For New York City AmeriCorps members, even a day at the park is a day of service.

On May 11, 2008, in honor of the 2nd Annual National AmeriCorps Week, AmeriCorps members hosted a community fair at Tompkins Square Park to promote national service and to celebrate the work of the organizations that make their year of service possible. Members spent the day coordinating a blood drive, conducting cooking demonstrations and distributing material on hunger in New York City. Representatives from 14 city-based organizations joined 75,000 members nationwide throughout the week of May 11-18 coordinating service projects and participating in outreach events and information sessions, in addition to the service they provide daily to the City.

AmeriCorps, often described as the “domestic Peace Corps” offers opportunities for adults of all ages to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national non-profit groups. AmeriCorps members commit to a term of service and, upon completion, receive education awards that can be used to pay for college, graduate school, or to pay back student loans. Since its creation in 1994, more than 540,000 men and women, including 46,967 New Yorkers have served with AmeriCorps.

“The purpose of the community fair is to let people know about AmeriCorps and the immense impact the members are having around the city,” said Victoria Dumbuya, National Service Program Coordinator for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “This was also an opportunity for current and past members to meet, collaborate, and learn more about other AmeriCorps members and their service.”

The Community Fair emphasized the mutual benefit of AmeriCorps for both sponsoring organizations and AmeriCorps members. “As a result of the VISTA program, our organization has grown and we have more volunteers,” said Ericka Buyco, an AmeriCorps member with Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. “It’s a great experience for people just out of college. You get a lot of responsibility and the freedom to explore what you want to do in the future.”

“What AmeriCorps members get done during their service is extraordinary and their engagement in their communities in their years after AmeriCorps is even more inspiring,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps. “We want AmeriCorps Week to inspire millions more Americans to serve, whether through AmeriCorps or Peace Corps or volunteering in your neighborhood.