Local Americorps sworn in
Local 'Peace Corps' sworn in
By Kate Andrews The Record Herald
Franklin County Commissioner Warren Elliott swears in Franklin and Fulton counties' first AmeriCorps volunteers including, from left, Annie Stone, Sheila Mercier and Marie Campion.
CHAMBERSBURG - Franklin County Commissioner Warren Elliott swore in Franklin and Fulton counties' first AmeriCorps volunteers Friday afternoon.
Elliott called volunteers like the members of AmeriCorps' inaugural class the backbone of the community.
"I've really come to appreciate the thousands and thousands of volunteers (in our area)," Elliott said.
The volunteers will spend one year working with local nonprofit groups. The program is modeled after the Peace Corps, in which members spend a year volunteering abroad.
They presented a "check" to the county commissioners, pledging to work 17,000 hours in that time.
The volunteers will receive small stipends and a little more than $4,000 toward their educations.
"It's a big sacrifice," said Kenny Wuertenberg, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Franklin and Fulton Counties (MHA), which administers the local program.
The volunteers have spent the last two weeks training for their jobs, and Wuertenberg said they are very excited to begin.
Wuertenberg said volunteering comes naturally to people in Franklin and Fulton counties, but he hopes the new AmeriCorps program will motivate even more to help out.
"We have faith we will create a ripple in the community," said volunteer Annie Stone.
MHA received a $124,000 one-year grant from PennServe, which coordinates all the AmeriCorps activities in Pennsylvania, to start up the local program.
The money paid for the equivalant of 10 full-time volunteers at nonprofit organizations in the two counties.
The volunteers
The nine volunteers who participated in Friday's ceremony are:
n Marie Champion, a former AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer coordinator, who will organize and manage the Youth Arts Initiative Program and volunteer programs at the Capital Theatre Center in Chambersburg.
n Laura Morrison, a 2004 graduate of Shippensburg University, who will work with Franklin County Legal Services, educating underserved Fulton County residents and the Franklin County Hispanic and Latino community about legal rights, responsibilities and available services.
n Catherine Keefer, a Penn State student, who will work with the Fulton County Penn State Cooperative Extension to expand and enhance Fulton County's youth programming, including 4-H.
n Connie Collins, a Bedford County resident, who will develop a new volunteer program at the Fulton County Center for Families.
n Annie Stone, a recent Wilson College graduate, who will expand the Wilson College Center for Sustainable Living's current community outreach program, develop an environmental education curriculum and organize a volunteer program.
n Sheila Mercier, a long-time Chambersburg resident, who will work with MHA, recruiting, organizing and training volunteers to help parents of students with special needs.
n Susan Roberts, a local equine consultant and former director of Employment Solutions Personnel in Kentucky, who will work with the Mountain Valley Center in Chambersburg to recruit and organize a local advisory committee, expand and market current programming and organize a new pet and barnyard therapy program.
n Amie Anderson, a recent Shippensburg University graduate, who will serve with the Fulton County Partnership to revitalize the current Fulton County Teens Resisting Unhealthy Choices Everyday program and develop a new volunteer transportation program to serve the county.
n Niki Crouse, a Shippensburg University student, who will act as on-site coordinator for the Franklin Library System's new Fannett-Metal School District and Head Start education and outreach administration.
