Editor:
The Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) is currently in the midst of celebrating AmeriCorps week, and I would like to share and recognize the enormous impact AmeriCorps members and national service has had in local communities and to public lands in the Southwest. The Southwest Conservation Corps engaged 453 AmeriCorps members, young adults and current era military veterans, who contributed 279,500 hours of service in 2012 on critical conservation projects. Working alongside other participants and volunteers they built 27 miles of new trail, planted over 15,000 trees, reduced fire fuel load on 556 acres, maintained 26 miles of fire break, removed 760 acres of invasive species, and removed trash from over 3,900 acres of land. SCC's AmeriCorps members also engaged 4,700 volunteers, who contributed over 22,000 hours of time, to local community events and projects.
Beyond the Southwest, since 1994, more than 800,000 Americans have given more than 1 billion hours of service since its inception in 1994. Every year, more than 75,000 AmeriCorps members meet pressing community needs across the country - strengthening education, assisting veterans and military families, providing disaster services, fostering economic opportunity, expanding health services and preserving the environment. Serving at more 15,000 locations, AmeriCorps members recruited and managed more than four million volunteers last year, boosting the impact of the nonprofit and faith-based organizations they serve.
I would like to recognize and thank current AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps alums for dedicating a portion of their lives to national service - to helping others, our public lands, and our communities.
Ron Hassel, executive director
SCC Four Corners Region
Durango
Via CortezJournal.com
