AmeriCorps members are here for community

Front row: Lucy, Morgan and Ryan. Back row: Olivia, Nate, Cecelia, Hannah and Nolan.

They come from Tennessee and Georgia, Connecticut and Maryland, Arizona, Massachusetts and Colorado. One is just out of high school; another is taking a gap year before law school. All are adventurous. And all are ready to give back and learn.

Meet our AmeriCorps members: Cecelia, Hannah, Lucy, Morgan, Nate, Nolan, Olivia and Ryan. They are spending the better part of a year in Alaska working with nonprofit organizations. For the next four months, they will be part of the team here at the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, splitting their time between the Coalition, Anchorage re:MADE and Fur Rendezvous. They earlier deployed to Fairbanks, working with the Fairbanks Community Food Bank and Tanana Chiefs Conference, where they got to package salmon and deliver it to elders.

At the Coalition, these eight are getting right to it. They are accompanying our street outreach team on visits to camps. They are learning how to help people who walk in off the street in search of hot coffee, a place to charge their phones — or a place to live. And they will be critical hands for our Point-in-Time Count at the end of the month. That’s an effort to count every individual in Anchorage who is experiencing homelessness done at the same time as counts all over the country.

Morgan, the team leader with a skillset that includes search and rescue and hobbies from embroidery to kickboxing, said AmeriCorps provides a way to make a tangible difference before “before committing to a career for the rest of your life.” Nolan, first-aid certified and a long-distance runner, said he’s interested in nonprofit work and trying to learn more about what that would be like long-term. Hannah, who plays multiple musical instruments, is drawing on her degree in psychology as she works with community organizations.

Alaska, Morgan said, is a coveted special assignment with high priority projects. The others this time around were working with the Bureau of Land Management in California and helping Hawaii after its devasting fires.

AmeriCorps NCCC, as the National Civilian Community Corps is known, provides an opportunity for national service for those who are 18-26 years old. To learn more, visit americorps.gov.