News : Iowa Celebrates AmeriCorps 30th Anniversary

Americorp volunteers helped to finish off the harvest season at Old School Produce on Friday

To celebrate the wrap up of AmeriCorps' year-long 30-year anniversary celebration, AmeriCorps and Volunteer Iowa celebrated with a one-day event on Friday, September 13, 2024. One hundred and fifty AmeriCorps members, AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers and staff served with community organizations at one of six locations in Iowa - Oelwein, Cedar Rapids, Vinton, Dubuque, and Muscatine.

Currently, more than 1.25 million AmeriCorps members and hundreds of thousands of AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers have taken the pledge and served in communities large and small to help others live healthier, safer, smarter, and more resilient lives, while enhancing their own skills and earning money for their education.

To spotlight the valuable contributions of AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers who pledged to "get things done" for our nation these past 30 years, we have come together in service to others, to tackle the nation's most pressing challenges. These volunteers are essential to our nation's economic and social well-being. They are the lifeblood of our schools and shelters, hospitals, and hotlines, and civic, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations across the country.

The six locations across Iowa included:

City of Oelwein (20 2nd Ave SW, Oelwein, IA 50662): Planting trees at the Woodlawn Cemetery and adjacent city park.

Ushers Ferry (5925 Seminole Valley Trail NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52411): General cleaning of buildings and grounds maintenance including removal of large mulch and derecho debris.

Old School Produce Partners (811 D Ave, Vinton, IA 52349): Harvesting produce and/or cleaning gardens that have already been harvested.

City of Dubuque (255 E 24th St, Dubuque, IA 52001): Planting trees in Justice 40 census tracts throughout the city.

Bur Oak Land Trust (8WV6+WG, Muscatine, IA 52761): Removing invasive black locust and cedar trees to improve biodiversity.

Indian Creek Nature Center (5300 Otis Rd SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403): Removing invasive species including honeysuckle, autumn olive, and sumac to preserve tallgrass prairie.

In Vinton the group broke into two groups to clean up after the harvest which included: pulling plastic row covers, disposing of the plastic harvesting carrots, washing, packaging for later delivery, picking squash, put on racks to dry, onions were husked for storage, harvest potatoes, brush and clean for storage, taking clean up debris to the dump.

We are proud to be celebrating 30 years of AmeriCorps service to communities and are grateful to all the AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Senior volunteers who unite to get things done for Iowa," said Robert Levis, Region Director for the AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps). "Whether flood or derecho recovery, food security, education, affordable housing, or the environment, AmeriCorps members and volunteers continue to have a significant and direct impact in meeting the most critical needs of Iowa communities.

###

About Volunteer Iowa

Volunteer Iowa and its partner agencies work with organizations and individuals on three main fronts. The first is to help agencies develop quality programs that use service as a strategy to fulfill their missions and address Iowa's greatest areas of need. The second is to help engage Iowans in their communities by promoting service and expanding the volunteer base. Finally, the third area of work is to connect individuals with appropriate service opportunities by building the volunteer infrastructure. More information is available at volunteeriowa.org.

About AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, provides opportunities for Americans to serve their country domestically, address the nation's most pressing challenges, improve lives and communities, and strengthen civic engagement. Each year, the agency places more than 200,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in intensive service roles; and empowers millions more to serve as long-term, short-term, or one-time volunteers. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.

AmeriCorps offers opportunities for individuals of all backgrounds to be a part of the national service community, grow personally and professionally, and receive benefits for their service. Learn how to get involved at AmeriCorps.gov/serve.