Green Bay Conservation Corps hosts numerous volunteer events to connect community to conservation projects

Over the last few months, the AmeriCorps members with the Green Bay Conservation Corps (GBCC) hosted numerous volunteer events. In October alone, they were joined by approximately 130 volunteers, including Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, Schreiber Foods, Capital Credit Union, and numerous community volunteers. At these events, the GBCC AmeriCorps members and volunteers removed invasive plants, including buckthorn and honeysuckle, to help restore native plant populations and improve habitats for wildlife. They also planted native prairie perennials, mulched native plantings and walking trails, and collected prairie seeds that GBCC AmeriCorps members will spread or germinate in the spring. They completed these projects at a variety of natural areas across Green Bay, including the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, McAuliffe Park, Seymour Park, and Joliet Park.

Near the end of October, Prairie Nursery donated nearly 20,000 native plant plugs to the Green Bay Conservation Corps. In just two weeks, the GBCC AmeriCorps members established all 20,000 seedlings at various locations, including Newberry Conservancy, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Westside Trail, Red Smith Park, Olde Preble Park, and East River Emilie Park. These native plants plugs, such as Butterfly Weed, Compassplant, White Turtle, and New Jersey Tea were planted to restore areas where the GBCC AmeriCorps members previously removed invasive species. These plantings aim to help improve the diversity of the native plant population, accelerate the transition back to native species, and mitigate invasive species growth through competition. Throughout this project of planting 20,000 plugs, the GBCC partnered with the students at the Oak 4K and volunteers at their Make a Difference Day Event to assist in planting. During this large community-wide volunteer event GBCC hosted at Red Smith Park on October 28th to celebrate National Make a Difference Day, the GBCC AmeriCorps members led community volunteers in removing 27 piles of buckthorn and planting nearly 3,000 native prairie plants.

In addition to these projects, Green Bay Conservation Corps also completed their final large project from their inaugural cohort of AmeriCorps members. Working with neighborhood volunteers and in collaboration with several organizations, they completed the construction of a rain garden in Navarino Park. The project's goal was to prevent standing water from forming in the park as it had in the past, and to allow the absorbed water to be filtered before reentering the ground. This project consisted of removing 3,000 square feet of turf grass, digging a rain garden base, and adding loose soil to improve water absorption. A flow channel and retention berm were then added to aid in directing surface water to the center of the pond. Mulch and over 2,000 plant plugs were planted in the new soil to prevent soil erosion and further aid in absorption and filtration. In the weeks following its completion, the rain garden is holding strong and able to divert and reabsorb water with no issues, with Green Bay Conservation Corps hoping to implement more rain gardens in other Green Bay parks.

Easterseals Wisconsin hosts Fall Transitions Camp

The following article was submitted by Easterseals Wisconsin AmeriCorps member Kourtney Carrico, about their first Transition Camp session of the year on October 20-22. Transitions Camp weekend sessions are held throughout the school year and summer at Camp Wawbeek for campers with disabilities ages 15-25 who are ready to learn about setting goals, caring for themselves independently, working, money, how to cook, and how to work together with peers.

Transition Camp Sessions at Easterseals Wisconsin serves campers between the ages of 16 and 25. Campers learn and enhance their skills to be as independent as possible. During our first transition camp session this October, campers learned safety skills while working in the kitchen. They practiced kitchen safety by making caramel apples from the apples they picked at Ski-Hi Apple Orchard. Before picking apples, we had a tour of the orchard and learned the different jobs and skills needed to run an apple orchard. Campers talked about the jobs they knew and the new ones they learned about. 

The Transitions program partners with the FARM program at Easterseals Wisconsin. The FARM program demonstrates ways that people with different abilities can succeed in farming and agriculture. This partnership allowed campers to learn how apples grow, and the uniqueness of every apple tree. 

Throughout the weekend, campers participated in a service project at camp. They helped prepare the camp’s grounds for winter by raking and cleaning Camp Wawbeek. Campers participate in this service project in order to demonstrate the importance of giving back to the community. 

Within the next three transition sessions, campers will have the opportunity to go to a local hotel to learn about the different job opportunities and support within the workforce to help them succeed. Campers will also learn interview skills, appropriate behaviors in the workplace, and how to find a job that is appropriate for them. All campers can use all focus skills presented throughout the sessions, no matter their future plans. Transition camp sessions help all people better understand skills they can use to be as independent as possible!

Milwaukee Jewish Federation engages Holocaust survivors as volunteers to combat misinformation with support from Volunteer Generation Fund

Serve Wisconsin provided AmeriCorps Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) grants to help nonprofits recruit, manage, and support volunteers.

With the assistance of a VGF grant, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation was able to engage Holocaust survivors as volunteers to share their survival stories across different communities and in schools to combat Holocaust misinformation. The VGF funds helped them host the largest gathering of Holocaust survivors in Milwaukee since the COVID-19 pandemic and supported multiple efforts to gather and share their stories.

As an example, their program manager met with a woman and her daughter to learn her story at one of their events. While her daughter translated, they heard the woman's harrowing tale of survival. She recounted always being hungry and the violence that she saw during the Holocaust. She described how she was forcibly separated from her parents at the age of twelve and ended up in an orphanage. She explained how she sent letters in a desperate attempt to reunite with her parents and how, against the odds, her efforts worked. The woman's daughter shared that she still has the letter that her mother wrote as a child to find her parents, with the Milwaukee Jewish Federation now having permission to use that letter as one of their educational resources for teachers and students learning about individual stories during the Holocaust.

Media coverage of Milwaukee Jewish Federation engaging volunteers through VGF:

• The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle - "60 survivors at Holocaust dinner"

Following Turkey's Journey from Farm to School with the Howard Suamico School District

Highlight how school food service directors and farmers can both use the Wisconsin Local Foods Database to get local food items into school meal programs, the AmeriCorps members and staff with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction AmeriCorps Farm to School Program created a video demonstrating this through the sourcing of local turkeys.

The video, Turkey's Journey from Farm to School with the Howard Suamico School District, highlights how Farm to School AmeriCorps member David Lee Schneider helped the school nutrition director with the Howard Suamico School District source turkeys from SKI Farms, which is located only about fifteen minutes from the school. It then shows the entire journey of the turkeys as they were used for multiple school lunch items, including turkey dumpling soup and turkey sandwiches, and the roles taken by Farm to School AmeriCorps members David and Erika and staff at Howard Suamico.

During his four years of service with Farm to School, David has been one of the AmeriCorps members, helping to maintain and spread awareness of the database that helps connect school food service directors and farmers to help get locally grown items into school meal programs.

For more information, visit:

• VIDEO: Turkey's Journey from Farm to School with the Howard Suamico School District
• Wisconsin Local Foods Database: https://sites.google.com/dpi.wi.gov/wilfd/home

Service story from AmeriCorps member with

Marshfield Clinic Health System Community Corps

November episode of The S-Files podcast

This month on The S-Files, we explored the service story of AmeriCorps member Emily Cowles, who is serving her second term with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps. Check out the episode below and you can access all of the episodes on The S-Files podcast series website.

Providing Support through Nutrition Classes and a Friendly Ear while serving with MCHS Community Corps

In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Emily Cowles, who is serving her second term with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps at HopeChats Community in Green Bay. Emily discusses some of the ways she is providing support for the individuals accessing services and support at HopeChats Community this year after primarily assisting people at the Peshtigo River Center during her first term. She highlights the various nutrition and cooking classes she will be leading throughout the year, including classes designed to help individuals with Diabetes or in recovery from substance abuse, as well as those to help people with easy meal preparation and discerning facts around nutrition fads. Listen to learn how Emily is using research to create classes based around the dietary needs of those she is serving, as well as providing a listening ear and opportunities for building community during crafting activities and group meetings. (listen to the episode here) 

Deadline for NCCC AmeriCorps Concept Papers is January 4 for Projects in May-August 2024

The deadline for submitting a concept form is January 4 for nonprofit organizations and government agencies interested in working with an AmeriCorps NCCC team between May 2 to June 25, 2024 or June 22 to August 2, 2024. Information on the application process for this upcoming period or for late spring, summer, and fall 2004 is available in their Request for Proposal (RFP) for 2024 service dates.

AmeriCorps NCCC teams are 18-26 year-olds traveling regionally to help communities meet their critical needs by completing projects that typically last 6-8 weeks. NCCC partners with a variety of nonprofit organizations, government entities (federal, state, or local), educational institutions, neighborhood associations, Native American Tribal Councils, and community-based or faith-based organizations to complete projects that address compelling community needs. These projects address five main service areas: natural and other disasters, energy conservation, environmental stewardship and conservation, infrastructure improvement, and urban and rural development.

As an example, the Aspen 2 AmeriCorps NCCC team partnered with Pringle Nature Center and the Kenosha County Division of Parks in May-June 2023 to construct three new features in the nature playground and improve the accessibility of the nature playground and park trails to wheelchair users. Additionally, the Oak 2 AmeriCorps NCCC team partnered with Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Department in May-June 2023

to assist with management and improvement needs within the Ozaukee County Park System and habitat restoration areas by planting trees, removing invasive species, trail construction and maintenance, native prairie and wetland seeding, and completing environmental monitoring projects.

For those interested in taking an active role in promoting national service and volunteerism in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin National and Community Service Board has a current or pending vacancy for board members for the following appointment type:

• A representative of business
• A representative of local labor

Those interested in serving must complete an application to the governor for the appointment. The online application for a board position can be found HERE, with additional information on the application process found at Apply to Serve - Governor Tony Evers. If you are interested in serving on the board and have any questions, please contact Serve Wisconsin Executive Director Jeanne Duffy at jeanne.duffy@wisconsin.gov.

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