UD grads join AmeriCorps’ Katrina relief efforts

AmeriCorps members (from left) LillyMarge Hill, Elizabeth Bennett, Brook Patterson, Ashley Hetrick , Iazia Jones, Ryan Farrell, Erin McCauley, Emily Thayer and Christina Whang

11:01 a.m., Sept. 16, 2005--Two recent University of Delaware graduates are among 10 members of UD’s AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service To America) program who started taking calls at a phone bank in Washington, D.C., hours after President George W. Bush announced the creation of a national information clearinghouse under the USA Freedom Corps program to assist relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina during his address to the nation Sept. 15.

The members, who began their year of service with the UD program in July, are being trained to work as caseworkers at the Katrina Resource Center in Washington for at least one week. Two more members, who have been trained by the Red Cross, will go directly to Louisiana on Saturday, Sept. 17, to provide disaster relief service for two weeks, Lynn Paul, field supervisor, said.

UD grads Margaret Crosby, AS ’05, from Rehoboth Beach, and Brook Patterson, AS ’05, from New Castle, will be based at the Katrina Resource Center, along with Elizabeth Bennett, Ryan Farrell, Ashley Hetrick, LillyMarge Hill, Iazia Jones, Erin McCauley, Emily Thayer and Christina Whang. Ryan Cunningham and Noah Ullmann will be working in Louisiana.

UD’s AmeriCorps*VISTA program began in the fall of 1999 as a direct result of a survey conducted by the Delaware Mentoring Council. The results showed that many schools expressed a need for support staff in order to maintain and increase the number of active volunteers in their schools.

The program’s mentor administrators assist schools, school districts and community organizations by creating and sustaining active mentoring programs. The administrators recruit, train and match volunteers from local communities and businesses to work with children and youth who are in need of positive role models to provide academic and/or social support.

AmeriCorps members Ryan Cunningham (left) and Noah Ullmann will be working in Louisiana.

The mobilization of the Katrina group began just hours after Theresa Clower, director of UD’s AmeriCorps*VISTA program, received a request from the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington late Tuesday, Sept. 13. The first team of 10 members left the Newark campus for Washington early Thursday morning.

“This is an indication of the attitude of the people in the program,” Clower said of the speed with which the members prepared for the new assignment. “They are all team players, and they are dedicated to providing service. It’s a great group!”

UD’s AmeriCorps*VISTA Program and the Delaware Mentoring Council are housed within the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy.

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photos by Sarah Simon

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