AmeriCorps Volunteers Rally Around Cause

Hundreds of AmeriCorps volunteers gathered in Glendale on Friday for a swearing-in and rally meant to invigorate the college-age volunteers as they head into a year’s worth of community building and education programs.

Volunteers gathered at Glendale Community College auditorium were sworn in as they took the AmeriCorps pledge, with right hands raised, which formally enlisted them in the AmeriCorps organization.

The brainchild of President Clinton, AmeriCorps was launched in 1994 as a way of encouraging mass volunteerism. Dismissed by some critics as noble aspiration but vacuous public policy, AmeriCorps has nonetheless become a popular national program, enlisting thousands of volunteers.

“Going out in the community to deal with problems like illiteracy is tough,” said Anu Shrivastava, 23, of La Canada Flintridge. “It never hurts to get people fired up every once in a while, to keep spirits high.”

Morale is important for volunteers who have committed to a year’s worth of work in exchange for a $4,700 educational grant, said Suzanne Fisher, spokeswoman for the California Commission on Improving Life Through Service. The commission administers AmeriCorps activities in California.

“Getting the volunteers together a few times a year allows them to see what others are doing, to keep them moving and to keep their goals in mind,” Fisher said.

From East Los Angeles to Hollywood to Glendale and Pacoima, volunteers are teaching kids to read, helping the homeless, the drug addicted and, perhaps most importantly, showing those not involved in the service organization that helping others is vitally important to the health of communities.

“We’re doing this to show others they should too,” said Pedro Sanchez, 19, of Sun Valley. “For all we do, we need parents of children to get involved. That’s important, for parents to know what their kids are doing and to take a role in it. Too many say they don’t have the time, but everyone should have time to help the kids.”

Since 1994, 12,400 volunteers in California have completed AmeriCorps terms of service, Fisher said. About 3,400 volunteers are active for the 1997 to 1998 term, she said. Twenty-seven and a half million dollars will be spent by the organization in the state over the next 12 months.

Nationally, more than 120,000 volunteers have participated in a program that has cost $3 billion, according to the Corporation for National Service, which administers a number of service organizations, including AmeriCorps.

There’s nothing controversial or particularly original about helping erase illiteracy, trying to stop drug addiction, participating in job-training programs or encouraging citizens to be active in their communities, said Barbara Romero, 28, a staff supervisor for an AmeriCorps initiative in East L.A.

“But it’s still important,” she said. “It’s important that volunteers know they’re not alone, that others care too. Hopefully, it encourages even more people to join in.”