Americorps volunteer Heather Davis harvests produce for the Thurston County Food Bank. Photo by Julie Fine.

Stimulus Funds New Americorps Jobs in Wash.

07/08/2009

This summer, hundreds of Americorps volunteers will begin work on service projects across Washington state. Americorps is kind of like a domestic version of Peace Corps. The federal recovery act has recently funded about 400 new positions here. Julie Fine runs a hunger relief program that's getting part of this stimulus boost. Fine says, "It was really interesting when I called the office, the state Americorps office, after President Obama signed the act, they were so excited to hear from me. And they said, we've been saying no to so many amazing organizations for so many years, it is really thrilling to say yes to someone." KUOW's Liz Jones visited this green–lighted project. And she looks at how Americorps workers aim to help ease some pains of the recession.

It's a gorgeous, sunny day. Butterflies are zipping around and birds are chirping. And I'm standing in a garden in Olympia. It's on the property of Lincoln Elementary. This is a garden that some of their students have planted. They've got all kinds of stuff growing here: corn, raspberries, strawberries, spinach, rosemary, basil. And then over here in one corner, they've got five raised beds where they've planted vegetables for a local food bank. And today there are several people out here picking those vegetables. Let's go check it out.

Jones: "So, Heather what are you working on over here?"

Davis: "I'm harvesting Swiss chard, a couple of different colors."

Heather Davis walks her fingers through the plant stems. She clips off a curly leaf and delicately sets it aside. These greens are bound for a food bank where she works.

Davis: "I always let people know, 'this is local and this is organic.' And they get excited."

Volunteer: "Could you grab the bucket? We'll just toss it in the bucket."

Davis is a new Americorps volunteer with Harvest Against Hunger. It's a pilot program run through the nonprofit Rotary First Harvest.

The idea is to help small farmers and growers find ways to donate their surplus produce to food banks. Often, the program will send volunteers out to the fields to pick or glean the extra crops. Kind of like what's going on today in the school garden.

One of Davis's main jobs is to get more local farms in the mix.

Heather: "This is our third site that we've visited so far. So things are moving pretty quickly. And I hope to build relationships with a lot more farmers."

Heather is one of eight new Americorps workers with Harvest Against Hunger. It was a one–woman project when Julie Fine started running it last fall.

Fine: "It's a huge difference to go from one to nine. And also I think that it really feels to me like a sustainable project."

The new recruits will work in six locations around the state, from the Tri–Cities to Bellingham. The positions are funded for just two years. But Fine thinks that's enough time to lay the groundwork, and develop lasting connections between local farmers and food banks.

Fine's eager to see how these new networks develop in each location.

Fine: "Growers are really interested in donating to their own community. And I think in the past there have been some programs where the gleaned produce has gone to Seattle. Especially Eastern Washington growers feel like their produce isn't staying in their communities."

Davis: "Is there anything else here that I should take?"

Lately, growers have all the more reason to keep their extra crops local. Recession and rising unemployment have created longer lines at food banks across the state. Fine's expanded program will help feed more of those people.

Last year, they brought in about 85,000 pounds of produce. This year, she expects to nearly triple that, thanks to the stimulus help.

Fine: "You know it's not a road project where you see a tremendous number of jobs created. It's just eight jobs, but the affect that it has on the overall emergency food system, I think that's going to be really transformative. And it feels like it's affecting people who really need it at a time when it's really important."

The produce will go to people like the new clients Rick Coit is seeing at the Thurston County Food Bank, in Olympia. It served a record number of people last year. And it's on track to double in size from two years ago since new clients just keep coming.

Coit: "This year it's primarily situational poverty — people who've never used a food bank before. People who never thought they'd be in a food bank. And in a lot of cases, [they're] donors. People that donate canned food during a food drive, or $8 to $10 here or there. That's our average giver. So to see them come as clients, that's a little hard for them."

Basl: "So, how do you ask for help? That's a very hard thing to do. Where do you go for help? If you've never needed it, you don't know."

That's Bill Basl. He oversees the state's Americorps programs. He explains all the new stimulus–funded positions focus on the down economy.

Basl: "That's where we hope that Americorps members who are strategically placed will be very helpful to folks who are facing this dilemma for the first time in their lives."

Americorps members will assist with foreclosure prevention efforts, and help unemployed people find housing and healthcare resources.

The pay is around $11,000 a year. Plus, they earn another $5,000 toward college expenses.

Despite the low wages, Basl says applications have nearly doubled this year. People of all ages and backgrounds have responded to President Obama's call to volunteer and do service work.

Basl hopes this movement will grow, and become one positive legacy of this economic crisis.

Basl: "And maybe we will be bold enough to say that maybe because of this experience, it's not enough just to pay some taxes. It's not enough to vote, maybe once in a while. And maybe out of this the common question will be, during this economic downturn, where did you do your volunteering? Where did you do your national service during this time when the country needed us most?"

Stimulus money for these Americorps positions will last one year. But President Obama has approved separate legislation that would dramatically increase funding, and triple the size of Americorps.

Congress overwhelmingly approved the bill, although a majority of Republicans voted against it. Some argue it's an unnecessary expansion of the federal government. Congress still must approve the funds as part of the budget.

I'm Liz Jones, KUOW News.

© Copyright 2009, KUOW