National Service News: Would You Be Our Valentine?

We choo-choo-choose you! [] Having trouble viewing this email? [View it as a Web page](. [National Service members and volunteers, would you be our Valentine?]( Would You Be Our Valentine? When we were kids - a long, long time ago - one of the popular Valentine's Day treats was conversation hearts. It's an interesting candy and a bit of an acquired taste, but it allowed us to say some of the things we couldn't say out loud at the time. At the [Corporation for National and Community Service]( we're not too shy to express our feelings about volunteers and national service. We smile knowing that 325,000 [AmeriCorps]( members and [Senior Corps]( volunteers and millions of others have decided that service is not just something you have to do but something you ... well, love to do. Within every national service member and volunteer beats a heart that understands the role each of us can play in building a better nation. Serving to educate, to empower the voiceless, to expand opportunity, to protect our natural resources, and to support our veterans demonstrates how much grace is within your hearts and the love that thrives in your souls. (We're paraphrasing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. here.) We want the national service family to know that we have the utmost gratitude for every thing that you do in service of others. We appreciate it, [thousands of our nation's leaders appreciate it]( and the millions of people you serve appreciate it. We wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day, filled with lots of love and candy hearts. Just remember to brush after you're done. In Service, CNCS Office of External Affairs P.S. CandyStore.com reports that conversation hearts made up 10.2 percent of Valentine's Day candy sales in 2017, surpassing sales of boxed chocolates for the first time. The Impact of National Service [Chelsea Haley appears live on "Good Morning America" with her sons, Jerome Robinson and Jace Robinson.]( [Baton Rouge Teacher Adopts Student and Younger Brother (AmeriCorps)]( Chelsea Haley was single, 22 years old, and teaching in a Louisiana school when she met a 12-year-old student who would change her life. The boy, Jerome Robinson, and his younger brother, Jace, are now Haley's adopted children, which has given this now 26-year-old single mom a new outlook. “Over the last two years, my decision-making has gone from focusing on myself to really focusing on my boys,” Haley, who adopted the brothers when she was 24, said today on “Good Morning America." “So when I think about my money, my time, my energy, all of it is really on the boys and what’s best for them.” [Read more]( [Brittany Webb Lane is a former AmeriCorps VISTA who is now a park ranger at the Booker T. Washington National Monument.]( [National Park Hires New Ranger (AmeriCorps)]( The Booker T. Washington National Monument ushered in a new year for the park by welcoming Brittany Webb Lane as the park’s permanent interpretive park ranger. Lane is a Franklin County High School graduate who later graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2012. She is no stranger to Franklin County’s national monument. From 2008 to 2012, she worked as a seasonal park guide before serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in 2014 and 2015. [Read more]( ["Grandpa Jerry" Rank works with a second grader at a school in Onalaska, WI, as part of Senior Corps Foster Grandparents program.]( [Foster Grandparent Program Pairs La Crosse Area Senior Citizens and Students for Reading, Friendship (Senior Corps)]( At home, he’s Jerry Rank, retiree, former coach and happy husband, but at Iriving Pertsch Elementary School, he’s Grandpa Jerry, reading buddy, Certs lover and joke teller. Rank, 71, of La Crosse, is something of a celebrity to the second- graders in Gretchen Lorenz’s classroom, greeted with energetic enthusiasm and cheers of “Grandpa Jerry is here!” Few tutors are greeted with such fanfare, but Rank isn’t your average study buddy. A volunteer in the Foster Grandparent program, an academic and social support program offered by Workforce Connections, Rank is more mentor than instructor, peppering lessons in math and reading with humor, conversation and a stash of candy. [Read more]( Watch and Share It: Service in the Wilderness [Watch this video to see how AmeriCorps is 'Getting Things Done' in the great outdoors]( Each week, we provide a social media shareable to use on your networks. Our AmeriCorps members perform a lot of different duties during their terms that "get things done" for America. Some of our more adventurous members serve with Conservation Corps across the nation that help protect the abundant natural beauty that we have in this nation by clearing invasive species, creating trails, and fighting wildfires. [Watch the video]( to see some of the ways AmeriCorps is "getting things done" in the great outdoors and share it on your social media networks. --------------------------------------------------------------- National Service in the News [Service Opportunities Around Every Corner for Area Senior Citizens (Senior Corps)]( The Budget, Ohio Edna Yoder has always loved to cook. Growing up as the only girl in a home with 10 brothers, she spent a lot of time with her mother in the kitchen and grew to enjoy preparing meals for others. Eventually, her family members got married and started families of their own. Yoder found herself at home, alone with nobody to enjoy her meals. Several years ago, Yoder enrolled in the Senior Corps Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP), and the organization provided her with an opportunity to put her love of working in the kitchen and serving others to good use. She is among the 277 volunteers who donate their time in Tuscarawas County through RSVP. She assists with meal prep twice a week at the Tuscarawas County Senior Center’s Sugarcreek satellite, the Garaway Senior Center. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Joplin Globe to Receive 2018 Friends of National Service Award (CNCS)]( The Joplin Globe, Missouri The Joplin Globe will be among nearly two dozen honorees to be recognized next week at the 15th annual Friends of National Service Awards in Washington, D.C. The 20 award winners in government, business and journalism were selected based on recognition and support for national service as a solution to some of the nation’s most pressing challenges, according to Voices for National Service. Each award winner has helped to raise public awareness of national service and elevate service as a national priority, officials said. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Colorado AmeriCorps to Help Fight Drug Crisis]( The Valley Courier, Colorado As Colorado grapples with the opioid crisis, local communities are stepping up efforts to organize community responses. To assist these communities in their local responses, a partnership has been formed between the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the Colorado Substance Abuse Trend and Response Task Force, the Central Colorado Area Health Education Center, Rise Above Colorado, the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, and Serve Colorado in the Office of the Lt. Governor, to place AmeriCorps members in communities across the state. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [AmeriCorps Continues Response in Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida]( National Service Newsroom Continuing recovery efforts in areas impacted by 2017 disasters, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency for service and volunteering, began the New Year deploying more than 450 AmeriCorps members to areas impacted, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, and Puerto Rico. These members join the nearly 4,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members who have responded to the California wildfires and Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Volunteer Group Made Up of Individuals 55 and Older Helping with Recovery Efforts (Senior Corps)]( KIII-TV, Texas These individuals are adventurers, they have RVs and a knack for helping others. Volunteers with the RV Disaster Corps travel to help disaster-stricken communities, like the Coastal Bend. Mr. and Mrs. Preciado have been in the Coastal Bend for months, volunteering in communities and giving back any way they can. The couple is from California but knew they needed to take a trip to Texas after Hurricane Harvey hit. "It's heart wrenching," Elsie Preciado said. They recall watching Harvey make landfall and instantly sought out ways they could help those affected. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [AmeriCorps Finishing Work in Mtn. View; Heading to Health Haven Botanical Gardens]( West Plains Daily Quill, Missouri The 11-member team of AmeriCorps is wrapping up its work at the House of Abigail in Mtn. View. The team will now head to West Plains to work at Health Haven Botanical Gardens. Adrian Stephen, of AmeriCorps, said the team members have been tearing out walls, floors, wiring and plumbing at the house. The House of Abigail will be used in the near future as a home for women of all ages who are struggling with poverty, ill health, teen pregnancies, joblessness and other issues. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Service Minded: Law School Student Aims for a Career as Public Defender (AmeriCorps)]( Detroit Legal News, Michigan When Michigan Law student Allison Horwitz interned at the Orleans Public Defenders office in New Orleans last summer, she learned to fight zealously for her clients. “I was disturbed to learn about the near constant deprivation of our clients’ humanity,” she says. “I was horrified to see dozens of individuals, almost exclusively black men, in orange jumpsuits and shackled hands and feet, herded in and out of the courtrooms every day. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Show Your Love This Valentine’s Day through Volunteering (CNCS)]( The News-Enterprise, Kentucky After the Christmas holiday, there seems to be an almost overnight change on store shelves from Santa and his reindeer to Cupid and his hearts. For those in budding romances, the preparation and planning for the perfect Valentine’s Day surprise is exhilarating. Like Christmas, this holiday is a time of excitement over giving and of joy received from experiencing someone else’s joy. Whether you are in a new relationship, an old relationship or will be spending Valentine’s Day alone, there is one way to ensure you will receive the joy of Valentine’s Day. Consider volunteering for a local charity. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [AmeriCorps]( | [Senior Corps]( | [Volunteer Generation Fund]( [NationalService.gov]( | [Unsubscribe from Account]( [twitter link]( link]( link]( link]( link]( link]( link]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to {EMAIL} using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Corporation for National & Community Service · 250 E. Street SW · Washington, DC 20525 · (202) 606- 5000 · (800) 833-3722 [GovDelivery logo](