Celebrate! It's National AmeriCorps Week!

AmeriCorps Week is a recruitment and recognition event designed to bring more Americans into service, salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their powerful impact, and thank the community partners who make AmeriCorps possible. AmeriCorps Week provides an opportunity for AmeriCorps members, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends to shine a spotlight on the work done by members in communities across the country -- and to motivate more AmeriCorps to join AmeriCorps or volunteer in their communities. Spreading the word about AmeriCorps is especially important now, as the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act has put AmeriCorps on a path to grow to 250,000 members annually by 2017.

To celebrate the accomplishments and hard work provided by National Service members in southern Nevada, United Way of Southern Nevada's Volunteer Center is inviting all current and past National Service members to the 2010 National Service Member Celebration honoring each branch of National Service represented in southern Nevada including AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps VISTA, Senior Corps and Teach for America.  You can download the invitation with all the details HERE.  Please RSVP to Jennifer at JenniferL@uwsn.org or 702-892-2318 if you are able to attend.

To find out more about what National Service members are doing in southern Nevada and to see if a term of service as an AmeriCorps or AmeriCorps VISTA member is right for you visit our AmeriCorps page and our AmeriCorps VISTA page. The AmeriCorps program is currently recruiting for Summer of Service members and will be recruiting for the 2010-2011 program year starting in July. For more details about AmeriCorps call Michelle at 702-892-2336.

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Congratulations Michelle Redmond & Natalie Minev!

Michelle Redmond - AmeriCorps 2010 Program Director of the Year

Michelle Redmond has managed the United Way’s AmeriCorps program for the past two years. She is in charge of 22 AmeriCorps members positioned with United Way’s partner nonprofit agencies throughout the Las Vegas valley and Pahrump. Michelle works to ensure her AmeriCorps members succeed and they certainly are busy. They are responsible for organizing 2,527 volunteers to pack 54,109 backpacks with ready-to-eat meals; training 71 volunteer attorneys to provide assistance with issues such bankruptcy and family law, including representing domestic violence and child abuse victims; transporting 60 homeless people weekly to get showers, clothing and a meal; providing direct interpretation service for 433 Hispanic individuals; and that is only one quarter of the list. Other members set up immunization clinics, prepare tax returns for the poor, promote literacy, distribute food to the hungry, and mentor or tutor youth. Michelle coordinates it all and she does it with patience and dedication. “Michelle is a nurturing supervisor and is always available to the members to offer suggestions whether their questions are of a professional or personal nature,” said Robin Kelley, Director of the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada. “Saying that she goes above and beyond the call really doesn’t come close to describing her work ethic. She is simply ‘there’ for each and every one of her members.”

Natalie Minev - 2010 AmeriCorps VISTA Member of the Year

Natalie Minev has been in the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America) Program since last June. She is a dynamo of event coordination and nonprofit outreach. Natalie organized the Volunteer Center’s September 11th Day of Service, which collected a whopping 3.5 tons of donated personal items, 400 banners, and 1,476 hand-written cards for the troops. She coordinated a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Project at two local elementary schools, and is tackling the National Letter Carriers Food Drive on May 8th, which will be her biggest project yet. On top of all that, during her VISTA year, Natalie found time to reach out to 97 new nonprofits to understand their volunteer needs and make them partners of the Volunteer Center, which recruits volunteers for them. When she found a few minutes to spare, she busied herself preparing taxes for low-income individuals and staffing health and resource fairs. Natalie exemplifies the AmeriCorps spirit of getting things done!