AmeriCorps Great Stories
Kelsi Foote, NAU AmeriCorps Member 2020-2021
I joined AmeriCorps because helping the community throughout my work is important to me. I knew by joining AmeriCorps I would be able to see the first-hand effects of how our work was impacting the community. What intrigued me the most was that I was able to take what I learned with my degree and enhance my skills right out of college. Throughout my service term I got to be a part of a small growing team at Casa Grande Alliance (CGA). I feel extremely thankful to be a part of this team and all the changing work we are doing for our community. During a pandemic we were able to serve families and students by operating Learning Hubs and providing free internet access and student support. I have been able to grow strong relationships over the months with my students in the Learning Hub and see the effects of how these students find trust in me. Serving at CGA has grown me as an individual drastically. I have learned how to be trusting, independent, dependable, creative, and so much more. My experience with AmeriCorps is an opportunity I will never forget, these dependable skills will serve me well in my future profession.
Elias Rangel, NAU AmeriCorps Member 2020-2021
In my six months with AmeriCorps I have had the privilege of working with students at the CGMS Learning Hub providing internet service for those who don’t have it at home. It has been a great experience building a positive rapport with all of the students. Watching them learn and grow has been such a fun and rewarding experience. I have also had the blessing of working with a great team. We have a wonderful group of people who all come from different places with different backgrounds that has blended and bonded together to create an amazing team. We have done projects for the woman’s shelter as well as organized several community trash pick-ups and also have been working in the CGMS Garden. The garden has been a major success producing over 1000 pounds of produced that is given to the woman’s shelter and to the families in the school district. There have been a major number of volunteers that has made all of these projects a major success. AmeriCorps has given me a major sense of community and has made me feel like we are really out here making a difference in and for the community. Whether it is cleaning up the side of the road, providing help for the students in need, or growing fresh organic produce for the woman’s shelter and families in the district it, has been an honor to help serve the community in so many different ways. Going from an agriculture background working hard every day as a farm laborer in the central valley of California to giving back to the community as an AmeriCorps member has truly changed my life drastically for the better. I enjoy coming to work every day working with such an amazing group of people down at the Casa Grande Alliance. It’s always a great day at work around this wonderful group of people. It has been a truly blessed and rewarding experience every step of the way so far and I am looking forward to seeing what the future has in store.
Lex Solberg, Public Allies AmeriCorps Member 2020-2021
Joining AmeriCorps was probably one of the best things I could have done. I am a first year member currently serving at Casa Grande Alliance and due to working here, the opportunities and connections have truly been endless. I get to use both my passion and skills of Journalism to serve my community; which is all anyone could ever want! I've helped by creating and managing social media accounts, by writing articles for magazines + newspapers, by filming videos which I later create into YouTube videos, by creating flyers using graphic design, etc. But my service is only half of what I am grateful for. The other half is about the amazing people I have met!
Amy Potchen, AmeriCorps Vista 2020-2021
I am four months into my term of service as a VISTA at Casa Grande Alliance and could not be more grateful for all of the opportunities that this position has given me. I wasn’t quite sure what “leadership” skills were before I had a position where I was able to gain them. I have built confidence by having to create and give presentations, set up meetings, collaborate on projects, and build plans to reach goals. Working in a growing non-profit has shown me everything that this work entails from grant searching, and survey creation to highway clean ups and gardening. I appreciate that I am a part of a team of AmeriCorps members who are all working together to create family programming, build community, and tell dad jokes.
Margo Willis, AmeriCorps Vista 2021-2022
I joined AmeriCorps because it seemed like an Amazing opportunity to travel outside my home community and see what life is like somewhere else in America, while being able to help people along the way. I heard about AmeriCorps through a lot of the Returned Peace Corps volunteers that I met after my service to the Peace Corps ended in early 2020. Not knowing what else to do during the pandemic I looked into a wide variety of AmeriCorps positions before accepting a position through the Casa Grande Alliance. I have only been with the Casa Grande Alliance for a few months and so far I am blown away by the dedication and passion the people I work with have for their jobs. Serving at the Casa Grande Alliance has been amazing. The Casa Grande Alliance is a non-profit that helps deliver prevention strategies to both the schools and the youth as well as community outreach for families who are in need. In the two months I have been here, I have helped with so many different projects that my organization has in place and the experience has been incredible.