EVERETT — Susan Spivey knew she wanted to volunteer in a city when she started looking for an AmeriCorps job last year.
She perused job listings from around the country on the AmeriCorps website and decided to apply for jobs in Seattle because her parents had lived in the city and she had friends there.
Spivey accepted a position serving as the outreach coordinator at ElderHealth Northwest last August. As an AmeriCorps VISTA, she agreed to volunteer for one year in the position at the adult day center in Everett.
“I knew that I wanted to do an AmeriCorps job because I had just dropped out of grad school and I wanted to do something where I could see the organization I was working for was doing concrete good in the world,” Spivey said.
Originally from College Station, Texas, Spivey, 24, said she was thinking about a career in health care but she didn’t have the education or experience.
Agreeing to the AmeriCorps VISTA position was an opportunity to gain some.
As the outreach coordinator, Spivey works to make sure doctors, social workers and other caregivers know what services ElderHealth Northwest offers. She staffs tables at various resource fairs with information about ElderHealth Northwest and is in charge of volunteer recruitment for the Everett site at 12322 Airport Road.
“At our site, all our volunteers are activity assistants so they work out on the floor with clients,” she said. “They help serve lunch, help with exercise and sit around and talk to clients.”
While her term of service with the AmeriCorps program ends in August, Spivey said she plans to enroll in a pre-med program in Baltimore so she can take science courses and eventually become a doctor.
“I would really recommend (AmeriCorps VISTA) to anyone who wants to change fields and who maybe doesn’t have the experience to get a regular permanent job but who is interested in social services,” she said.
VISTA stands for Volunteers In Service To America. VISTA volunteers are currently working in organizations and nonprofits including the Carl Gipson Senior Center of Everett, the Everett Food Bank, Familias Unidas, the Sky Valley Resource Center and United Way, said Erin Pankow, the volunteer and community outreach manager at Volunteers of America.
“VISTA volunteers give one year of service at 40 hours a week and in return they get a monthly stipend that covers basic living expenses and a $4,700 education award at the end of their service to put toward past school loans or future education,” she said. “We focus on conflict resolution, early learning, teen volunteering, senior volunteering and working with youth.”
VISTA volunteers understand their roles are often to help bolster existing programs and develop new programs, said Nigel Dunn, a VISTA volunteer at the Sky Valley Resource Center in Sultan.
Dunn was initially hired to help with the Sky Valley Food Bank, but he began to focus on building programs to prevent youth violence after a gang-related murder occurred in the city last summer.
“It’s a balance of community meetings, working with youth and finding time to sit down and do grant writing,” the Snohomish resident said.
Dunn, 32, wrote his first grant earlier this year. As a result, the center was awarded $36,000 to start a teen court in September.
The teen court will be run out of the center and deal with middle school students who commit low-level offenses such as bullying, Dunn said. Juniors and seniors in high school will be recruited to sit on a peer jury and decide on sentencing options such as counseling or community service.
Dunn is also looking forward to leading a four-week field school in August. The group of eight teenagers will complete class work on ethics and leadership for two weeks and spend the other two weeks on a backpacking trip, he said.
“We hope to really instill a community ethic in them,” he said. “It’s the idea that leadership is not some lofty, grand thing but it’s found everyday in the community.”
Dunn completed a year of volunteer service and recently signed up for another year because he enjoys the work he’s doing for the community.
“The relationships I’ve got with a lot of people in the area have really encouraged me to keep doing this,” he said. “I think I’ll always do this work. In what capacity, I don’t know.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Learn more
Learn more about becoming a AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer by calling 425-212-2951 or going to www.voaww.org or www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp.
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