Join us for a Summer of Service
The Virginia State Parks AmeriCorps Volunteer Project is recruiting for the 2014 season

Celebrating 20 years this year, AmeriCorps supports a wide range of local service programs that engage thousands of Americans in intensive community service each year to address critical community needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. This will be the fourth year of our AmeriCorps project that brings us committed volunteers to engage with the community through educational programming related to the natural world and history and also to reach out to the community to recruit volunteers to support our mission.

AmeriCorps member Russell Reed shows a crab to 6th graders during
Lancaster Middle School "Think Outside the Sink" event

AmeriCorps members are volunteers. While there is no hourly pay, members receive a living allowance of $3,850 as well as a program completion educational award of $2,114. Our program runs April through September and the commitment is 675 hours. At most of our locations the bulk of the hours are during the summer. The living allowance is not tied to the actual hours worked but paid twice a month throughout the program. The educational allowance can be used for future education costs or to pay student loans. Please note that the educational allowance varies based on the program length and our program is only part of a year. Details of the educational allowance can be found here. Members who serve when they are 55 or older can transfer their educational benefit to children or grandchildren. All members brought onto our project will need to attend a mandatory training April 10-13, 2014.

AmeriCorps member Eric Glass (right) poses with a program participant
who caught this Largemouth Bass at Staunton River State Park

AmeriCorps members will work with chief rangers and interpretive managers at one of our Virginia State Parks to schedule and promote tours and environmental-related programs. Members also will provide tours and programs alone or with another staff member. These include guided hikes and, in certain locations, canoe and kayak tours. As well, AmeriCorps members may help develop tours and programs on their own. They'll also help park guests and give them directions to nearby facilities and attractions.

Waverly Garner, AmeriCorps Volunteer at High Bridge Trail State Park,
enlightens young ones about the Civil War through music and reading

AmeriCorps members will conduct outreach activities at schools, festivals and special events. They will work with the park's volunteer coordinator to manage the improvement or creation of three trails by volunteers. Members must also maintain a journal of activities, write monthly reports and report hours to the park's volunteer coordinator.

Park visitors love touch tables with skins, skulls and scat like this one
AmeriCorps Member Melissa Meinhard put together at Bear Creek Lake State Park

If you would like to become part of the AmeriCorps team and work with Virginia State Parks, start out by completing the AmeriCorps application. Once you complete your AmeriCorps application, please visit our Volunteer Recruitment site and review the park locations to see which opportunities will work best for you. Once you find one or more, click Sign Up. We are accepting applications now and fill the positions as we find good applicants, so please get your application in as soon as possible. If you have questions, email Bobby Wilcox or call him at 703-232-0667.

Maybe the best thing to say about the program is what Charlotte Walters, our 2013 member at Twin Lakes State Park, wrote on her last official day of service:

I am grateful for the opportunity that AmeriCorps has given me. I have learned so much this summer, from conflict resolution to interpretation skills to just how to talk to people. I've also grown a deeper love for the outdoors and I hope to return to the program next year with even better developed skills and passion than I was able to bring this year. Even after the program has ended, I'll still wear the AmeriCorps emblem with pride! (And get really excited whenever I meet someone who's served with AmeriCorps!)

Sounds like she learned a great lesson - often with service, we find we get as much back as we give.