03/08/2016

by Joseph Phelps, AmeriCorps*VISTA, Mission Empower

On February 27th, over 450 individuals from faith based and non-faith based organizations met at Grace Church on Grubb Road in McKean ready to serve.  After rallying with leaders from ServErie, volunteers both young and old were bused to various sites around the Erie Community.

Youth Scholars from Mission Empower’s Youth ENVISION program were sent with a larger group of volunteers to Edison Elementary School on East Lake Road to help tear down fall art from the hallways, scrub walls, assemble A/V carts, and paint two large classrooms. In just 2.5 hours, over 30 volunteers at Edison alone completed a monumental task and worked tirelessly as a team to give Edison a new life to its halls.

To show his appreciation for the amazing work of the ServErie volunteers, Edison Elementary School principal, Kevin Harper, volunteered alongside the group and then served everyone lunch in the school’s gymnasium.

Each month, Youth Scholars from Mission Empower’s Youth ENVISION program are encouraged to participate in service activities in the Erie Community. Thus far, our Youth Scholars have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, Twinbrook Medical Center, and Edison Elementary School – this month we plan to volunteer with Kinship Care (March 19th) at Crossroads Community Baptist Church and in May with the Tom Ridge Environmental Center’s ‘Adopt-A-Beach’ program (May 19th) at Presque Isle Beach.

Applications for Youth ENVSION are now available online at this link.