By Alexandra Blockton, ablockton@lc.edu
In September 2021, I began planning community service projects for the Building Futures YouthBuild/AmeriCorps program. I was able to start a professional relationship with Ms. Natascha Harried, who is the Social Service Manager at The Salvation Army – Alton Corps. Since that time, our program has taken part in several community service projects with this organization.
AmeriCorps members have served by restocking and organizing the food pantry as well as stocking the van with food and delivering bags of groceries to individuals within our community who are unable to come to the food pantry in-person. These individuals may be disabled, elderly, and/or unable to come in-person for other reasons.
“Volunteering and community service adds another dimension to education. It helps young people see their value in the world as they use their knowledge, experience and time to give back to their community in a meaningful way. As the students from the YouthBuild AmeriCorps program volunteer in our food pantry, stocking shelves and delivering food boxes, I make sure they realize they are helping to feed many families healthy, nutritious meals.”
-Ms. Natascha Harried
The most recent service project I took the lead in consisted of preparing and cooking a warm meal at the Salvation Army, servicing the homeless individuals within our community. The event was sponsored by our Lewis and Clark Community College YouthBuild AmeriCorps program.
I was excited about leading this service project, which took place on Friday, May 21, 2021. All individuals from our community were welcome to attend. Many people who were less fortunate were encouraged to come in-person to be able to receive a blessing bag and a warm meal. The blessing bags were stocked with hygiene items and face masks to protect from COVID-19, as well as other essential items and a warm meal.
I would like to thank the Alton Telegraph and our Lewis and Clark Media Services department for coming out to take photos while this service project was taken place.
One of my favorite service projects I coordinated with the Salvation Army was during the COVID-19 shutdown. The Salvation Army had a warming shelter for the many people left out in the freezing weather who did not have a home and were seeking a place to stay warm in the wintertime. During that time, our YouthBuild program was able to service the Salvation Army by cooking and serving a warm meal to those individuals at the warming shelter seeking services. The menu consisted of juice, water, vegetable soup and fruit. Besides receiving a warm meal, they were also able to receive blankets, socks, coats, face masks, hand sanitizer, etc., which the Salvation Army supplied to be able to protect themselves from COVID-19.
The smiles on the individuals’ faces were heartwarming! It really amazed me because many times people can be in hardships and struggling while feeling as if no one cares about them. Especially with the COVID-19 shutdown orders, many people were left in terrible situations. For example, many individuals lost their jobs and were evicted from their homes due to not having any steady income to be able to pay their bills.
Being of service to the homeless within our community has given our YouthBuild AmeriCorps members the opportunity to aid in real life poverty issues. They have been able to learn about the reality of homelessness and how it affects our community as well as how a food pantry runs, along with utilizing Blueprint for Service Learning (a partnership between YouthBuild USA AmeriCorps and Mockingbird Education). The Blueprint for Service Learning is a guide I use lessons from to present service learning as a teaching strategy within our program.
Building Futures 