AmeriCorps Guåhan Sustainable Culture members promote food security and sustainability on Guam.
AmeriCorps is a federal agency that funds organizations to make a positive impact in communities across the globe. This is the first year the AmeriCorps program will be with Guåhan Sustainable Culture (GSC) and will focus on four areas of impact including healthy futures, environmental stewardship, disaster services, and capacity building.
Forty-six members will develop community gardens, conduct workshops and outreach that focus on eating fresh local foods and healthy eating habits, environmental practices and stewardship. They will also conduct activities that teach different methods of sustainable food production that help reduce negative human and environmental impact and inform beneficiaries on how to prepare for natural disasters.
Members will engage in Healthy Futures activities through the development of community gardens and educational facilities, as well as conduct workshops and outreach that focuses on eating fresh local foods and healthy eating habits.
The members will learn different methods of sustainable food production that help reduce negative human and environmental impact, including hands-on learning about how to safely grow and harvest your own food.
Disaster Services, another focus area, will allow members to engage with organizations and GovGuam agencies to receive disaster preparedness training and will in turn support AmeriCorps GSC in informing other members and beneficiaries on how to prepare for disasters.
AmeriCorps members will also provide Capacity Building for volunteer recruitment, nonprofit organization assistance and disaster readiness.
It is through these areas of impact that AmeriCorps GSC will enrich the lives of their peers, and the lives of the beneficiaries they serve in our island’s community.
And by joining the AmeriCorps program, members are setting themselves up for a bright future in their career through the provision of hands-on work experience, valuable networking opportunities, professional skills training, a monthly stipend and scholarship award after completion of their service.
Emily Wendte, AmeriCorps GSC member, shared what made her choose to apply for this program.
“I specifically wanted to join the AmeriCorps program with GSC because my thoughts really aligned with their thoughts and mission, in trying to improve food sovereignty and a sustainable environment,” she said. “GSC cares a lot about our environment and I want to do everything I can to make it better for our future.”
Wendte explained that learning from the program was one of the many benefits obtained.
“We learn a lot. We've been doing training to be certified in CPR, FEMA, along with other things like that,” she said. “We've learned a lot about different plants, how to plant, how to save our own seeds, and how to be sustainable in our own lives.”
