AmeriCorps Service During a Pandemic
COVID-19 may have disrupted daily life nationally, and globablly, but it hasn't stopped our AmeriCorps members from getting things done.
Virtually Serving
Our 2019-2020 AmeriCorps team at swearing in this past fall.
‘Teleserving’ (the AmeriCorps equivalent to teleworking) has been an adjustment many AmeriCorps have had to make. Many AmeriCorps members are creating online content to stay engaged with their public-facing projects. In fact, many of our AmeriCorps members serve with organizations that are focused around community development and are public-facing, which poses challenges for completing your AmeriCorps service during a pandemic.
One member, Megan Dister, serving in Marlinton with the Monongahela National Forest, developed online lessons to send out to her ‘Run Wild’ (an after school running program for girls) participants. “I’m hopeful that they might provide a sense of normalcy for the kids, but also it’s hard to know if it’s just another document for parents to read when they are swamped working from home and trying to engage their kids with educational activities,” said Megan.
Ramps, photographed by Ben Duvall-Irwin, AmeriCorps member.
Many of the festivals and fairs our AmeriCorps members help plan for and organize are cancelled or postponed, but efforts are being made for locals to feel virtually connected. For example, Ramps and Rail Festival is calling out for ramp recipes to be included in a ramp cookbook to be sold at next year's festival. Discover Nature Day is going virtual, and conservation AmeriCorps members are being asked to make educational content.
For more information about how our AmeriCorps members are adjusting their direct service to suit the pandemic, check out our April 2020 newsletter.
Helping with the Pandemic
Some of our members are taking time to help their community deal with the pandemic. AmeriCorps members are allowed help with COVID-19 related aid and count it towards their service hours, or even a community service project.
Some ear savers Morgan crocheted.
Morgan Agee, serving with Trout Unlimited, found a different way to get involved with helping healthcare workers be comfortable. “I’m not a talented seamstress so I couldn’t make masks, but I can crochet. I heard a lot of nurse friends say their ears are extremely sore after having to wear masks all day, so I thought these would be useful.” Within a few days she made and donated 170 ear savers! “This has helped my mental health through all this tremendously. I am the opposite of a homebody, I love being outside and exploring, so I’ve been able to tune that energy into this.”
Some AmeriCorps members in Elkins have been working with Meals on Wheels to supply meals to those most vulnerable during the pandemic. Meals on Wheels of Randolph County, Inc., serves 79 individuals who are elderly or disabled (or both), most of whom have no ability to prepare meals, no access to grocery stores, and no local family or friends to help. As the national number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases continued to rise and West Virginia began reporting its first few positive tests, Meals on Wheels faced a decline in the number of individuals able to deliver meals to those in need. AmeriCorps volunteers, however, were eager to step in and help Meals on Wheels’ delivery efforts remain operational.
AFNHA AmeriCorps members stepping up the plate by volunteering with Meals on Wheels. Left to right: Sky McKibben, Kelsey Romer, Adam Brinson, and Frankie Evans.
AmeriCorps members participating with Meals on Wheels have found the experience to be fulfilling, and they are happy to help those in need during this difficult and uncertain time. “There’s so much need in our communities that we might never personally see in our day-to-day lives, and this has really taught me how important it is to look deeper and find out what we can do to help,” said Kelsey Romer, of the Hands-On Team.
Other ways members have been getting involved include making masks for healthcare workers, assisting at food banks, and donating blood. For additional information about how to become involved with Meals on Wheels in Elkins, contact Ronald Charny at 304-636-4919 (office) or 304-621-1933 (cell).
California Streamin’
Chris Mielke has been creating virtual programming for the Beverly Heritage Center. For the past five weeks, Chris has been creating weekly Facebook livestreams on varying topics, such as Food in the Great Depression to Women of Randolph County. Following their “show” on the history of the 1808 Courthouse in Beverly, the Heritage Center received an intriguing email.
Chris Mielke, dressed for programming at the BHC.
“During the broadcast, I was talking about sources of history for the Randolph County Courthouse, and I brought up an entry in the ‘Oaths and Licenses’ book which mentioned a bill of sale involving an enslaved woman named Margaret,” said Chris. “You can imagine my surprise when the very next day I got a message from a woman from California who is a descendant of Margaret!”
Kanika Marshall Art contacted the Beverly Heritage Center through it’s Facebook page. “I have known since 1976, through family lore, that my great-great-great-grandmother, Margaret Booker, was enslaved by the Earle family in Beverly. I have recently found an interview from Kenyon College by a professor who interviewed Margaret’s grandson, my Great-Uncle George Booker, who said John Earle was the master.”
The two have been exchanging emails on information about the Booker and Earle families, helping each other fill in the gaps of information. Kanika has been preparing a book of her family’s history, so this connection has been incredibly helpful for her. “You cannot know how precious this information is to me.”
Livestreaming the content allows for a conversation between the presenter and the audience. The Beverly Heritage Center is continuing to create online content through May, ‘Historic Photos of Beverly’ will livestream at 1 PM on the BHC’s Facebook page. Other featured content you can enjoy includes ‘The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike’, ‘Medicine & Hygiene’, ‘The Battle of Rich Mountain’, and ‘Fashion in the 1800s’.
