FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 26, 2004
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Corporation for National and Community Service
CONTACT: Sandy Scott
202-606-5000 x255
sscott@cns.gov |
AmeriCorps Helps Congress Build America |
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Washington D.C. — Members of AmeriCorps joined with members of Congress to
build a new Habitat for Humanity home for Charlissa Tomlinson and her three
children in a low-income neighborhood in the nation’s capital today.
The bipartisan build kicked off Congress Building America, a national
campaign in which members of Congress will build Habitat for Humanity homes in
their home states and districts. More than 60 members of Congress have already
signed up.
Members of Congress participating in the build included Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Senator Jeff Sessions
(R-AL), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Representatives John Boehner (R-OH),
Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, (D-OH), Clay Shaw (R-FL),
David Price (D-NC), among others.
Working alongside the elected officials were two dozen AmeriCorps members
from the D.C. chapter of Habitat for Humanity and AmeriCorps*NCCC. Nationwide
more than 400 AmeriCorps members served with Habitat for Humanity chapters last
year, recruiting and supervising more than 120,000 community volunteers and
supporting the construction of 1,200 homes. In addition, more than 100 members
of AmeriCorps*NCCC supervised thousands of college students building homes
during their spring break.
Several speakers noted the key role AmeriCorps plays in helping Habitat build
homes. “I can’t tell you how much AmeriCorps and VISTA and NCCC mean to
Habitat’s productivity across the country,” said Tom Jones, director of
Habitat’s Washington office. Brendan Fox, the site supervisor of D.C. Habitat
chapter, called AmeriCorps members the “backbone” of their operation and noted
that half of the affiliate’s staff are former AmeriCorps members.
In his remarks, Corporation CEO David Eisner thanked Congress for supporting
the agency’s 2004 budget which provided record funding for AmeriCorps. “I want
to say thank you to the members of Congress for coming here, for helping build
America, but also for supporting AmeriCorps and helping it reach its largest
level ever, 75,000 members, doing this kind of work all across America,” Eisner
said.
The Habitat family that will buy the house has overcome enormous challenges,
including enduring the lost of a son in a homicide/robbery two year ago.
Tomlinson, a single mother of three, has struggled to keep her family together
and out of harms way—not an easy task as the family lives in one of DC’s most
distressed neighborhoods.
The event was a joint effort among Habitat for Humanity and several major
corporations and trade associations and included an afternoon Spouses Build, in
which congressional spouses also worked on the construction site. Dawn Balsam, a
D.C. Habitat AmeriCorps member who worked with Senator Frist, summed up the day
by saying, “It’s nice to know that Habitat and AmeriCorps have so much support.”
AmeriCorps engages Americans in innovative, intensive service to meet
community needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security,
and other areas. Members serve with national non-profit organizations, as well
as with hundreds of smaller community organizations, both secular and
faith-based. AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and
Community Service, and is part of USA Freedom Corps, a White House initiative to
foster a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility, and help all
Americans answer the President's Call to Service. For more information, visit
www.nationalservice.org.
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