Melissa Harding, CCSP Student, Belize Fall 2002

Q: Describe the work you are currently doing…

A: I am in my second year of serving with Americorps *VISTA. With Americorps you apply specifically for the program and are chosen by the site. I am working as the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Selma, my home town. Basically I am in charge of the entire recycling program for the city. I do outreach and education which includes designing and mailing brochures, attending community events, classroom and community presentations and writing articles in local publications. I visit businesses and apartment complexes to start up new recycling programs and coordinate that with the City's hauler. Once they are in place I do education and provide follow up assistance. I am in charge of coordinating an Earth Day celebration for the City of Selma. The celebration includes: speaker, music, entertainers, informational (environmental) booths, earth-friendly crafts, environmentally educational games, a recycled art contest is displayed and awarded at the event and a tree planting and a raffle of recycled products. The event is free to the community. I also write grants for the program and am in charge of implementation.


Q: In what ways does your current work relate to your experiences and learning from your days with CCSP?

A: I am a volunteer technically so I don't earn very much money. The decision to take this position was certainly influenced by my desire to live simply. Also I get to conserve and teach others about conserving God's creation through recycling and other waste reduction type stuff.

Q: What else is filling your time?

A: I spend a lot of time working with my church. We started doing 24 hours of prayer on the first Saturday of the month. On the second Saturday we have a rest home ministry where we basically go and hang out with and love on seniors that are often quite forgotten. I am in charge of service projects. Most recently we did this project called Love Paints where we volunteered for a weekend to paint and elderly low income family's home. Soon we will be doing a river clean-up.