Lynn volunteer reflects on service as AmeriCorps turns 20

LYNN – A new crop of AmeriCorps volunteers are set to hit the streets of Lynn, and Travis Harris, who recently wrapped up his time with the public service organization, has some encouragement to pass along.”It gives you the opportunity to work in an organization with some freedom,” he said. “Because you put in so many hours, it gives you time to be creative.”AmeriCorps turned 20 last week and what was once seen as the Peace Corps’ local younger sibling has become deeply rooted in a number of American communities. With more than 820,000 past members and 80,000 current ones, volunteers serve in local schools and nonprofits that tackle real-life problems like literacy, homelessness, hunger, violence against women, job and skill training and more.Harris, 26, has spent the last year working for Operation Bootstrap. He said he’d always been interested in AmeriCorps, but his first application got put on hold when he received a grant to teach in Spain before he heard whether AmeriCorps was interested. He chose Spain and spent three years there, but AmeriCorps was still in the back of his mind when he came home and he reapplied and this time joined the Lynn AmeriCorps program through the United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley. He landed at Operation Bootstrap, located on Wheeler Street in the Blood Building.There he tutored Spanish-speaking residents, ranging in age from 20 to 70, in English so they could pass their high school equivalency tests.”It’s been an excellent experience,” Harris said.He said he got to try a lot of different things and come up with things on the fly, like the afternoon he and a colleague, Leah Danoff, decided to hit the Lynn farmers market and hand out free books to kids all afternoon.”It was a thought that just came to us, and we thought it would be a good place to reach a lot of people,” he said. “I was wearing many hats and doing many things in the community ? it’s why I like teaching, because every day is different.”Although they didn’t all work together, there was a team of AmeriCorps volunteers that worked in Lynn, guided by United Way, Harris explained. The group was funded United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and the Massachusetts Service Alliance.”We were all working for different organizations, but we would meet and get together to talk about volunteering,” he said.They were each other’s support group, he said.Harris said his group of volunteers wrapped up their program at the end of August, but a new group of 12 volunteers has been sworn in already. According to Brigid Boyd of United Way Massachusetts, the partnership between United Way and AmeriCorps is kicking off its second year with 12-15 new team members. Those members will volunteer at the Lynn YMCA, Girls Inc., New Life Center, Children’s Law Center, the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development and the Lynn Public Schools, including Breed and Marshall middle schools, Classical, English and Tech high schools, Catholic Charities, Family and Children’s Service of Greater Lynn and La Vida.Although he has served out his year, Harris isn’t going anywhere. He said he will continue to teach at Bootstrap and is very happy to do so.”I had hoped it would turn into a permanent position,” he said.Harris said there are people who are very motivated to learn, “and it’s really a joy when you see the progress they make and how it changes their lives.”Lynn agencies interested in learning more about how to become a host site for AmeriCorps volunteers can contact Natasha Noel at [email protected] or 617-624-8131, and job descriptions are listed at www.supportunitedway.org/AmeriCorps.