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As Missouri residents faced the state’s third major power outage in the last six months, AmeriCorps members pitched in to clear roads, run emergency shelters, check on homebound residents, and staff a hotline linking volunteers with organizations in need of their services.
More than 30 counties and the City of St. Louis have been declared federal disaster areas since the ice storm struck on January 12, leaving 330,000 customers without power. As of Wednesday, more than 25,000 customers still were without power.
The storms and power outages resulted in “the largest sheltering operation ever in the state,” said Bruce Bailey, director of AmeriCorps St. Louis. At one point, 119 emergency shelters were sheltering 4,300 residents, with four of them run totally by AmeriCorps members.
Bailey said the 41 AmeriCorps members serving with his organization joined forces with other AmeriCorps sites to provide services. Members serving with Purdy Reading Coaches conducted about 200 health and wellness checks in rural areas, going door-to-door to make sure that residents were safe and that any medical needs were being addressed. The Grace Hill Trail Ranger AmeriCorps members have been assisting in staffing the hotline, which has received more than 1,000 calls thus far. These AmeriCorps teams are overseen by the Missouri Community Service Commission, which is housed within the state’s Department of Economic Development.
Bringing added muscle to the recovery effort is a team of AmeriCorps*NCCC members who were previously deployed in the Gulf Coast for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. In addition, an all-women team of experienced chainsaw operators from the Hoopa AmeriCorps Tribal Civilian Community Corps in California should arrive before the end of the week.
Ron Reynolds, director of the State Emergency Management Agency, termed the AmeriCorps members “a fantastic resource. They are training volunteers to operate chainsaws, helping in shelters, and working with the county emergency management agencies,” he said. “They jump in and do things. They make things happen.”
Although the storms have abated, much work remains to be done. When Springfield schools reopened this week, AmeriCorps members led crews of volunteers to clear sidewalks of downed trees so that children would not be forced to walk in the streets on their way to school. On Saturday, the AmeriCorps members are staffing a major volunteer reception center in the city, from which volunteers will be dispatched to neighborhoods with the greatest need of help.
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The Corporation’s mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.
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