Hands On Georgia AmeriCorps Program Enters Second Year of Service to Georgia Communities

The Hands On Georgia AmeriCorps program enters its second year with 12 members placed with six affiliates. AmeriCorps is a national service program where members serve communities across the country through local, state and national service programs connecting more than 70,000 Americans each year in intensive direct service to meet our country's critical needs.

For the 2006 - 2007 program year, the Hands On Georgia AmeriCorps program met and in most cases, exceeded its program goals. In the area of volunteer engagement, the goal was to recruit and engage 2,000 volunteers in one-time and ongoing service projects. By years end, the members engaged 7534 volunteers. Member efforts also resulted in 475 new volunteer leaders being trained and 120 community-based nonprofit organizations benefiting from volunteer engagement. Additionally, Hands On Georgia AmeriCorps members were tasked to create 5,000 new opportunities for volunteers. The members actually created 10,156 new opportunities.

A true testament to the success of Hands On Georgia's AmeriCorps program was the selection of one of its members as the Georgia AmeriCorps Member of the Year. Jerry Dupree served with Hands On Forsyth. According to Executive Director Nicole McCoy, Jerry worked tirelessly to strengthen his community, making it safer and healthier for those in the most need. The program is better for his presence.
For the program year, 2007-2008, Hands On Georgia welcomes two new affiliates to the AmeriCorps program. They are Hands On Northeast Georgia in Athens and Hands On Coastal Georgiain Brunswick. On the coast, members Jordan Griffis and Kathy Patelidas will serve the Glynn and McIntosh Counties respectively. In Athens, Dan Sullivan, who recently moved to Georgia, will assist Hands On Northeast Georgia as they hope to expand their service into surrounding counties.

Hands On Savannah welcomes Amanda McKinney Wilder who is new to the city, but not new to national service. This is her second term of AmeriCorps service, having spent her first term in Ohio. Hands On Harlem welcomes back Bonnie Vest for her second term with the affiliate. Joining Bonnie this year are Michelle Sexton, Misty Hamb and Miriana Robinson.

In Middle Georgia, Hands On Macon and Hands On Milledgeville will welcome two new members each. Bobby Miles and Ashley Davis will serve the five counties currently served by Hands On Macon. Serving in Milledgeville this year are Desiree Smith and Megan Tiedeman, both recent college graduates.

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