Americorps

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Isaac Asimov, Norman Mailer, William Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss are getting packed up and readied for the 200-yard trip across U.S. 30 this weekend to a new home in the $3.5 million Grove Family Library. Patrons will find a lot more elbow room in the reading rooms of the 17,000-square-foot library, which will open in early February, according to Bernice Crouse, executive director of the Franklin County Library System. It replaces the cramped, 48-year-old Ragged Edge Library, which will be closed to normal library service at 2 p.m. today, she said.

DENVER - On Nov. 3, Jessica Powers of Hagerstown left to begin work on her first service project of the year with the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), an AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps NCCC is a residential national service program created to assist with disaster relief, improve the environment, enhance education, increase public safety and address unmet human needs. This year marks its 15th anniversary. Powers arrived at NCCC's Southwest Region Campus in Denver and began training Oct. 6 for 10 months of full-time service with AmeriCorps NCCC.

By DON AINES Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The seven children in Kip Christopher's class found Officer Mistie White's police equipment fascinating. "This is what you hit them with," White told the Energy Express students at Burke Street Elementary as they passed around her collapsible baton. She also handcuffed a couple of the children, all of them 6 or 7 years old. They were delighted. The three-year veteran of the Martinsburg Police Department then sat down on the floor with them and read "The Big Red Truck.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The old carpet and dull walls of the Martinsburg Boys & Girls Club have been replaced with new tile and bright colors thanks to the work of 10 volunteers with the National Civilian Community Corps, an umbrella organization of AmeriCorps. The volunteers arrived in the first week of April and were expected to remain for five weeks revamping the old building, but the fast pace of their efforts will probably have them moving on next week, said team member Holly Bottomly, 24, of Walterboro, S.C. During their stay the group has brought hot water back into the building, replaced shower fixtures, painted walls, laid down new tile and expanded the kitchen.

charlestown@herald-mail.com HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - Members of the Americorps organization on Tuesday constructed wooden rail fence along the edge of the Murphy Farm in eastern Jefferson County. But this one would require special attention. The fence, a zig-zag shaped structure known as a Virginia worm fence, was the type used in the early 1700s and 1800s to contain livestock. To secure the fence, volunteers drove rails into the ground with sledge hammers. Along the hillside they went, stacking the timbers and driving in the rails - all 520 feet worth.

Morgan County (W.Va.) Starting Points hosted a luncheon celebrating their many volunteers. The programs served by volunteers include Starting Points, Meal Time Community Kitchen, Plausible Pumps, Baby Pantry, Holiday Helpers, Books Under the Tree, AmeriCorps Literacy Program and the Morgan County Partnership. Volunteers are the key to the program. In 2007, for example, Meal Time volunteers donated 2,641 hours of their precious time to serve 10,800 meals.

While many 22-year-olds are in college, searching for a job or living with their parents, Sharpsburg native Daniel Schell is helping others. After his graduation from St. Mary's College of Maryland, Schell joined AmeriCorps, through which people ages 18 to 24 work in teams on projects nationwide. "I wasn't really surprised when he joined AmeriCorps because he's always had this compassion for others," said Jennifer Drake, Schell's mother. As leader of the Delta Division of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, Schell supervised and worked with AmeriCorps members as they assisted the residents of Joplin, Mo., in the wake of the May 22 tornado that roared through the town.

NEW ORLEANS - Almost a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Bethany Windle is hard at work gutting New Orleans houses so they can be rebuilt. Windle, a 2001 graduate of Boonsboro High School, thought she wanted to be a lawyer. She worked in the District Attorney's office in Hagerstown and "fell in love with it," she said. After graduating from the University of Maryland in December 2004, Windle, 24, moved to San Diego and worked in a law firm. While she loved the work, the busy lifestyle wasn't for her, Windle said.

Volunteer Maryland has extended the deadline for nonprofits and government agencies interested in becoming VM service sites. Volunteer Maryland can help your agency provide more services to your clients and community, improve the quality and effectiveness of your volunteer program and increase your organizational capacity to manage a volunteer program. A trained AmeriCorps member will serve for one year to strengthen your volunteer program and help create a sustainable structure to support the program after the partnership ends.

Samantha Gloria of Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., clears weeds Monday near Beaver Creek. Gloria was among a dozen AmeriCorps volunteers at the Newcomer Farm in Boonsboro doing maintenance work on stream fencing and a buffer as part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Farm Stewardship Program. The program is designed to help farm owners install and maintain buffers and fencing along waterways that feed the Chesapeake Bay. More than 500 trees and shrubs and 1,000 feet of fencing were installed this spring in the Beaver Creek and Antietam watersheds.