Environmental service projects in the City of Duarte

It's spring - the birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, the sun is out - and it's a great time to start those outdoor service days!  It's the perfect season for clearing hiking trails, maintaining community gardens, or sprucing up buildings that need a little extra care.

City of Duarte volunteers working hard to plant new trees.

The City of Duarte kicked off their season of outdoor service with a tree-planting project on Earth Day.  VIP Leader Airika Narcisse tells us that "San Gabriel Valley recently got hit with serious wind storms knocking down some of our cities oldest trees," so she and her team of VIP Fellows organized a group of volunteers to plant new trees.

Will you be taking advantage of the warm weather to accomplish any outdoor service needs this summer?  Tell us about your projects in the comments!

More of the City of Duarte's dedicated volunteers!

Announcing... Photo Contest Winners!

Over the last month, we've held our year-end photo contest:

We asked our VIP Fellows to submit photos that represent life in AmeriCorps VIP.  Thank you to everyone who participated!  We got some wonderful submissions.

We are pleased to announce that we have some winners!

Best Promotional Photo - Submitted by Kim Nguyen, NCOE

 Just look at all of those proud AmeriCorps 'A's!  Pictured are all the VIP Fellows at the Napa County Office of Education: Sonia Ayala, Haley Schandelmier, Cherri Alcantara, Thanh Tran, Naima Wright-Clay, Kim Nguyen, and Aileen Savage.  

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Best Action Shot - Submitted by Anna Sieh, City of Duarte

 We love this photo because it shows both a volunteer volunteering, and a VIP Fellow assisting the volunteer in serving!  Pictured is VIP Fellow Philip Ledesma, who serves at the Foothill Unity Center.

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Most Creative Photo - Submitted by Lindy Capps, Volunteer San Diego

The following is a series of three photos of VIP Fellow Rachel Lebowitz at a service project at the Lakeside River Parks Conservancy on an MLK Day of Service.

 We love this series of photos because they're lighthearted - we're serious about serving and getting things done, but we hope to all have a little fun doing it!

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Congratulations to our winners!

Check out our blog next week to find out the results of our video contest...

Have a great weekend everyone!