Local woman participates in bed building project through AmeriCorp program

 Every day on the job is a rewarding one for local AmeriCorps volunteer worker Amber Partin, but when she was presented with the opportunity to take a more hands-on approach to helping those in need, she couldn’t pass it up.

Through the AmeriCorps program, Partin works as a reading coach at Corbin Primary and Corbin Elementary Schools, but she has also had the chance to work on many special projects that have enhanced the lives of local residents.

One of her more recent projects involved many AmeriCorps workers from this area. They gathered in the Walker community of Knox County to hand craft twin beds for those who needed them. AmeriCorps workers from other areas in Kentucky gathered at different sites to participate as well. Altogether, they made 55 twin beds. The group at Walker made 20 of those beds. Every worker took a bed home to give to a family in need.

“It was really neat because we got to sign their bed slats. We wrote things like sweet dreams on them,” Partin said.

Another program that Partin has been involved with through her placement with AmeriCorps is the Backpack Program where students in need are sent home with food for the weekend. Literary Nights was another program Partin participated in. It was designed to help parents involve literacy in the homes.

Although the Corbin school system has had other AmeriCorps workers, this is the first time they have had the specialized area of a FRYSC Corps worker, which is the Family Resource Youth Service Center Corps. Partin works under Jennifer Knuckles, the Family Resource Center Coordinator at Corbin City Schools.

AmeriCorps is a volunteer-based program. You sign a contract that says you will complete a certain amount of hours in designated length of time.  During that time, you get a living allowance.

“It isn’t very much, but it’s okay because the job experience pays off,” Partin said. 

If you complete the amount of hours agreed upon, at the end of the program you receive an education award to go toward further schooling, which Partin plans to use for graduate school.

According to the program Internet website, AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities each year for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups.

 “I think it’s a great way to get your foot in the door and become a familiar face,” Partin said. “It’s been fun this year and I’ve seen a great improvement in my kids. They really excelled.”