MTCC VISTA National Day of Service

Over the 9/11 remembrance weekend, MTCC VISTA members across Montana collaborated to lend their hands in service to a wide range of community betterment work. Ideally, given the success of this year’s National Day of Service, every weekend would see VISTA members engaging in service work to directly impact the communities where they live. The purpose of service is threefold: to create solidarity amongst individuals doing service; to better existing methods of community empowerment and intervention; and to plant and cultivate the seed of service within each of our members and those they knowingly or unknowingly influence every day.

We'd like to highlight the diverse service initiatives that our VISTAs applied themselves to over the 9/11 weekend. Thank you to all community organizations and volunteers that helped in the process of giving back and paying it forward through our actions.

Many of our VISTAs from around the Bitterroot valley and Missoula joined forces to bring restorative change to the Clark Fork watershed. In partnership with the Clark Fork Coalition of Missoula, our VISTA crew set to work cleaning garbage from the Deep Creek riverbed and fishing access site. All sorts of materials and junk were extracted from the surrounding streams and rocky slopes including tires, bike frames, coaches, bed posts, half disintegrated car parts, and soggy clothes. All in all, nearly 400 pounds of litter was removed from the site over the course of two hours reinforcing the old saying “many hands make small work”. Michelle Seibert, VISTA member with Bitterroot College had this to say about the day of service:

“While I certainly understand the importance of the campsite rule and keeping trash out of natural resources, when I was picking up trash I spent a lot of time reflecting on the impact that I make when I'm out in nature. I try to practice Leave No Trace principles when I'm out camping or on the river, but there were things that I hadn't really thought of, like the nails left behind when burning old pallets for firewood. This project made me think about environmental protection on both a local and a global scale, and seemed to be doing some important work toward the ongoing efforts to clean up the Clark Fork River.”

Along with a large cohort of volunteers that were mobilized in Missoula there were a few VISTAs and VISTA teams from the eastern regions of the state that really took their moments of service to the next level of compassion. Darby Lacey, VISTA member serving with the Bozeman area Community Foundation spent her service day volunteering with Bozeman’s Community Café to help dish out food and build relationships with individuals and families who utilize the Café as necessary resource. Darby provided an excellent reflection that is worth sharing at length as it pertains to the perceptions and assumptions we harbor about people in p

“One thought that came to mind as I was serving at the Cafe is the lack of people that come in for dinner and pay the suggested donation or pay for someone else's dinner. Despite the creative marketing of the Cafe and the high quality food, the Cafe is mostly used by those who cannot afford meals, which is of course an important resource for our community. I can't help but think that stigma towards resources that are utilized primarily by those in lower socioeconomic classes keeps folks who could help cover costs at the Cafe from dining there. This also prevents important cross-class socialization and community building from happening as it ends up being a segregated space.”

Our VISTAs continued to serve in multiple roles. Lenore and Rebekah, VISTA members working to enhance educational attainment for under-privileged, low-income students across the state spent their day disguising and improving social hiking trails for public use. Hans Hyppolite serving the Great Falls College Native Initiatives program partnered with the Great Falls Rescue Mission to bring food to the homeless and many veterans around the area. Ruth Jessee serving on the Flathead Indian reservation partnered with the area Boys and Girls Club to create thank you letters and inspirational messages for local police and fire departments. Tiphani Lynn in Bozeman served with HRDC’s Warming Center to raise funds to help support costs of heating homes for low-income families. She and her team raised $403 to help in this effort.

Scarlett Day-Aleman serving in the Lame Deer schools helped promote the importance of everyday heroes like doctors, nurses, and military servicemen with students and fostered awareness of natural disasters with kindergarten level kids. Margaret Hoyt, a VISTA member serving with YWCA GUTS program in Missoula, volunteered at her local homeless shelter to provide necessary care to individuals utilizing that resource. Finally, Kelsie Severson, a second year VISTA Serving with BIG Sky High School assisted with the Big Sky Family Resource Center’s food drive to bring nourishment to area high school students.

Applause and gratification goes out to all VISTAs who made it a priority to get out and serve their communities on National Day of Service. We look forward to future service work that extends beyond your specific sites. We are always in the process of creating and envisioning a better culture and environment for us all to enjoy.

ROOM TO GROW: A SERVICE STORY BY CARA GETCHES

Below is a story of service from Cara Getches, one of our VISTA Summer Associates with the Helena YMCA. Cara's experience as an AmeriCorps VISTA was full of meaning, reflection and growth on multiple levels. We appreciate the commitment she took to serve underprivileged youth and praise the impact she had in their lives and the community at large. Here is a link to a video Cara produced for the YMCA Summer Literacy Initiative. The Password to access the video is: YMCA
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Room to Grow
By Carolyn Getches
Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA, Summer 2016

For years, serving with AmeriCorps was on my list of things to do. Like traveling to Europe and riding in a hot air balloon, it had a certain romance to it. Sure, I loved the idea of helping my community, but I also had grand images of myself handing over the keys to a new house I built for a young family, impressed smiles from my parents’ friends at my obvious selflessness and a child who hadn’t spoken in years looking up at me and whispering, “Hello.” At the time, I was in my early twenties and it was easy to get lost in how experiences reflected on me, rather than how I could truly be of service to others.

After graduation, I combed through the AmeriCorps database, desperate to find that perfect match that would give me a clear purpose. I considered applying to a few, but when my internship turned into a salaried position, I hopped quickly on the corporate ladder. Soon, I was stuck in the seductive trap of working too many hours for just enough money, certain that the next promotion was the only fix. Improving the world outside my office was far from my mind. Finally, I saw a way out when an imminent move to Lincoln, NE was on the horizon.

AmeriCorps seemed like a good way to get involved in my new community and find a path to more fulfilling work. Again, I spent hours searching for the right match and, this time, even applied to a few positions. I got as far as exchanging several emails with my potential site supervisor, before I accepted another job. It was a freelance position that offered me more flexibility. Unfortunately, it also required constant travel. Serving the greater good quickly took a back seat to exhaustion and keeping up with my current time zone.

A few more years passed before I was packing up to move again. I was headed to Helena, Montana for the summer and knew that without some structure my days would be lost to Netflix and four dollar lattes. I always imagined AmeriCorps being for those folks without recurring knee pain and sprouting gray hairs and, at 28, I felt too old to apply again. I was determined to find another way to make myself useful.

Before the big move, I reached out to the Helena Family YMCA to see if they needed help with their summer learning programs. Darla Dexter, the youth development director, quickly got back to me. They had a few openings in their Summer Literacy Academy, “But,” she cautioned, “they are AmeriCorps VISTA positions. Are you still interested?” After some online research, I learned that while some AmeriCorps programs are reserved for those under 25, many of the opportunities are open to adults of any age.

Summer of 2016 marked the Literacy Academy’s first year in Helena, a YMCA program dedicated to preventing summer learning loss and helping incoming first and second graders improve their reading levels. Two teachers were already on board to run the nuts and bolts of the literacy component, but they were looking for enrichment leaders to fulfill the arts, nutrition, physical activity, science and music requirements. I felt too old, unqualified and nervous about being in front of a dozen or so children, who past experience had taught me, were likely to be very honest. However, I was excited by the opportunity and couldn't deny that it felt “meant to be,” so I accepted the position.

My fellow enrichment leader and I worked hard to develop lesson plans and find corresponding activities with the right mix of educational value and fun. We prepared fresh pasta, launched rockets, painted portraits, played soccer, decorated cupcakes, swam, marched in a parade, picked up litter, created volcanoes, jumped rope, danced, and more. With so many new activities in the mix, it was a welcome relief to have some routine in our days.

Each week, we visited the Helena Food Share, a program dedicated to “creating a hunger­free community.” There, Nick Chmura, the garden and nutrition program coordinator and a fellow VISTA member, would lead our students in a short lesson before assigning them a task in the community garden. Over the next few weeks, we sang about the parts of the plant, identified bugs, rolled compost and planted seeds, but on that first day he started with the basics. “What grows in a garden?” he asked.

“Flowers!” offered a student from the back of the group.
“Roses,” added her friend.
“What else?” Nick asked. The students looked at the garden for clues, but the plants were still too young to be of much help.

Another student, even louder than the first, shouted, “Flowweeerrsss!” I had seen our students eat broccoli, bell peppers, grapes and oranges with gusto, yet the idea that these foods came from the ground, just like flowers, wasn’t easy for them to grasp.

Near the end of our visit, Nick offered each child a chive. “What’s that?” they asked. He explained it was an herb with an onion flavor. Our bravest students reached out their hands. After a few “ewws!” and kids asking if it was grass, the group grew quiet. “Can I have another?” We were making progress.

Over the next few weeks, the plants got bigger. Slowly, the students began to recognize the fruits and vegetables growing all around them. “That looks like salad,” they’d say or, “I like those on my pizza,” while eyeing a green bell pepper. Nick encouraged them to sample the fruits of their labor. They tried beans, kale, chard, onions, spinach and basil. Not everything was as big a hit as the chives, but their curiosity was piqued.

One of the most unexpected perks of the garden was the conversations it fostered. It was a quiet time when the teachers and students could work and talk together. One day, we’d be discussing what one of our students should do with the two dollars “in cash!” she just received for her birthday (the big contenders were goop from the dollar store and a pair of over­sized sunglasses), the next I was being advised to avoid the eye doctor on Tuesdays because on Tuesdays “they take everyone’s eyes all the way out.” We were able to offer the children an educational experience, while creating the space to truly get to know them.

By the end of the summer, all of our students improved their reading levels, making our program a measurable success, but it succeeded in more subtle ways as well. On the walk back from one of our final garden visits, I asked our group how many plants they could think of. “Watermelon,” offered one student.
“Tomatoes!” added another.
“Peppers and strawberries,” a third chimed in.
“The tribes!” yelled a fourth. “You mean that we all work together, like a tribe?” I asked, thinking that was such a sweet sentiment. “No, the tr­i­bes,” she said more slowly. “They are so yummy and taste so good,” she explained, taking a bite of her chive. “Oh, the chives. Yes, those are good,” I replied. She nodded with a look that said, “I know, that’s what I’ve been saying.”

In a few weeks, the kids might not remember how to make compost or what a “sepal” is (even I had to be reminded of that one), but they will have a much better understanding of where their food comes from, how it grows and the work it requires.

After spending years thinking about serving through AmeriCorps, the 10 weeks of actually doing it flew by. There were times I felt a little too old and out of place, and while uncomfortable, I know these moments offered me the most opportunity for growth. I didn’t save lives or build an entire house by myself, but it was a rare chance to feel part of something that had values aligned with my own. Plus, I’ve been meaning to make an appointment with the optometrist to address my increasingly fuzzy vision. Thankfully, I know not to make that appointment on Tuesdays.