The Vermont Youth Tomorrow A* VISTA Program placesmembers at Community-Based Organizations that promoteor actively engage youth in high quality mentoring, after-

school, and employment skill-building programs.

Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps* VISTA Program

Winter 2009

VYT A* VISTA ProgramAmeriCorps members

serve on the federal holiday

honoring the lifeand legacy of

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.January 19th, 2009

Inside this issue:

Ptarmigan Abbott, CommunityFriends Mentoring …..2

Christine Anderson, The Collabo-rative …………………2

Andy Laine, the Vermont Food-bank………………….3

Monica Kimball, Onion River Ex-change ………………….4

Katie McKinstry, MontpelierParks and Conservation ….4

Meredith Rivin, Mobius ….5

Jaclyn Remick, Linking Learningto Life …………..6

Cindy Wasser, enVision Montpe-lier ……………………...7

Abby Krause, VT AffordableHousing Coalition ………..7

Holley Schmidlapp, WillowellFoundation ………………..8

Jennifer Pritchard, Linking Learn-ing to Life ………......9

Marianne Disney, Kellogg-Hubbard Library ………...10

Kristin Feierabend, enVisionMontpelier ………………..10

Katie Kearney, The Stern Center……………………..11

Megan Skiles, the Chill Founda-tion …………………….13

Goodbye, Welcome, and VYT Ac-complishments ………...14

While schools were closedin recognition of Martin LutherKing Day, a group of FloodBrook Union School students par-ticipated in events to honor Dr.King. This event was lead by me,in my role as the AmeriCorps*VISTA member and the Ameri-

Continued on the next page

Ptarmigan AbbottVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with Community FriendsMentoring

Burlington, VT

Chrissy AndersonVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with The CollaborativeSouth Londonderry, VT

The youth at The Collaborative created amural entitled “I want to see one day…”

ing theme of the day, and whenasked if they were ready to go outand volunteer, a strong chorus ofyeses was heard.

With a group of nine vol-unteers, I headed to Kids on theBlock, an organization which usespuppets to discuss sen-sitive issues with ele-mentary and middleschool students. We setto work preparing amailing and tallyingsurveys. It was great tosee the teamworkamong the group whohad only just met, andan air of excitement atgetting as much as possible ac-complished in our allotted timearose. As our projects wrappedup and we headed back to ContoisAuditorium, I was struck onceagain by the number of commu-nity members who had volun-teered that day. I was even moreblown away with the announce-ment of the official number of theday; more than three hundredpeople had chosen to celebratewith a “Day On, Not Off.”

While I enjoyed the celebratorydinner at the day’s end, therhythm of the Step Team, and theperformance of “Sneetches,” what

Ever since October 10th

when I attended my first meetingabout MLK Day, I was curious tosee what would unfold. WhileJanuary seemed ages away, acommitment toward making Bur-lington’s annual citywide celebra-tion a success already existed, andby the end of that initial meeting,we had a plan. As part of the ser-vice project committee, our taskwas to find area organizations thatwould be willing to host projects.Many meetings, emails, andphone calls later, MLK Day hadarrived.

People began tricklinginto the Contois Auditorium be-fore the event’s official openingat one o’clock. I was positioned atmy sign-in sheet ready for the ac-tion to begin when, in the blink ofan eye, the auditorium had filled.I glanced up to see young kids,parents, students, retirees, peoplefrom every walk of life gatheringto hear the opening speech. A“Day On, Not Off” wove itselfthrough the welcome as an inspir-

stood out the most was lookingaround earlier in the afternoon tosee the mailing all ready to go andthe disappearance of what hadonce been a large stack of sur-veys. I was reminded yet again ofhow much volunteering matters.In only two and a half hours, a

group of us had freed upa considerable amountof time for the staff atKids on the Block, timethat they would now beable to devote to moreschool performances. Iknew our efforts wereappreciated and mar-veled at the fact that anytask, no matter how

large or small, can make a differ-ence. More often than not itseems to be the small things thatkeep one inspired, and that rangtrue for me. While I feel like I amhelping to make a difference atmy site, it was nice to support an-other organization as well. Withthis fresh reminder, I hope to be-come more involved with volun-teer opportunities in the commu-nity where I am serving. Lookingback at my experience on MLKDay, I was impressed with theenthusiasm of the community andglad I had taken part it making itall possible.

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VYT A* VISTA Program

“I was reminded

yet again of how

much

volunteering

matters“

Corps* State members serving atthe Collaborative, KerriMacLaury and Cheryn Sheldon.Youth participated in fun activi-ties that embraced diversity andtaught about the struggles and tri-umphs in our nation’s past. Theday’s activities included a humandiversity scavenger hunt, storytime, and a mural titled, “I wantto see one day,” that was com-posed of pictures and passionatewords created by the youth. Weended our day with the movieWall-E; a very exceptional movieabout love and adventure betweentwo robots. This day gave youthan opportunity to learn aboutMartin Luther King, what he be-lieved and stood for, as well aswhat our nation is strivingfor today.

VYT A* VISTA Member ChristineAnderson (shown in photo to the right)worked on art projects with youth thataddressed diversity and their hope forthe future. Christine serves with TheCollaborative in southern Vermont.

Andy LaineVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with The VT FoodbankWolcott, VT

aside to remember his accom-plishments, but throughout theyear. What should be noted isthat one can serve others in aninfinite variety of ways, usingwhatever skills one has available.There is no “best” way to serve acommunity, nor is there a proto-typical citizen who is most suitedto the task. Volunteering can, andshould, become a habit for every-one. Whether it be using talentsin carpentry to build homes forvictims of natural disasters, paint-ing murals to beautify publicspaces, or networking a computersystem for an inner-city school,no one need separate personal en-joyment from service.

If all people could be per-suaded to donate just a smallpercentage of their time to volun-

teering in their communities, theimpact would be enormous. Onehour every week multiplied bythousands of community mem-bers could accomplish just asmuch as a small army of full-timestaff. Such a mobilization ofthose who are closest to the prob-lems that non-profits are trying tosolve is both cost-efficient andeffective. Organizations acrossthe country are ready for morehelp; all we need to do is answerthe call. By doing so, we moveall of society one step closer tothe ideal set forth by Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr.

For Martin Luther King,Jr. Day, I helped to coordinate afood drive among AmeriCorpsmembers in the Montpelier area,in conjunction with the VermontFoodbank and the Central Ver-mont Food, Fuel, and Transporta-tion Coalition. Through our com-bined efforts, we helped procureapproximately 230 pounds offood that went to feed food inse-cure members of the communitiesAmeriCorps members serve in.

The legacy of service es-tablished by Dr. King is importantto honor not only on the day set

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As a part of the CentralVermont MLK Day of Serviceand celebration, I volunteered tohead up the efforts to make a"Dream Walk" by dividing the "IHave a Dream" speech intopieces, decorating the pieces, andhanging them up around town.Although it was a simple process,it took a lot of time and dedica-tion from me and other volunteerswho committed hours on week-ends and after their normal ser-vice was over. It was really in-spiring to see how everyone gotinvolved, even though each per-son had his or her own projectunder the MLK Day umbrella.

The ReStore, a great com-munity resource that sells itemsfor reuse, agreed to donate thingsto decorate the pieces, so I wasable to get some inspiration from

Rachael Rice, the manager andextraordinary crafter, to make eyecatching pieces that would remindpeople why they had a long week-end.

Two groups of people

went on the walk on the day ofthe activity, children and adults.While everyone told me that it

was a great project, and that thewalk had an impact, it meant evenmore to me to see people stoppingto read the signs without being apart of the group. When I washanging a tile in a hardware store,a young girl, probably aroundeight, stopped and read the piece.Her brow furrowed as she read it,and she kept looking back at thepiece as her mother took her handand started walking.

I hope that the pieces havehad a strong impact around town,even though we didn't do enoughpublic relations concerning them.My dream is that next year,AmeriCorps volunteers can reusethe pieces and maybe make a mapthat people can use to follow thespeech.

“I learned that kids just like us wentto jail, and when they got out of jail

they got right back on the bus so theycould go back!”

“Well I saw kids being attacked bydogs, bitten by dogs. They did it sothat they could have equal rights.”

These comments were inresponse to the question, “Whatdid you learn from today’s MartinLuther King, Jr. Day?” Childrenas young as six years old had hadthe opportunity to watch footageof the 1963 Children’s March, inwhich young people of Birming-

“Nothing in all the world is moredangerous than sincere ignorance

and conscientious stupidity.”-Martin Luther King, Jr.,Strength to Love, 1963

ham, Alabama had flooded thejails in a brave act to end segrega-tion. In addition to watching thisdocumentary, the kids had pre-pared soup for the MontpelierSoup Kitchen, participated in aHunger Activity which illustratedthe unequal distribution of food,heard a speech by a Civil RightsActivist about the work still to bedone to achieve Martin LutherKing Jr.’s dream, walked theMontpelier Dream Walk and readout loud King’s Dream Speech inits entirety, and finally, discussed

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Monica KimballVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with The Onion RiverExchange

Montpelier, VT

Fran Kearfott, a Vermont Youth Devel-opment Corps AmeriCorps* State mem-ber, read a piece of the speech aloud to

the group. Other walkers took turnsreading the pieces of the speech on MLKDay. Damsel's, a store on Main St., de-signed their window to complement the

MLK Dream Walk

Katie McKinstryVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with Montpelier Parks andConservation

Montpelier, VT

the meaning of King’s “BigWords” such as Freedom, Equal-ity, Justice, Non-Violence, andPeace. Now, at the end of theday, they were processing pow-erful lessons.

“I learned that some people haveless food than other people. So

you have to share.”

“I read a speech!”

The kids had engaged inboth hands on and strictly aca-demic activities. In the hungeractivity, the children received abrown paper bag which con-tained their snack. They wereasked not to open their bags untilall had received their portion.When they opened their bags,they discovered that some chil-

dren had a portion of a ricecake,some a full ricecake, others aricecake, apple, and peanut but-ter. When asked how they felt,some explained that, “I feel sadthat some people don’t have asmuch as others,” and when ques-tioned what they could do aboutit, many agreed, “I think that weshould share.” The kids seemedso comfortable walking to theother tables and dividing theirsnacks, empowered by theknowledge that they were mak-ing the world just a bit more fair.

Later, we had bundled upand embarked on the MontpelierDream Walk. Fellow Ameri-Corps* VISTA members hadartfully divided the speech anddangled the portions in the win-dows of Montpelier’s storefronts.As a group of 25 teachers, chil-

dren, and AmeriCorps members,we had occupied the city’s side-walks and took turns reading Dr.King’s famous words. “Thisswelllll….swelll, swelteringsummer of the Negro's leg-, leg-,legitimate discontent will notpass until there is an invigoratingautumn of freedom and equal-ity.” An eight year old boy hadstruggled through the words,then repeated them triumphantly.Wrestling with the sophisticatedvocabulary and the gravity of themessage, we gained a moremeaningful, more personal ap-preciation for Dr. King’s mostfamous lines.“I learned that non-violencesolves problems.” Uttered onechild as the day came to a close.The wisdom settled gently in ourhearts. Knowledge is power.

with all of these volunteers, manyof the Vermont Youth Tomorrow(VYT) AmeriCorps* VISTAmembers worked on committeessince September to ensure serviceprojects, keynote speakers, andfood organization went smoothly.

I was on the food commit-tee with about 5 other VISTAmembers in charge of asking localrestaurants and grocery stores fordonations to feed 300 volunteersand community members. Brain-storming took place at most meet-ings until we had written downevery restaurant we thoughtwould be appropriate to serve adish at the community dinner onMLK day at City Hall. Most res-taurants, coffee shops, delis andgrocery stores were very willing

to donate, making donationsfrom gift-certificates, pizza, topaper plates; we were well cov-ered for the dinner. After coor-dinating the pick-ups and set-up,the committee split betweendriving around to gather the foodand going to the Winooski Com-munity Center to prepare an ap-ple crisp with several volunteers.

As the masses began tosign up for their service projects,“several volunteers” turned intodouble and triple what everyoneexpected. We took a large vanfull and additional volunteersdrove themselves to the Commu-nity Center where apple peelersand knives were put to work cut-

Continued on next pageting and coring the pounds and

We knew Martin LutherKing Day was going to be a bigday for volunteerism: the day be-fore the Inauguration of PresidentBarack Obama and a day whencivic engagement was stronglyencouraged by the PresidentialInaugural Committee (PIC). Arecord number of volunteers wereexpected for the service opportu-nities organized by the Commu-nity and Economic DevelopmentOffice (CEDO) AmeriCorps Pro-gram and other Burlington areaAmeriCorps members. To help

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Meredith RivlinVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with Mobius the MentoringMovement

Burlington, VT

-ting and coring the pounds andpounds of apples donated to us byShelburne Orchards.

We had expected this taskto tide the volunteers over for awhile, while the younger childrenand their parents peeled apples inthe children’s space and the oldervolunteers peeled together in alarger room. Soon we realizedthat because of the abundance ofvolunteers, the task was com-pleted very quickly and theVISTA serving at the WinooskiCommunity Center and I scram-bled around to find more tasksand delegate them fairly. The vol-

unteers were willing to do any-thing and I was nervous about thetransparency of our last-minuteplanning.

Eight apple crisps andabout twelve pounds of mashedpotatoes later, we were on ourway back to City Hall to help pre-pare for the dinner. The donatedfood was being set up and every-thing smelled delicious. Soon thehungry volunteers began to fillthe tables and chairs while theywaited for the end of the eveningceremonies and performances.

I realize my task of coor-dinating the food to feed the vol-

unteers was important, however Iwould have liked to participatemore with the service activities.From what the leaders of these ac-tivities were saying, we all strug-gled with too many volunteers.Apparently Obama’s messagesalong with echoes of Dr. King’sspeeches made a big impact on thecommunity this year. We had toomuch of a good thing and set anew record to break with nextyears’ numbers.

Dinner!Mmmm…the food, the foodTables and tables of foodThat night we feasted

First EntertainmentStomp, clap, step, slap, slideThey all move in unisonUVM Step Team

Very Merry Theatre Group – TheSnitchesWith stars on their belliesThey sang why can’t we befriendsAnd we all melted

End of the NightWatched the snow outsideCommunity togetherIt is warm inside.

Signing up at City HallThey kept showing up,Three hundred and seventythree,Yay! Record number

Walk to EdmundsMeant to be twelve,Left City Hall, one block walk,Got there, thirty six

Vermont Campaign to EndChildhood HungerWe sorted them out,Cumin, ginger, cinnamon,Helping the hungry

Service ProjectNot sure what to do,With thirty six we work fastLeave early I guess

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Jaclyn RemickVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with Linking Learning to LifeBurlington, VT

This year, President Obama called on Americans to serve their country in remembrance of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. As a Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps* VISTA member dedi-cated to a year of service to my country, I answered our new President’s call. All AmeriCorpsmembers serving in the Burlington area gathered at City Hall around noon. Several activitieshad been planned for the day. Each of us was assigned a task, which ranged from food prepar-ation to site leader. Another VISTA and I were charged with leading a group of volunteers atEdmunds Elementary School. For two hours, we helped our crew package herbs and collate

packets for the Howard Center, a local service organization in Burlington Vermont. There was an overwhelming turn-out for theday, so we finished far ahead of schedule. It was inspiring to see so many people choose to volunteer on their day off. The day cul-minated with a feast at City Hall along with entertainment provided by a local children’s theatre group. All in all, I was very happyto have a “day on” rather than a “day off.”

Community was the moststriking aspect of my Martin Lu-ther King Day experience. MartinLuther King Day brought togethera unique group of AmeriCorpsmembers and community mem-bers from the central region ofVermont who thoughtfully con-sidered the legacy of the civilrights movement and the future oftheir community.

In mid-December, I gath-ered MLK Day ideas for serviceprojects and community needsand convened a group of approxi-mately 20 AmeriCorps membersfrom Vermont Youth Tomorrow

(VYT), Vermont Youth Develop-ment Corps (VYDC), Neighbor-to-Neighbor, and Vermont Hous-ing and Conservation Board(VHCB) programs who serve inthe Central Vermont region. Overthe next month, the ambitious-ness, hard-work, and cooperationof the group was continually in-spiring. Although some of us hadnot previously met, the value weplace on service allowed us towork together as a team through-out the planning process and onthe day of service itself.

Only days before MLKDay, I learned that the normalMonday community lunch pro-gram in Montpelier would not beoccurring, as it was a holiday.Within hours, VYT A* VISTAmember Lindsay Arbuckle alongwith the staff at her service site,Food Works, had volunteered toorganize the entire lunch. Lind-say recognized a need in the com-munity and felt it logical and nec-essary that Food Works would fillgap to ensure that members oftheir community received lunch.

Martin Luther King Daywas remarkable. The number ofattendees and their level of en-gagement was impressive. Localchildren were engaged in civilrights education, clips of historic

civil rights speeches were shown,soup was served to over fiftycommunity members, a fooddrive collected for local foodshelves and community lunchsites, a resource fair advertisedlocal resources and service oppor-tunities, around town beautifulwindow signs reminded shoppersof the fierce passion of King's his-

toric "I Have a Dream" speech,and an incredible civil rights ac-tivist, Dr. Offie Wortham, sharedhis experiences and ideas withapproximately sixty communitymembers. Wortham commentedon the current state of the worldand where Dr. King would beleading his followers if he werehere today.

I was glad to see that my serviceprovided not only a hot meal toneedy residents but also a sense ofcommunity andconsciousness ofcurrent social is-sues.

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Cynthia WasserVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with enVision MontpelierMontpelier, VT

Abby KrauseVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with The Vermont Afford-able Housing Coalition

Burlington, VT

Vergennes/Burlington, VT — AsI watched the historical inauguralcelebration the day before takingpart in the CEDO (Communityand Economic Development Of-fice) AmeriCorps citywide Day ofService activities, a statement byPresident Kennedy stuck out tome: I see little of more impor-tance to our country and civiliza-tion than the full recognition of

the place of the artist. If art is tonourish the roots of our culture,society must set the artist free tofollow his vision to wherever ittakes him (Amherst College,1963).

The art community at theBurlington School Food Projectis doing just that. In recognitionof the national day of service onMartin Luther King Day, 16 vol-unteers gathered in an upstairsroom at City Market with the goalof assembling 20,000 local artistnote card packets as a fundraiserfor the Vermont Food EducationEvery Day program and Farm toSchool project. Contributing lo-cal artist, Bonnie Acker, ex-plained to us that their schoolcafeterias are only allowed $2.50per meal per student and thatsomething just had to be done tohelp raise money to meet the gap.

The King Holiday ServiceAct was passed by Congress in1994, to honor the life and serviceof MLK. His teachings of non-violence and “civil disobedience”have inspired many. In his auto-biography, he writes that it was inThoreau’s essays where he firstencountered the theories of non-violent resistance that would ulti-mately influence and shape ourcountry’s history for decades tocome. “I became convinced thatnoncooperation with evil is asmuch a moral obligation as is co-operation with good…. As a re-

sult of his writings and personalwitness, we are the heirs of a leg-acy of creative protest. The teach-ings of Thoreau came alive in ourcivil rights movement; indeed,they are more alive than ever be-fore.”

Vergennes Union HighSchool students at the WaldenProject attended the CEDOAmeriCorps evening panel dis-cussions on their own, gave bloodat the Goodrich blood drive, andhelped transport donated twigs,sticks, and branches for a futureland based project. As part oftheir creative writing class, theyreceived writing prompts fromMLK’s famous “I Have ADream” speech and met in thePeace and Justice Center’s libraryspace to read poetry they hadwritten.

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Holley SchmidlappVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with The Willowell FoundationVergennes, VT

When I first signed up as aVISTA and learned that I had tohelp plan and participate in MLKDay service, I was a little stumped.As far as I knew, MLK Day wasjust another day that schools had offand that was mentioned in the cal-endar. See, that’s the amazingthing about being a VISTA, I hadno idea just how much there wasthat could be done when you bringpeople together.

In October, I attended myfirst MLK Day informational meet-ing. I believe my thoughts went likethis, “But… it’s not until January…That’s 3 months from now! Whatare we all doing here?” So, webroke up into committees and beganthe initial brainstorming process. Iwas on the programming committeeand our job was to plan the dinnerpart of the event that included akeynote speaker, entertainment,auditorium set up, decorations, andthe audio/visual logistics.

As I met with the othermembers in my committee over thenext few months, we hit some roadblocks, some groups never returnedour calls, we had brilliant ideas that

turned out to be im-practical (I thought ofasking our President-Elect tobe the keynote speaker – shoot forthe moon, right?), but eventuallythe pieces started to fall intoplace. Oliver Barkley, a localactivist and comedian agreedto be our keynote speaker. Ur-ban Flava, the UVM step teamagreed to dance for the event.Very Merry Theatre was excitedto perform after dinner. Whenit came down to it, we realizedthat we had all of our enter-tainment scheduled. Wow,how did THAT happen?! Aswe thought about the moremundane details we were struckby how quickly the event wascoming up on us. So, we madeour decisions, blank newsreel onthe tables with crayons for peopleto draw and write with, MartinLuther King quotes on coloredtable tents, the facilities managerat City Hall would make sure wehad chairs and a podium, theAmeriCorps* VISTA leader forthe Community and EconomicDevelopment Office AmeriCorpsProgram would bring AmeriCorpsbanners and signs, and the onlything that was left was to hope forthe best.

MLK Day came and Imade my way to City Hall. Walk-ing in, I was blown away by howmany AmeriCorps* VISTA mem-bers were there, how many com-munity members were waiting inthe lobby to get started, and mostof all, the incredible sense of pur-pose that came over me. I sawthe news crews with their camerasand notepads, the families wan-dering over to sign up for service

projects that were kid-friendly,the high school students indroves, the local fraternity andsorority members, and elderlycitizens. I can’t tell you how big

my smile was that day. I wasamazed at the turn out. I was

hopeful in ways I cannotdescribe for the community

I have chosen to make myhome. And that was only the firstpart of the day!

My committee membersand I spent the afternoon

turning the auditoriuminto a place to seat hun-

dreds, to feed them, thankthem and celebrate all of the

hard work accomplished duringthe day of service. People beganto arrive and started munching oncheese and bread that was pro-vided. We placed food on theside tables and set the slideshowup to run. Oliver Barkley spokeand the crowd listened attentively,Urban Flava stomped their feetand clapped their hands and thecrowd watch raptly, the adorablekids from Very Merry Theatreacted and sang their hearts outthrough the best version of Dr.Suess’ “Sneetches” ever seen(alright, I’m biased because theyagreed to adapt the book and per-form it just for our event). I felthumbled by the incredible day ofservice that blew us all away withits success - to think that some-thing so big came from small con-tributions from everyone there.Together, we proved that MartinLuther King, Jr. was right,“Anyone can be great, becauseanyone can serve.”

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Jennifer PritchardVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with Linking Learning to LifeBurlington, VT

What would it be like to have atimeline of one’s life, to haveone’s convictions and achieve-ments strong enough to stand bythemselves over time? To craft aletter, a book, a speech, a marchthat would empower people in apositive way?

My contribution to MartinLuther King Day was to create afact sheet and reading table. Iused handouts given to me byNeighbor to Neighbor Ameri-Corps*State member, DonnaO’Malley, and assemble an abbre-viated timeline of Dr. Martin Lu-ther King’s life. I found and in-cluded small photos of each mile-stone, including one of a Mont-gomery, Alabama bus that was

desegregated in 1955-56, a photoof the original 1963 “Letter fromBirmingham Jail”, and a movingphoto of marchers in the 1965Selma to Montgomery, Alabamavoting-rights march (as shownabove).

I set books in a semi-circleon the table and placed the factsheet in front with two librarybrochures. Among the books Iselected were two children’sbooks; Black and White: A Songthat is a Story about Freedom toGo to School Together by DavidArkin and I Have a Dream, abook with the complete speechand illustrations by 15 differentartists. Also included were Dr.

King’s Stride Toward Freedom andWhere Do We Go From Here, andStewart Burns’ To the Mountain-top: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Sa-cred Mission to Save America.

Reflecting on my projectand the day’s events, it struck mehow much purpose Dr. King hadand how he mastered all the formsof communication he chose to con-vey his message. Seeing his writtenwork displayed, walking downtownto read aloud I Have a Dream, hear-ing and watching his speeches, Iwas struck by his clear, nonviolentarticulation of racial prejudice andcompassion for those who experi-enced it. As he eloquently said,“You have been the veterans ofcreative suffering.”

A “Day On” in the MontpelierCommunity

I’ll admit, I laughed alittle when I saw that the taglinefor MLK Day was “Make it aDay On, Not a Day Off.” “Kindof cheesy,” I thought. But nowthat MLK Day of Service haspassed, I realize that the taglineis actually very fitting.

A week after MLK Day, Iand my fellow AmeriCorps

members Cindy and Fran talkedwith a man at a Montpelier soupkitchen about Montpelier resi-dents’ constant willingness to helpone another and to provide assis-tance to those in need. The manwas very complimentary of, andthankful for, the free communitymeals, the free programs at the li-brary, and the sheer generosity ofpeople in the community.

One of the few drawbackshe noted was that, although thecommunity meals are great, “they,understandably, aren’t open onholidays.” It’s true—the regularmeals on Christmas and NewYear’s were cancelled, and the

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Marianne DisneyVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with theKellogg-Hubbard Library

Montpelier, VT

Kristin FeierabendVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with enVision MontpelierMontpelier, VT

the regular meal on MLK Day wasalso cancelled. When I heard thisnews, I was conflicted—yes, eve-ryone deserves a day off once in awhile. As the man at the soupkitchen said, it’s “understandable”

Continued on next page

VYT A* VISTA Member Lindsay Arbucklehelped to prepare a community meal that

otherwise would have been cancelled

that people would take the holi-day to relax. Yet, many people inneed can’t afford to take a dayoff. Even if they are able to takethe day off, they still have to en-sure that their basic needs aremet. For some, this means goingto a soup kitchen for a full meal.

Luckily, even thoughMLK Day is normally a day off,Lindsay Arbuckle, the VermontYouth Tomorrow AmeriCorps*VISTA member at Food Works,along with other Central VermontAmeriCorps members made surethat it was a “day on” in Montpe-lier. We hosted the soup kitchenand prepared two delicious soups,

coleslaw, and bread for a largenumber of community members.Some of them might not have got-ten a full meal that day otherwise.I now understand why Ameri-

Corps encourages members tomake MLK Day of Service “a dayon, instead of a day off.” Wehelped provide a much-neededservice in the community that oth-erwise would not have been avail-able that day.

Many thanks to Lindsay and FoodWorks for taking on the responsi-bility of planning the meal!

St. Peter: Hello Miss Kearneyand welcome to your visit toheaven. We’ve been expectingyou. Martin is waiting for youinside, step right in! Thought Ishould warn you, only his closefriends are able to call him Mar-tin.Katie: Thanks for the welcome,St. Peter and for the heads up.You’ve got a sweet pad up here.SP: Thanks, I’ve been workingon it for millenniums now. Well,hurry up because you don’t havemuch time up here.K: Will do, see ya on my wayout.SP: Indeed. God Bless.K: But I didn’t sneeze….ohright, you’re a saint. This isheaven.[Katie walks into the gates andsees, well she can’t tell you what

I was recently given theopportunity to take a little vaca-tion in the form of an out of bodyexperience so I could shoot up toheaven to do an interview withthe prestigious Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. I wanted to talk to himabout the recent celebrationAmeriCorps members in Burling-ton had for his day. Dr. King surehad a lot to say, but I was onlyable to be ‘out of body’ for a shortamount of time so that I would beable to eventually return to mybody. Check out the followingconversation:___________________________

she saw exactly because it’s ahuge secret kept from mortalhumans. Her mind was actuallyerased with the images and onlythe conversations she had wereremembered. People in heavenenjoy being sneaky.]Martin Luther King, Jr:[Voice booming] Katie! Wel-come! So nice to finally seeyou in the flesh. [Laughs tohimself]Katie: [Chuckles] Boy Dr.King I knew you were a pioneerfor equal rights and servicework, but I never knew what ajokester you were!MLK: Well I have had a lot oftime up here to ponder suchthings. Now, let’s get to busi-ness!K: Indeed. Well I’m sure youknow all about me and what Ido, and I don’t have a lot of

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VYDC A* State Member Ashley Fussellserving coleslaw

Katie KearneyVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with theStern Center

Williston, VT

time up here, so let me ask youthe first question on my mind:How do you think this year’sAmeriCorps* VISTA Martin Lu-ther King, Jr. day celebration (Aday on, not a day off) went inBurlington, VT?MLK: By golly it was grand!Each year the celebrations thereare really great because they getthe whole community together.This year was no exception andwas especially big; I heard youhad close to 400 volunteers forthe event helping do things suchas building benches, sortingspices, making binders, fixingbikes and cooking food! It mademy heart sing to see so many peo-ple of all age, race and genderhelping out with the event. TheAmeriCorps* VISTAs certainlyhold a special place in my heartfor dedicating a year of serviceliving on the poverty level, butthen to go and plan a big day likethis in memory of me, is, well,extraordinary!K: Thanks, Dr. King, but it’s nothard to plan something like this inmemory of a person as rad asyourself! Let me ask you anotherquestions: What did you think ofthe dinner after the service andthe entertainment following that?MLK: Katie, you’re too kind.That keynote speaker was elo-quent and did a good job of get-ting everyone together again afterbeing out doing service projectsall day. The dinner looked glori-ous! I can’t believe how manylocal businesses donated food!That was your committee, correctKatie? How was it asking for all

that food?K: Hey, I’m the one who’s sup-posed to be asking you questions!Well, you’re lucky I’m chatty. Itwas really fun getting preparedfor your day. We started meetingand planning it way back in Octo-ber and even started askingbusinesses to donate then.I’ll be honest, I got someuncertainty at first, butonce I talked with peoplemore they were into it! Thisis a great town to ask for dona-tions in; what a community feel!Most places went above and be-yond with their donations. Nowlet me ask you; what did youthink about the rest of the enter-tainment for the evening?MLK: The University of Ver-mont step team was phenomenal!As for that Very Merry Theater –boy oh boy! What a hoot! Thatwas a great rendition of TheSneetches. I was talking to Dr.Seuss up here and he wasmighty pleased with it too.Those songs they added in (WhyCan’t We Be Friends, Respect,The Dawn of Age of Aquarius)were priceless. Those little girlsdid a great job and I was proudthey were remembering me insuch a great way.[Voice booming from faraway: 5minutes until departure, KathleenMarie Kearney. You may nowfinish up your conversation andproceed to the front gate.]K: Man alive I can’t believe mytime is up already! Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr. I can’t even be-gin to tell you what a pleasure itwas to be able to talk with you

today. You certainly were an in-spiring individual, and still are tothis day. I was honored to be apart of your day and help carryout one of your dreams of encour-aging and inspiring others to en-gage in service work.MLK: Katie, the pleasure is allmine! You and your fellow

AmeriCorps* VISTAs (andState/National AmeriCorps

too!) are doing a fine service forthis country. I am sad that mytime was cut short on Earth, butseeing young folks like yourselfand the others in Vermont Youth

Tomorrow makes me realizemy dreams are still possible.

Thank you. Let me walkyou to the gate.K: Thanks, Dr. King.

You’ve made my one and onlyout of body experience a memora-ble one![They get to the gate and hug

goodbye. St. Peter and Dr. King

watch as she makes her way

back down to Earth.]

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Upon starting service,many AmeriCorps* VISTA mem-bers are likely to enter their pro-grams with some sense of socialresponsibility, awareness, and aneagerness to get things done. Af-ter just a few months, I havelearned that taking on this rolerequires a lot of dedication andhard work; it means seeing thingsthrough, taking on multiple roles,doing the dirty work, settingthings up and tearing them down,and basically, doing whatever ittakes.

Recently, our newlyelected President, Barack Obama,called on Americans in honor ofDr. King, to dedicate MLK Dayto serving their local communi-ties. For AmeriCorps members itwas “a day on, not a day off.”These words were also meant toinspire all Americans to serve inhonor of Dr. King’s legacy. Allover the country volunteers turnedout in record numbers to giveback to their local communities.As an AmeriCorps* VISTA, I toowas inspired by the message ofDr. King and President BarackObama’s national call to service.

As a VISTA serving at theChill Foundation, one of my pri-mary roles is to serve as the Bur-lington local program coordinator.The mission of Chill is to moti-vate and empower youth throughthe vehicle of snowboarding.

Every year, we take over 120youth from the Burlington area upto the slopes of Bolton Valley SkiResort. We provide them witheverything they need to learn toride: lift tickets, lessons, transpor-tation, and head-to-toe gear.Snowboarding is fun and a greatactivity for the youth we serve,but it takes several lessons andplenty of hard work to learn.

The Burlington Chilllearn-to-ride program runs everyWednesday, Thursday, Friday,and Sunday over the course of sixor so weeks. Each week, we in-troduce the youth to a theme thatintegrates the snowboarding ex-perience with the challenges ofevery day life. The weekly Chillthemes are patience, persistence,respect, courage, responsibility,and pride.

I thought it was fitting thatMLK Day fell on the same weekas our Chill weekly theme ofPERSISTENCE. During thisweek I introduced the theme ofpersistence to the kids on the busride up to Bolton Valley. I talkedabout snowboarding and persis-tence as an analogy for life. Ifyou fall, you have to pick yourselfback up and keep trying. I wenton to talk about Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. and how he was persis-tent in his fight to advance thecivil rights movement, promoteequality, and end the war in Viet-nam. Dr. King was a great exam-ple of someone who never gaveup.

With the upcoming monthof February being Black HistoryMonth, I also thought it was ap-propriate to relate the theme ofpersistence to the lives of Barack

Obama and Michael Jordan. Pro-viding youth with specific exam-ples of how these figures wentabove and beyond to follow theirdreams seemed to go over reallywell.

On the bus ride back Iasked the kids how they used thetheme of persistence on themountain and in their every daylives. Many of the kids made ref-erences back to Martin LutherKing Jr., they talked about howthey needed to work hard to ac-complish their goals in life- andas in snowboarding, never giveup. These small victories on themountain are huge for the youthwe serve. Chill provides localyouth with an opportunity tobreak boundaries and to see thatthey can achieve success, throughsnowboarding and in life.

Persistence and never giv-ing up – an interesting concept. Ithink as an AmeriCorps* VISTAit is important to take it one day ata time. Dr. Martin Luther KingJr. was once quoted as saying;“Take the first step in faith. Youdon't have to see the whole stair-case, just take the first step.” Interms of my service, I am right onwith this statement.

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Megan SkilesVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with the Chill FoundationBurlington, VT

Welcome to the team!The VYT A* VISTA Team welcomed two new members in February 2009

During the first two quarters VYT A* VISTA Members:Managed 1,305 community volunteers and mentors who gave 12,425 hours of service

Raised $307,254 in cash donations and grantsProcured $146,357 of in-kind donations

Collaborated with over 200 community stakeholders (schools, businesses, artists, non-profit groups, faith-based groups, towns, etc.)

… and so much more!

Accomplishments

Ruth Poland -Will be serving at the Youth HorticultureProjectin Brattleboro, VT

Annie McShiras -Will be serving at Food Worksin Montpelier, VT

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VYT A* VISTA Program

Sophia LaCava-BohananVYT A* VISTA Member

Serving with In-Sight PhotographyBrattleboro, VT

Concepts of Diversity

Celebrating Martin LutherKing, Jr. Day in SouthernVermont provided me an oppor-tunity to further invest in the com-munity I live in while exploringconcepts of diversity. Monday,January 19th, I prepared for a dayof conducting interviews and col-lecting oral histories. Begun bymy AmeriCorps* VISTA prede-cessor, I continued a project thataims to record stories of diversityexperienced by Brattleboro resi-dents. Over the course of the day I

listened as people spoke abouttheir understandings of whatdiversity is and how it affectstheir immediate lives in Ver-mont. When presented withthe term “diversity” individuals

were left to interpret as theychose. Some spoke aboutrace, others about eco-

nomic situations, othersabout the following day’sinauguration. Some spoke

on personal experiences, otherstold stories passed down fromfamily members or friends. Allcreated their own definition ofdiversity and explored the wordthrough their stories. By the endof the day I wasn’t sure what con-stituted diversity but understoodthat the accumulation of these sto-ries, often told through tears andlaughter, combined to demon-strate the varied experiences and

varied experiences and understand-ings represented within my own

community. Though sharingthe same space, each of usencountered our community

with unique eyes and under-standings. Without one anotherthere would be no diversity. Werely on each other simply for di-versity to exist, and together wecombine to create a legacy worth

celebrating.

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VYT A* VISTA Program

The VYT A* VISTA Team said goodbye toseveral members who completed service inJanuary. Their contributions to the youth of

Vermont are greatly appreciated!

Amy Niemczura -Served with the Youth HorticultureProjectin Brattleboro, VT

Sarah Schummer -Served with River Arts of Morrisvillein Morrisville, VT

Holley SchmidlappServed with the Willowell Foundationin Vergennes, VTand has elected to serve a second year!

Lindsay Arbuckle -Served with Food Worksin Montpelier, VT

Katherine Buell -Served with the Vermont YouthConservation Corpsin Richmond, VT

Scott Courcelle -Served with Montpelier Parks andConservationin Montpelier, VT

Goodbye and Good Luck!

The members ending servicein January helped to performthe Much Ado About Ameri-Corps Play that was writtento help new members under-stand the difference between

AmeriCorps* VISTA andAmeriCorps* State service.

Look for it soon online!

Vermont Youth TomorrowA*VISTA Program

Director - M. Kadie Schaeffer

Assistant Directors - Nicholas Nicoletand Amanda White

Email: VYT.VYDC@gmail.comPhone: 802.229.9151

Vermont Youth Tomorrow A*VISTA ProgramWashington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys & Girls ClubP.O. Box 627 / 38 Elm StreetMontpelier, VT 05601-0627

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