Celebrating National Farm to School Month this October

October marks the celebration of Farm to School Month throughout the nation, with Governor Tony Evers issuing a proclamation marking October 2020 as Wisconsin Farm to School Month (accessible version) at the beginning of the month. One of the highlights of this annual celebration for the AmeriCorps members serving with the Wisconsin DPI AmeriCorps Farm to School Program is participating with their students and nearly two million others in the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch to crunch into locally and regionally grown apples, which took place this year on October 10. This event highlights several aspects of the mission of the AmeriCorps Farm to School Program, educating students about nutrition and bringing healthy foods into the schools while making community connections with local farmers. The Farm to School AmeriCorps members created individual celebrations at their host sites and a video of their participation in the Great Apple Crunch to encourage participation from schools throughout the state, as well as supporting many additional programming elements and events.

A new event this year was planned by the Monona Grove School District's school nutrition department and AmeriCorps Farm to School member Kori Blumer, who partnered with REAP Food Group & Door Creek Apple Orchard to host their first Community Dinner at Cottage Grove School. Over 190 children and adults in the district were served a free scratch-made meal to celebrate local procurement partnerships and show families their efforts to advance the school food environment in the district. They look forward to hosting more community dinners this school year. The initial dinner was spotlighted in this HNG News article, Monona Grove nutrition program launches community dinner series.

As part of the celebration of National Farm to School Month, AmeriCorps member Ciara Gilbertson highlighted several activities her students at Harold S. Vincent School of Agricultural Science in Milwaukee completed over the last few weeks. These include her students growing strawberries in their hydroponic towers for the first time and the students harvesting celery from their garden, making homemade ranch for student taste tests of the celery and dehydrating the leaves to make celery salt.  

Farm to School Month videos and activities:

• AmeriCorps Farm to School team video
• Oshkosh Area School District video
• School District of Holmen video
• Vincent High School video
• HNG News article, Monona Grove nutrition program launches community dinner series

Green Bay Conservation Corps AmeriCorps members host Make A Difference Day project at Red Smith Park

On October 26, the AmeriCorps members with the Green Bay Conservation Corps (GBCC) hosted their annual Make A Difference Day project at Red Smith Park. The day of community service across the nation on October's fourth Saturday dates back to 1992, with GBCC hosting a project each of the last three Octobers since their launch in 2022.

This year, GBCC brought together community volunteers to help remove invasive buckthorn at Red Smith Park, which will be replaced with native species in the spring.

“Today at Make a Difference Day, we are cutting out invasive buckthorn, invasive trees and shrubs that take over the habitat,” described GBCC program director Maria Otto. She explained that the goal for the project is “having volunteers help us cut, haul, and stack the buckthorn to clear out the wood lot for natives to come in.”

“It's so helpful to have extra hands to help carry it out of here,” reflected GBCC program staff Andy Gilsdorf. “We're stacking it on the edge of the woodlot and next week we'll come and burn it in our biochar kiln and turn it into a soil amendment that we're going to use for planting trees around the city.”

Media coverage of Green Bay Conservation Corps Make a Difference Day project:

• WLUK FOX 11 - Green Bay Conservation Corps celebrates National Make a Difference Day
• WFRV CBS 5 - Positively Wisconsin: Green Bay Conservation Corps hosts Make A Difference Day

WAFCC AmeriCorps member helps Sawyer County Health Department prepare for disaster response

AmeriCorps member Jake White, serving his second term with the Wisconsin Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (WAFCC), recently helped the Sawyer County Health Department assess its ability to respond to provide shelter to the public during an emergency.

As part of his service at the Sawyer County Health Department, he helped organize an emergency preparedness project to set up and operate a mock emergency shelter for a 9/11 Day of Service project. This activity involved mobilizing volunteers, Sawyer County Public Health staff, and the Sawyer County Medical Reserve Corps to quickly establish a shelter at a local church for volunteer "actors" impacted by the created scenarios.

Reflecting on the activity, Jake described that “this exercise was an invaluable opportunity to see how our emergency sheltering system would function in a real crisis. We encountered many challenging scenarios that thoroughly tested our volunteers, allowing us to assess their responses under pressure. From this experience, we identified areas of our sheltering plan that need improvement while recognizing what worked well. As a result, Sawyer County is now better prepared and more confident in our ability to respond to a disaster requiring emergency sheltering."

Service story from AmeriCorps member with WAHRS -

Wisconsin Association for Homeless and Runaway Services

October episode of The S-Files podcast

This month on The S-Files, we explored the service story of AmeriCorps member Kathryn Yang, who served three terms with the Wisconsin Association for Homeless and Runaway Services (WAHRS). Check out this month's episode below. You can access all of the episodes on The S-Files podcast series website.

Providing a Voice for Youth who have Experienced Homelessness, Trafficking, and Exploitation with WAHRS at Pathfinders

In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Kathryn Yang, who served three AmeriCorps terms with the Wisconsin Association for Homeless and Runaway Services (WAHRS) at Pathfinders in Milwaukee and was recognized this year with the Governor’s Service Award as AmeriCorps Member of the Year and the Impactful Service Award at the national Excellence in AmeriCorps Awards. Kathryn describes how she was served by Pathfinders herself after being a survivor of being exploited by human trafficking and bringing this experience to numerous aspects of her AmeriCorps service over the last few years. She discusses helping provide a voice for youth experiencing similar circumstances through the Collaborative Rapid Advocacy for Youth (CRAY) group and the Power of Paths (POP) Youth Action Board. Additionally, she describes how she has conducted support groups for women in detention and trainings for police officers and medical staff when working with youth experiencing homelessness and exploitation. Listen in to learn how Kathryn grew in numerous ways during her AmeriCorps service with WAHRS at Pathfinders, including finding her own voice and the ability to speak openly and unafraid to conduct street outreach as part of the Street Beat team. (listen to the episode here)

Serve Wisconsin offering grant opportunity for organizations to strengthen their volunteer programs

Serve Wisconsin is now accepting grant applications to enhance volunteer initiatives within community-based organizations, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, Indian Tribes, local governments, schools, institutions of higher education, and state agencies. Grants can fund activities such as volunteer recruitment, engagement, and training; organizing days of service; and providing disaster preparedness training. Serve Wisconsin strongly encourages applications from organizations focused on disaster preparedness, programs engaging older adult volunteers, and youth-led initiatives.

Grant funds will reimburse approved expenses through September 30, 2025. Applicants must provide a 1:1 match, which can be met through external funding or in-kind contributions. Awards will be determined through a competitive process, with evaluations based on innovation, project size and scope, and organizational readiness to implement the proposed initiatives.

Volunteer engagement grants will be available on a rolling basis while funds remain.

For more information and to apply, please visit the Volunteer Generation Fund page on the Serve Wisconsin website: https://www.servewisconsin.wi.gov/volunteer-generation-fund.

Deadline for NCCC AmeriCorps Concept Papers for Projects in March-April 2025 is November 5

Does your organization need assistance meeting critical needs in your community?

The deadline for submitting a concept form is November 5 for nonprofit organizations and government agencies interested in working with an AmeriCorps NCCC team next year between March 5 and April 24, 2025. Information on the application process is available in their Request for Proposal (RFP) for 2025 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 Maple 7 AmeriCorps NCCC team is currently serving at the YMCA of the North Camp St. Croix in Hudson, WI, from September 14 through November 12. The AmeriCorps NCCC team’s work will preserve and build on the camp’s natural resources to allow for hands-on, engaging environmental education, create easier access for people of varying abilities to experience a natural and agricultural setting, improve the climate-resilience of trails, prairie, and forests, and other initiatives. While serving at the camp, they will contribute to project goals through trail-building assistance in a ravine area, assistance with tree planting to expand the maple syrup program, raspberry planting to create a pick-your-own patch, fence building and repair for farm/garden, greenhouse maintenance, forest management, invasive plant removal and outdoor and indoor maintenance tasks on their 100 buildings.

For those interested in taking an active role in promoting national service and volunteerism in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin National and Community Service Board has two vacancies for a board member for the following appointment type:

• A representative of local labor
• A service program representative between the ages of 16 and 25

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.

Serve Wisconsin | servewisconsin.wi.gov | AmeriCorps

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