Wilson County Native Completes Over 1,000 Hours of Community Service in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps

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sarah-jones
Sarah is pictured third from the right

Sarah Jones from Wilson County, TN has been participating in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). AmeriCorps NCCC is a federal service and leadership development program through which Sarah will complete 1800 hours of federal and community service. Following training on the AmeriCorps campus in Vicksburg, MS, Sarah has already been on four deployments and completed 1400 hours of service.

Sarah and her team of 9 young adults first traveled to Craven County, NC to do flood and hurricane reconstruction. Working with the Craven County Disaster Recovery Alliance, the team demolished and rebuilt 5 houses, giving 5 families safer, healthier, and more reliable housing.

The team then went to Cataño, PR and worked with Caras Con Causa where they built 3 community gardens, 2 pollinator gardens, educated school children about natural resources, and provided food to 400 people daily. Sarah was awarded “Corps Member of the Round” for her dedication to learning Spanish to better serve the community in Puerto Rico.

Following their deployment to Puerto Rico, Sarah’s team worked with Catholic Charities of Acadiana in Lafayette, LA, where they built 10 wheelchair accessible ramps. Sarah was promoted to Assistant Team Leader for her leadership skills and ability to motivate the team on hard construction days.

The team then went to Thomas, WV and worked with the Friends of Blackwater Canyon to clear brush around historical sites to increase the tourist economy and did some mountain bike trail building. Sarah and her team are currently in Mullens, WV where they are building river parks along the Guyandotte River with the Rural Appalachian Improvement League. Their goal is to build a stronger sense of community with an increased amount of public spaces.

Since joining AmeriCorps, Sarah has served as her team’s Project Outreach Liaison (POL). As POL, Sarah’s job is to locate and coordinate service opportunities for her team to do on the weekends. Sarah has coordinated over 200 hours of individual service projects for her team. Sarah will graduate from AmeriCorps NCCC on May 9th, 2022. Graduating from NCCC is a high honor and opens doors to potentially winning the Presidential and Congressional Service Awards. Following graduation from NCCC, Sarah plans to attend law school where she can gain the skills to better serve her community.

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