Stories of Service

Civic Works - AIM for Excellence, Baltimore

Anita will begin her second year of AmeriCorps service in September 2009. She will again work as an advocate and mentor for a class of ninth graders in Baltimore. When asked to reflect on her first year of AmeriCorps service, this is what Anita said:

"I came to...(my program)...because I want to pursue teaching as a second career. I am a recently retired correctional officer, and wanted to make a smooth transition into the education world. I felt that getting my feet wet before becoming a full-time teacher would help me better define my goals and fulfill my purpose.

Through my work this year as an advocate, I have gained a deep appreciation for the commitment and dedication it takes to be a good, caring teacher. Wow, I thought being a correctional officer was difficult! Teaching is a 24-hour a day job which requires passion, patience and the skill not only to engage students in learning the information that is presented, but also the ability to help the students retain what they have learned.”

Habitat for Humanity, Annapolis

Carson spent two years serving with the Arundel Habitat for Humanity in the Family Services Department. Her daily interactions were spent helping partner families through the process of applying for the program, homeowner education, partner family recruitment and tracking sweat equity hours. When Carson graduated from college she decided that she wanted to go to medical school and pursue a career as a family practice doctor. The more medical school applications she submitted, the more she thought that she wasn’t ready for another four years of school; she wanted to do something meaningful and with purpose.

She decided that AmeriCorps was the perfect program for her and was a way for her to have a chance to gain some experience working with a local community organization. Carson recently finished her second year of AmeriCorps and will be starting medical school in fall 2009. Although her passion for medicine has not changed, her focus on what she will do when she graduates has. She wants to serve as a family practice doctor in a low-income or rural area. She wants to help those who don’t have access to affordable healthcare and have had to incur enormous debt after having health issues. This desire comes directly from her interactions with many of the partner family applicants at Arundel Habitat for Humanity. Carson saw that many of these applicants have huge healthcare debt that can often prevent them from becoming homeowners. At the end of her AmeriCorps years, Carson said that she felt extremely confident in her purpose as she embarks on her medical school adventure.

Volunteer Maryland, Baltimore

Grace works as a volunteer coordinator with A Step Forward, a nonprofit in Baltimore that provides housing and support to people in recovery. During her year of service, Grace recruited new volunteers, established a Cyber Café for community members, and made valuable connections to state resources via her Volunteer Maryland connection.

An expanded volunteer base also made it possible to serve more people who called A Step Forward for help. Near the end of her AmeriCorps year, Grace reported that: “we recently received a call from a mother whose adult son is living in her house and has a terrible problem with addiction. You could hear in her voice her desperation. She had to get her son out of her house and into treatment, but she didn’t know how to go about it. A volunteer jumped to the challenge. Working from a list of treatment centers in the area, she called down the list, gathering information on available beds and what was required for a person to enter their program. Our volunteer was able to provide that mother with three possible placements for her son in a moment when she was not able to get that information for herself.”