One of the subjects I’ve learned a great deal about through the Americorps Program is volunteer management. I have been working on recruitment and created a brochure for volunteer recruitment which includes all of the opportunities available for residents to get involved in our community. I created a volunteer form to assess one’s skills and interests. It also includes emergency contact information and birthday (so we can celebrate our volunteers). I created a Code of Conduct document and Guiding Principles which we include in our Orientation Packet for our volunteers. This packet also includes our work plan and information about our Age-Friendly Committee and activities. I am also responsible for tracking our volunteer data, so I created a few spreadsheets to gather and organize the data we need to track.

While we still don’t have the number of volunteers necessary to implement some of the programs we’d like to bring for Chelsea, thanks to the resources provided to us by the Lifelong Maine Americorps Program, we have laid the groundwork for a successful volunteer program.

The Lifelong Maine AmeriCorps Program has helped our Age-Friendly team accomplish a lot for our community. One thing, in particular, that stands out for me personally was helping to bring an Intergenerational Reading Program to our town.

It all started with an AmeriCorps Day of Service. Our team had the privilege of going to our local elementary school library and reading to and doing an activity with both a 1st and 2nd grade class. Seeing how much the students enjoyed our time together, sparked the idea of bringing this reading program to our community.

That one day set in motion events that made it possible for our community to come together and create this monthly reading program.

Our work through AmeriCorps has enabled us to host monthly informational luncheons for our community. I take a lot of enjoyment in cooking for people.

We hold our luncheons at our local Grange Hall. We have social time, lunch then a guest speaker. It is a very enjoyable afternoon.

It’s great to be in the community, connecting with and helping residents. Providing a free meal and companionship is just one of the ways we accomplish this.