May 07, 2010 @ 02:15 PM

Sussex County Habitat for Humanity celebrates AmeriCorps Week

STATEWIDE — Sussex County Habitat for Humanity (SCHFH) will join the nationwide celebration of AmeriCorps Week, May 8-15, spotlighting the vital work done by AmeriCorps members in communities across Delaware since the national service program began 16 years ago.

“We are proud to be part of AmeriCorps and grateful for the AmeriCorps members who are getting things done,” said Kevin Gilmore, executive director of SCHFH.  “AmeriCorps members have made a tremendous impact allowing us to extend our outreach and services by recruiting hundreds of community volunteers to work alongside them.”

Since 1994, 637,000 men and women have joined AmeriCorps, and they have given more than 770 million hours of service to their country.  SCHFH is proud to have 10 of these members working with us this year. 

To mark AmeriCorps Week, a number of service events are happening around the state, including an AmeriCorps Framing Frenzy, where a Habitat for Humanity house will be framed on Legislative Mall in Dover, a night at the Wilmington Blue Rocks, where non-perishable food will be collected for the Delaware Food Bank, and a cleanup at the Children’s Beach House in Lewes. These events will allow community residents to learn about, and participate in, AmeriCorps programs.

AmeriCorps works through existing organizations and helps them reach more people and better achieve their mission.  In 2009, the nation’s 75,000 AmeriCorps members recruited 2.4 million community volunteers to serve alongside them in some 3,300 nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations across the country.

AmeriCorps members at SCHFH work in the construction field building simple, decent, and affordable homes for Sussex County families in need; coordinate both youth and adult volunteers; coordinate our ReStore, a resale facility that contributes 100 percent to SCHFH’s mission; manage our partner families, who eventually become homeowners; and design and market SCHFH materials.

AmeriCorps members typically remain actively engaged in their communities once their service is complete. They not only can be counted on as volunteers, but they also run nonprofits, marshal resources within their communities to address difficult issues, and frequently pursue public service careers.  AmeriCorps alums who have served with SCHFH have joined the Maryland Conservation Corps, worked in the ReStore, and have been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to work and study abroad.

SCHFH is an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. The mission of Sussex County Habitat for Humanity is to build simple, decent, and affordable houses in partnership with low-income families in Sussex County.  Since 1991, through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, the Georgetown based affiliate has built 49 homes in Sussex County. Seventy-one adults and 128 children live in Habitat homes.