Kate Cawvey

The third annual AmeriCorps Week is in full swing. Occurring May 9-16, 2009, AmeriCorps week is a recruitment and recognition event designed to motivate more Americans to serve their communities.

AmeriCorps was founded in 1993 and expanded the 1965 Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. VISTA provides full-time volunteers to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations and public agencies to create and expand programs that ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty.

Binghamton hosts numerous AmeriCorps VISTAs who do a variety of work within the community. The Binghamton Neighborhood Assemblies Project currently has six VISTAs who serve as community organizers and work within all of the city's neighborhoods. CHOW, Lourdes Hospital, and Cornell Cooperative Extension also have VISTAs working with projects this year.

To celebrate AmeriCorps and encourage volunteerism, Binghamton's VISTA organizers who work with the Binghamton Neighborhood Assemblies Project have arranged two exciting events. On May 9 the VISTAs held a food and clothing drive in the parking lot of the United Tabernacle Methodist Church. The drive was a great success, collecting 20 bags of clothes for the Nearly New and the Lighthouse Thrift Shops and 10 boxes of food for CHOW.

VISTA volunteers are also planning to paint the interior of the Lee Barta Community Center where the Fresh Cycles Youth Program is currently held. Program volunteers, youth, and community members will all be pitching in to revitalize the interior of the community center. Through these events the VISTAs hope to demonstrate that bettering your community isn't burdensome: it can be as simple as donating food and as fun as painting!

In addition to improving your neighborhood and uplifting others, there are also personal and professional benefits of aiding your community through your participation. Community participation not only reduces stress and increases feelings of social connectedness, but you can also list your volunteer work on your resume! In addition, being civically engaged and involved in the community increases an individual's power and resources through collective action. Bottom line. . . get involved beyond AmeriCorps Week to take responsibility for your community and enhance yourself!

For more information on fun activities and projects to achieve community change contact the VISTA office at the City of Binghamton at 724-2489 or for information on how to enroll to be an AmeriCorps volunteer visit www.Americorps.gov.

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