Tea Ragsdale is an AmeriCorps member serving as a Literacy Lab tutor at Saunders Elementary School. She has worked in office and property management jobs, but never felt that her personality and creativity were seen as assets in those roles. "I think, with AmeriCorps, I've found my tribe," she reflects. "I chose to serve with the Literacy Lab simply because reading got me through some difficult times, from an early age to the present day. As a childhood cancer patient in the 1970s, reading gave me comfort, gave me hope, and sometimes the answers I was seeking to improve myself and...

Hunter LeClair was Bay Aging’s first AmeriCorps VISTA member in 2016. The focus of her VISTA project was to build capacity of the Northern Neck Middle Peninsula Housing Coalition, the region’s homeless response system recognized by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Projects focused on grant research, policy creation, and data analysis. While Bay Aging held the role of Lead Agency for this coalition, Bay Aging did not directly administer any homeless services. Post-service, Hunter was hired full-time as Program Manager and continued to pursue ways that Bay Aging could directly participate in functionally ending homelessness in the...

Congratulations to Edward L. Weiner Esq. - winner of the 2020 Governor's Volunteerism and Community Service Award for Outstanding Senior Volunteer! Attorney Ed Weiner has combined his love for jazz and justice to raise much-needed revenue for music scholarships at George Mason University and for and supporting civil legal aid. Ed, who previously served as the past president of the Virginia State Bar and Fairfax Bar and presides over a highly successful annual Law Day event entitled “Weiner Roasts,” developed a special concert event and formed a nonprofit, Jazz4Justice, which has been replicated both within Virginia and across the country....

Congratulations to RRMM Architects of Chesapeake - winner of the 2018 Governor's Volunteerism and Community Service Award for Outstanding Corporation! RRMM Architects are known for designing and building innovative public buildings and schools in the Chesapeake area, and they have shown that they are just as concerned with what is going on inside the schools as the gleaming new structures they build. Throughout the year, volunteers from RRMM Architects, led by CEO/president Duane Harver, donate countless hours to Virginia Beach City Public Schools. One of the ways they work to utilize their talents and skills is to include students in the planning...

Serious Clydarius Pinchback, a sixth-grader at OT Bonner Danville Middle school, has a dream. He dreams of a world where we “will live in peace and harmony and respect each other” and we “will not have to feel the pain and anguish of war.” Showing wisdom and compassion beyond his 11 years, Serious was awarded the top prize for his submission to a MLK Day Essay Contest as part of a MLK Day Event, January 18, in Danville, presented by the Dan River Year AmeriCorps program. Serious’ essay made a strong argument of how wars could be avoided by working...

Ryan Bocompani is a well-recognized leader and advocate for service at Christopher Newport University (CNU). He has held numerous service positions at CNU, including President of the CNU chapter of Where is The Line, where he works with fellow students and faculty to promote awareness of interrelational and interpersonal violence on college campuses. Through this service, he has helped host events such as Shadow Event, where individuals impacted by interpersonal or interrelational are given the opportunity to share their stories. In addition, Ryan has dedicated himself to creating change at CNU, assisting in creating new Title IX policies for the...