there in the snow, this young guy died from freezing to death, so that was really scary to me."
Fort Madison Daily Democrat, Iowa
Mother Nature can be a great help to gardens and farmers. She can also be a great hindrance – like this year with an abundance of rain and flooding. The seemingly daily rainfall has put the volunteers at the Fort Madison Community Garden, located behind Hy-Vee, behind their usual schedule of providing fresh produce to the local food pantry. “We have radishes today ready to harvest, and we’re planting more cabbage because some of them didn’t take,” said Tammy Hudson, director of the local RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteers Program), said Wednesday morning.
The Union-Bulletin, Washington
Two vegetated areas near Garrison Creek now can be used as living classrooms for students and enjoyed by others. The Walla Walla County Conservation District and Washington Conservation Corps recently cleared trash, sediment, blackberry brambles and reed canary grass near Garrison and Pioneer middle schools, said Lynda Oosterhuis, county Conservation District resource technician. The Wildhorse Foundation, a community benefit fund established by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, gave the district a $6,400 grant in June 2018 for materials.
WTVY-TV, Alabama
Every Wednesday morning Rose Dunlap, a 91-year-old volunteer, can be found stamping, stuffing and sewing teddy bears for a good cause. “It helps me since I’m alone, to go ahead and do something for someone, rather than just sitting at home doing absolutely nothing," Dunlap said. This great great grandmother joins 15 other volunteers with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program through the SOWEGA Council on Aging. “We send out about 50 to 100 bears a week," said Gayle Vanater, program coordinator and volunteer.
WQOW-TV, Wisconsin
School might not be in session, but the UW-Eau Claire campus is full of students learning how to build for the future. The UW-Eau Claire Robotics Camp is designed to give kids hands-on experience with engineering and robotics. It also helps the students develop problem-solving, communication and collaboration skills. Officials said the camp gives students a chance to see if a career in technology would be a good fit. The camp is possible due to a grant from AmeriCorps. The funding allows college students to stay in the area during summer and guide participants through the camps.
Montrose Daily Press, Colorado
Eight to 10 local children are on a waiting list to receive a new bed from the organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace. A lot of the need has to do with the change in dynamics in the community, said Sleep in Heavenly Peace Montrose chapter president Bill Martindale, who also works as Montrose Fire Protection District firefighter. There is an influx of people to the area and with the current housing situation, along with the socioeconomic structure in the community, these issues are constantly contributing to this need, he added. “Beds aren’t a priority for families sometimes because if it’s between paying your rent or buying a bed, rent gets paid,” Martindale said.
Lake Mills Graphic, Iowa
Volunteers throughout North Central Iowa were honored for their years of service to their communities during RSVP’s annual Volunteer Celebration, June 6, with the theme of NIACC’s 100th Anniversary. The volunteers honored serve in a variety of programs, such as: Reading Buddies and Reading Coaches, helping elementary and middle school students improve their reading skills; Pen Pals, writing letters to fourth- and fifth-graders; Breakfast Buddies, visiting with students at school-sponsored breakfast; International Friends, making NIACC’s international students feel at home in Iowa; Disaster Volunteers, receiving training for a Volunteer Reception Center; helping with registrations at American Red Cross blood drives; and reading to the blind on KCMR radio.
CarsonNow.org, Nevada
An Americorps National Civilian Community Corps Team, Green Four, will be working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Mason Valley (BGCMV) to mentor children enrolled in its summer program. During the team’s six-week engagement, the seven young adults will serve over 150 children spread between the Yerington, Silver Springs, and Dayton Boys and Girls Club sites. The BGCMV has served as a pillar of the community in Lyon County for the last 20 years. It is the biggest youth organization in rural Nevada, an area of proportionally high crime and poverty rates, with about a quarter of children living below the poverty line.
Calling all AmeriCorps alumni who served 25 years ago! As AmeriCorps’ 25th Anniversary approaches, we’re looking for great alumni stories to share across our digital platforms. E-mail socialmedia@cns.gov to share your service story
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