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U.S. Sen. Harkin: Summer volunteer opportunities now available
4/8/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2009

Contact: Kate Cyrul / Jennifer Mullin

202-224-3254

Summer Volunteer Opportunities Now Available

By Senator Tom Harkin

There are few things that I find more valuable and rewarding than a good day of volunteering. No activity is more personally fulfilling than offering some of your time and talents to help out your community, or another community in need. I have tried to make volunteering a lifelong habit and take time out of every week by reading with a child through the Everybody Wins! Program.

Summer is the perfect time to begin volunteering and right now, the Volunteers in Service to America or VISTA Program is accepting applications. Founded in 1965 and incorporated into AmeriCorps in 1993, the program attempts to “fight poverty with passion” by placing individuals at nonprofit organizations and public agencies that actively serve low-income areas. VISTA volunteers focus on mobilizing people, businesses, and organizations with the goal of creating sustainable, healthy communities. Currently there are more than 5,000 VISTA members serving in over 1,000 projects throughout the nation.

VISTA’s Summer Associate program is an 8-10 week summer service opportunity that enhances existing VISTA programs by allowing individuals to work alongside year-round participants for an intense summer service experience. The program even provides a modest living allowance as well as an end of service benefit that can be used towards education costs. This summer, AmeriCorps VISTA will serve in three locations throughout the state, helping with Flood Recovery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Human and Civil Rights programs across the state and the Oakridge Neighborhood Services in Des Moines. And for recent graduates, VISTA offers great job opportunities year-round with 10 months of full federal benefits, a small stipend and even almost $5,000 of loan repayment.

Funding I worked to secure in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Economic Recovery Package, will help expand this worthwhile project, as well as help facilitate the creation of the AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associate program.

For more information on the summer associate program or year-round volunteer activities, you can visit http://www.americorps.gov or call 1-800-942-2677.

As President Obama said in his inaugural address, we are now beginning a “new era of responsibility”, which requires all of us to recognize that we “have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world.” As a lifelong Iowa resident, I have seen the capacity of Iowans to rise to meet challenges and to help out their neighbors in need. That is why I would like to encourage all Iowans, whether through the AmeriCorps VISTA program or another program in their area, to take the time to volunteer this summer and beyond.

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