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Contact Information: Kim Fabbri
At King’s College, our eight participating scholars have completed more than 2,050 hours of service since the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year. In addition, they recruited extra volunteers to serve along side them in such programs as Music BINGO with the Charles T. Adams Senior Center, Thanksgiving events with the Golden Living Center Summit, and an End of the Year Collection Drive with the Office of Residence Life. As a participant in the AmeriCorps’ Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania since 2005, King’s College has had more than twenty scholars successfully complete this rigorous program. As their reward, these college students, who have contributed more than 450 hours of service to their community during one calendar year, earn an AmeriCorps Education Award of $1,250 that can be used toward educational expenses or to pay off school loans. Jess Thomas, a junior Spanish/ Secondary Education major from Swoyerville, acknowledged the impact that Scholars in Service has had on her. Jess notes, “As a Scholar in Service, it seems like I have served everywhere. Nursing homes, daycares, shelters, schools, tutoring programs, even different states, I have done it all. Each of these sites offers unique challenges and memories; these experiences will last with me for years to come. However, there are a handful that I know I will never be able to forget, even if forgetting would be easier. It may sound callous, but there are truly repulsive injustices going on in our own communities. Injustices like hunger, homelessness, lack of clean, running water, electricity, and sewage, elderly who have no visitors for months, no one who cares about them on a personal level, children who are forced to grow up before their time. “I spent a week in Laredo, Texas, working with the Mexican immigrant population there, understanding the struggles and difficulties that these men, women, and children face in their pursuit of a better life. I met a woman who brought her two small children across the border illegally in order to escape her abusive husband. She constantly lives in fear of being discovered. I also met a family who was sold a piece of land thirty years ago and promised that water, sewer and electric lines would be connected to the land within six months. They are still waiting. These are just two stories of so many more that I would have been completely unaware of, had it not been for the push for community service that the Scholars in Service program provides. I am delighted that I decided to be part of this program and fully intend to recruit others to be part of this experience.” AmeriCorps has received an additional $200 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the Stimulus Package. This translates into an additional 75 Scholars in Service to PA members volunteering this summer in camps, youth programs and other activities. Additionally, this spring, President Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which will triple the number of AmeriCorps members serving nationally from about 70,000 to 250,000 by 2017. See also: AmeriCorps Fact Sheet http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/factsheet_americorps.pdf Highlights of the SERVE Act http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=1283 Overview of Volunteering in Pennsylvania http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/state.cfm?state=PA AmeriCorps State Profile: Pennsylvania http://www.nationalservice.gov/state_profiles/pdf/PA_GL.pdf King's College is a Catholic College sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross. |