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Working to recover: Americorps workers devote time to impacted Iowans
10/22/2009



Iowan Jimmy Kelly organizes volunteers to restore homes in Cedar Rapids through the Volunteer Reception Center

(DES MOINES) – Jimmy Kelly, a volunteer with AmeriCorps*VISTA, is quite familiar with the volunteer efforts in and around Cedar Rapids since the 2008 floods first hit.

Kelly works for AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and the Community Corrections Improvement Association (CCIA), two organizations which were working as partners on a community improvement initiative called “Weed and Seed” in Cedar Rapids prior to the disasters of 2008. However, when the floods struck Iowa in 2008, AmeriCorps*VISTA and CCIA expanded to address the recovery needs in the community, and opened the Volunteer Reception Center (VRC), which is now housed at the Community Recovery Center building in Cedar Rapids.

“The volunteer engine needs the right input at the right point to keep it on track,” said Kelly, who is an AmeriCorps*VISTA leader who makes sure everything runs smoothly by overseeing field operations and organizing trainings. “Right now, we have AmeriCorps volunteers working full-time out of our center, doing anything from arranging volunteer groups to working alongside volunteers as they help disaster victims. This week, we are working with a group of about 45 volunteers from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.”

While the VRC coordinates the worksites, AmeriCorps field operations volunteers assist in the direct clean-up and rebuilding of flood-affected homes, explained Renae Hyronimus with AmeriCorps. A trained AmeriCorps member leads teams of volunteers in mucking out and rebuilding houses.

This summer, 75 AmeriCorps*VISTA summer associates completed their terms in the Cedar Rapids area, and currently, nearly 90 year-long AmeriCorps workers are volunteering in the community.

AmeriCorps volunteers are paid approximately $10,000 per year for living expenses by the AmeriCorps program. Once their service is completed, they are eligible for an educational award which can be applied toward qualifying past student loans or future education.

Kelly was living in Iowa City, his hometown, when the floods hit, and he began volunteering wherever he was needed. He had already worked once for AmeriCorps out of an organizational base in Maryland, before moving back to Iowa.

“My girlfriend and I volunteered at the Red Cross shelter on June 14 and 15, 2008,” he remembers. As he followed the disaster coverage in the media that summer, he noticed agencies were seeking individuals to volunteer for AmeriCorps in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area and decided to join up with the organization once again.

“When I first started working in Cedar Rapids we were mostly doing what we call ‘mucking and gutting’ homes, which means pulling out all the things that were touched by flood water or came within two feet of the water,” Kelly said.

While there is still some mucking and gutting work left to be done, the majority of recovery work now focuses on helping impacted Iowans rebuild. The work includes putting up and finishing drywall, painting and rough carpentry.

Kelly said he’s not sure how long AmeriCorps workers will be active in the area. However, at 26, he knows he would like to remain involved in disaster recovery work. His volunteer experiences have become a passion he would like to pursue in a lifelong career.

Statistically, Jimmy Kelly represents one of 6,916 volunteers coordinated through the Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) in Cedar Rapids.

In addition: Hours worked by Jimmy Kelly help make up the 169,744 total volunteer hours coordinated through the VRC to date. ·

The VRC has coordinated 295 groups of volunteers since the 2008 floods The Center has also coordinated more than 700 volunteer work sites since the summer of 2008 Contacts for the media: Jimmy Kelly, volunteer with AmeriCorps*VISTA in Cedar Rapids, (319) 538-1518 Renae Hyronimus, public information contact for AmeriCorps*VISTA and Community Corrections Improvement Association in Cedar Rapids, (605) 759-4673 Cedar Rapids Volunteer Reception Center, volunteer line, (319) 540-4810 # # #


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