National Service News: Service Opening Doors for America's Heroes

We love veterans who love national service! [] Having trouble viewing this email? [View it as a Web page](. [Military veterans serve in AmeriCorps-sponsored fire crews around the nation.](  Service Opening Doors for America's Heroes We've heard the stories. Our military heroes often face new challenges finding work after returning to civilian life. Fortunately, [some are finding new careers through national service](. America's veterans bring a lot of great qualities and skills to the workplace: problem solving, teamwork, perseverance, and leadership. Still, they may need additional training or experience to open doors to new careers. That's where national service comes in. [AmeriCorps]( programs like the Veterans Fire Corps and Wyoming Veterans Trail Crew provide unique opportunities to veterans seeking new careers. And as our veterans gain new skills, they often follow that new path or take advantage of the [Segal AmeriCorps Education Award]( they earn to fund college studies or other educational programs. Thousands of veterans serve in our AmeriCorps and [Senior Corps]( programs every year, performing vital and valuable service in the fields of education, conservation, disaster services, health, and supporting other veterans and military families. We're proud that veterans choose to participate in national service following their military careers, and it's an honor to serve beside them. In service, CNCS Office of External Affairs The Impact of National Service [Mildred Moody, who just turned 90, is celebrating her 20th year as a Senior Corps Foster Grandparent.]( [Many Call Her Grandma: Mildred Moody Celebrating 90th Birthday, 20 Years as Foster Grandma (Senior Corps)]( When Mildred Moody celebrates her 90th birthday on Saturday, she’ll not only be surrounded by loved ones and friends, but also students she has helped teach through the years. With the upcoming school year, Moody will mark 20 years serving as a foster grandparent at Gering schools. “It is very rewarding,” Moody said. “I have been blessed to work with a lot of beautiful children and wonderful teachers.” Moody, who was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, didn’t start out working with teachers and students. She grew up in Torrington, Wyoming, where she started a retail career with an after-school job at JCPenney. Her teacher told the students that they could get extra credit, and her dad, who owned and operated a popcorn store thought it would be a good idea. [Read more]( [Student volunteers prepare food for cancer patients.]( [New Programs Benefit Cancer Patients (AmeriCorps)]( One recent Leadership Mendocino graduate is increasing access to nutritious meals and another provides counseling for local cancer patients. Tarney Sheldon, through her work in the Nutrition Basics program at North Coast Opportunities, and Carol Michelson, a licensed mental health therapist, are committed to easing the hunger and stress associated with cancer in partnership with Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County (CRCMC). “Half of all cancer patients report symptoms of anxiety and depression,” says Michelson. For her class project, Michelson set out to increase access to therapy and launched a program which supports CRCMC patient navigators by offering a series of free therapy sessions to their clients from volunteer therapists who are licensed mental health professionals. [Read more]( [AmeriCorps VISTA Sarah Chang at the University of Southern Maine led a summer STEM program for children in the community.]( [AmeriCorps VISTA Leads Summer STEM Activities]( Recently, one of the University of Southern Maine's AmeriCorps VISTAs, Sarah Chang, designed a program called "Weaving Bridges: Creating Self-Supporting da Vinci Bridges" as part of her new STEM Sisters initiative, which will be established as a network for young girls in the Greater Portland area to connect to, find support, and be encouraged to pursue pathways through STEM learning and education. [Read more]( Share It: AmeriCorps Helps Vermonters Save [AmeriCorps member Haythem Basson puts an energy efficient light bulb into a lamp on July 19. (Photo by Kristopher Radder/Brattleboro Reformer)]( Each week, we will provide a social media shareable to use on your networks. Today we are highlighting a story about how Windsor & Windham Housing Trust AmeriCorps members are providing improvements to help mobile home owners in Vermont lower their energy bills. Click the buttons above to visit our social media channels and [read the Brattleboro Reformer story about this AmeriCorps program](. --------------------------------------------------------------- National Service in the News [Retired MPS Worker Still Teaching Through Foster Grandparent Program (Senior Corps)]( WTMJ-TV, Wisconsin She retired from her job at MPS after almost 37 years. But 75-year-old Edwina Matthews is still nurturing kids. Her journey is Positively Milwaukee. The kids at Mill Road Public Library in Milwaukee are beginning important chapters of their lives. Edwina Matthews delights in passing on the joy of reading through the Senior Corps Foster Grandparent Program. It's run by the Social Development Commission. The best part exclaims Matthews? "Just seeing kids able to read, excited about reading and the parents excited, when the parents get excited the kids get excited!" Matthews has been working with the program for almost a decade. She was not content to stay idle after retiring from MPS after almost 36 and a half years. Her life passion and purpose has always been to help kids. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [City Relaunching 'Positive Ticket' Program
 (AmeriCorps)]( WROC-TV, New York The City of Rochester is re-launching a popular police-community engagement program in hopes of creating more positive interactions between the two. Officers will issue "positive tickets" to people they see doing good deeds. Good deeds could be helping a resident cross the street safely, helping someone with yard work, assisting a resident by carrying groceries, or any other action that positively benefits a neighbor or neighborhood.  A Positive Ticket will come with an envelope filled with coupons for food, treats or events.  Alyce Sanders, a former Rochester police officer and current Flower City AmeriCorps member, helped re-launch the program, and says this is a win-win for police and the community. "Positive Tickets is a program that give police an effective tool to start a positive relationship with a citizen," said Sanders. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Ottawa County Senior Companions Get Tornado Disaster Training (Senior Corps)]( The Miami News Record, Oklahoma Senior Companion program (SCP) volunteers are trained and ready to help their clients with many needs. This month SCP volunteers received an emergency “Go Bag” from the Lions Club International as a part of emergency disaster training presented by Emergency Manager Don Wilkerson. The focus of the training was preparing for severe storms and tornadoes. Insulated and equipped with a zipper, the rear of the bags provide a quick list of important items to have “ready to go” during an emergency. Inside, each bag was pre-equipped with a brochure on disaster preparedness for seniors from the American Red Cross, a sealing plastic bag to store important personal documents, an emergency blanket, a LED flashlight, whistle and mini first aid kit. “Having a bag packed with medication, phone numbers and other important items is critical for seniors,” explained SCP Site Supervisor Ramie Tirres. “We want to help them, and ourselves be ready in case of an emergency.” [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Young Volunteers Read to Shelter Animals (Senior Corps)]( The East Oregonian, Oregon Despite the kids’ best efforts, the dogs just weren’t getting it. Accompanied by volunteers from the Foster Grandparent program, a trio of elementary school students read books to Pongo and Aurora at the Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter Tuesday. The children read aloud to the dogs and delivered detailed summaries of the books they just read — but Pongo and Aurora were far more interested in gnawing on bones or wagging their kennels than in literacy. Of course, the goal of reading to animals was to improve the literacy of the children rather than the dogs, and nine-year-olds Kayle Smith and Maryn Broker gave it their endorsement. The Foster Grandparent program has long provided its senior volunteers to assist local students with reading, but when Pendleton Public Library Assistant Director Jennifer Costley approached Foster Grandparent Executive Director John Brenne about incorporating PAWS into a summer reading program, Brenne said the nonprofit decided to add cats and dogs to the mix. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [As Fatal Overdoses Rise, Pioneering Police Effort Evolves (AmeriCorps)]( Associated Press, Massachusetts Gloucester is seeing more heroin overdoses today than it did two years ago when it introduced a unique amnesty program replicated by hundreds of police departments across the nation that encourages addicts to turn in their drugs to police without fear of arrest in order to get fast-tracked for treatment. About halfway through the year, the historic fishing city north of Boston has had 16 confirmed and suspected fatal opioid overdoses, said Police Chief John McCarthy. That's on pace to exceed the nine confirmed cases the city saw last year and 10 in 2015, when the ANGEL program launched, according to state data. At the same time, the number of addicts walking through the police station doors declined. The department helped 564 addicts get into treatment, but roughly two-thirds of those came within the first full year. McCarthy estimates the department is averaging about one walk-in per week. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Teen Puts Charitable Spin on Gaming (AmeriCorps)]( The Simi Valley Acorn, California Akshaya Venkatesh has been helping raise money for the needy since she was in the second grade, so it’s no surprise that the 16-year-old Simi Valley resident has found a way to put a charitable spin on a favorite teen pastime. Since her spring break in April, she’s been coordinating an event set for this weekend that will teach fellow teens, as well as adults, how to create video games and will also raise money to treat curable blindness among impoverished people in India. “Basically I noticed how I’m always downloading apps from the iStore, and I noticed that a lot of kids do that as well. So I figured that ... a lot of kids would want to know how to code and create these apps that we download and play with every day,” Akshaya said. “And I also figured that ... rather than sitting at home playing games, you could actually learn how these games are built, how they’re programmed.” [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Project Transformation Keeps Kids Learning Through Summer (AmeriCorps)]( The Enid News, Oklahoma For some kids, summer break brings opportunities for camp, travel and other enrichment opportunities. For children of low-income families, however, summer break often means an end to school meals and a loss of access to reading materials, art supplies and other learning opportunities. First United Methodist Church has been working to bridge that disparity this summer with Project Transformation, a partnership effort with AmeriCorps and Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church to offer low-income youth eight weeks of meals, mentorship and literacy enhancement. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Volunteering as a Child Can Help You Get a Job as an Adult]( The Cambrian News, California Public service was introduced early in my life. Written with a smile, I wonder if the introduction to volunteerism was for free labor or to teach me volunteerism’s value. If those elders were alive today, I’d guess they would answer, “She learned the value of volunteerism.” They volunteered me to serve food at fundraiser barbecues, neighborhood trash pick-ups, and “sniping” political signage at night (which was really fun). By my mid-teens, the elders scheduled me to hand out water at a nonprofit’s booth at the fair, and give away pink and blue helium-filled balloons to remind folks that the local hospital maternity ward could use funding for rocking chairs. 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