Mia Mahaney - Exciting Finale to a Great Year of Service!

​Hi, All! My name is Mia Mahaney, a first-year AmeriCorps VISTA serving at Heart of West Michigan United Way in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 
As most of us finish up our service years, we have now shifted our focus to building a plan to sustain the work we have done throughout the year. For a quick recap, I have been working with United Way’s Volunteer Center to engage students in volunteerism and community service. Throughout the past year, I have created partnerships with many different districts, schools, teachers, and agencies. These partnerships have allowed us to offer meaningful opportunities to over 1,400 students to engage in over 3,000 hours of community service. The support from the schools and community organizations has truly helped to create momentum behind this initiative.
 
The last few months have been spent working to build on that momentum, through re-launching the Student Service Awards and Video Contest, as well as working to plan a service-intensive year for one of our partner schools. Along with getting ready for the new school year, United Way has hired their new Volunteer Coordinator who will be taking over this work, so I have spent time catching him up on the previous year, partnerships, and projects.
 
Along with the Student United Way sustainability planning, I have spent the last few months collaborating on different Volunteer Center events. One of these events was United Way’s Food from the Heart, where nearly 1,000 volunteers packed over 200,000 meals. This event was truly an exciting look at what can be achieved through collective impact. Now, we are spending our time preparing for Stuff the Bus, a back-to-school collection drive. Last year, this drive collected over 50,000 items, and this year hopes to do the same. For an exciting finale, the actual event, sorting, and school pickups will take place my final week of service!