1

NATIONAL SERVICE RESPONDS

THE POWER OF HELP AND HOPE AFTER KATRINA
THE CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and 

volunteering. The Corporation provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds 

to serve their communities through the following programs:

 SENIOR CORPS is a network of programs that use the experience, skills, and talents of 

about 500,000 volunteers age 55 and older to meet community needs through service with 

more than 65,000 local nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based organizations. Senior 

Corps includes RSVP, the Foster Grandparent Program, and the Senior Companion Program. 

 AMERICORPS*STATE AND NATIONAL partners with nonprofit organizations to 

engage more than 70,000 Americans each year in service to address community needs in 

education, public safety, health, and the environment.

 NATIONAL CIVILIAN COMMUNITY CORPS (AmeriCorps*NCCC) engages men 

and women ages 18-24 in a full-time, team-based, residential program. These members 

provide flexible, quick response capabilities to meet community needs that might otherwise 

not be eligible for other Corporation support, and are particularly well-suited to provide rapid 

response disaster relief.

 VISTA (AmeriCorps*VISTA) provides full-time volunteers to community organizations to 

help create and expand anti-poverty programs and build the capacity of the organizations 

where they serve.

LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA supports service-learning activities in schools and 

community organizations by annually helping over one million students from kindergarten 

through college to meet community needs while improving their academic skills and learning 

the importance and impact of good citizenship. 

 Together with the USA FREEDOM CORPS, the Corporation is working to build a culture 

of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America.

ON COVER:

An AmeriCorps*NCCC member does mold remediation work on a house that 

had been flooded in New Orleans. 

AmeriCorps members serving with the Harrison County (Miss.) Habitat 

for Humanity and other volunteers raise a wall of a bunkhouse for 

volunteers assisting in recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast. FEMA photo 

by George Armstrong.

RSVP volunteer Mike Jones took a special interest in Amoni (pictured) and his 

three brothers, who were evacuated to the Austin Convention Center following 

Hurricane Katrina.

For more information, please visit 

www.nationalservice.gov.

This report is in the public domain. Authorization 

to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. 

Suggested citation is: Corporation for National 

and Community Service, National Service Responds: 

The Power of Help and Hope After Katrina, 

Washington, D.C., 2006.

Copyright ©2006. The Corporation for National and 

Community Service. Upon request, this material will 

be made available in alternate formats for persons 

with disabilities.

August 2006
And it’s based upon the fact we’ve got citizens who are willing to take 

time to love somebody like they would like to be loved themselves. ... 

And for those of you who have done that, I thank you from the bottom 

of my heart. You’re a part of the strength of this country. You’re what 

makes America a great place.”

 – President George W. Bush

“ OUT OF THE DARKNESS 

WILL COME SOME LIGHT...
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F O R E W O R D

The trees in the Lower 9th Ward are green again. The first couple of times I visited after the 

storm, there was nothing alive there—just silent, brown desolation. There was no color except 

where rescue workers had written gruesome codes in red spray-paint on walls and doors. 

The dirty black watermark stained every wall and building, and the trees appeared as dead 

and unsalvageable as the cars littering the curbs next to them, on block after block in the 

eerily still city. 

But today, the trees are green again. They survived being drowned, waterlogged, choked with 

pollution, broken of limb, and burdened with debris. And—although too many wrecked cars 

remain in the streets, and too many homes remain unsalvaged—people, too, are coming back 

with hope and plans for the future. They are visibly breaking the grips of despair that have 

held sway.

When you look closely at where that hope originated, and you study the unlikely rebirth 

of schools, organizations, businesses, churches and neighborhoods, you can see the power 

of volunteering and service. The bedrock of recovery lies in the passion and compassion 

of citizens helping each other and their communities. 

The story is the same across the Gulf, from strangled New Orleans to the violently ravaged 

Mississippi coastal towns: while first responders saved lives and Government provided 

resources, it was citizens and volunteers, both from the region and from across America, 

who returned hope and optimism to the stricken communities. Today, these volunteers 

continue to drive the recovery.

The numbers are staggering:

• Nearly half a million Americans have volunteered in the Gulf Coast—many giving 

up vacations or taking unpaid leave from work to stay for weeks at a time.

• A recent study indicates that nearly 18.2 million Americans ages 18 to 28 contributed 

to the relief and recovery efforts in some way.

• Through the sweat investment of volunteers, thousands of homes have been gutted, 

millions of people have received needed assistance, and community after community 

has been inspired to move forward and build a better tomorrow. 

by David Eisner, Chief Executive Officer

Corporation for National and Community Service
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The Corporation’s family of National Service programs played a pivotal part in ensuring that 

citizens could make a meaningful difference in restoring Gulf Coast communities. From our 

Senior Corps projects and AmeriCorps and VISTA members to NCCC teams and servicelearning projects with Learn and Serve America, our programs brought extraordinary passion, 

expertise, and above all talented and caring people to help in responding and healing. 

In Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Texas, the Corporation’s state office staff 

and the Governor-appointed State Service Commissions placed extraordinary energy and 

National Service resources into the recovery efforts. 

Often, the more than 35,000 participants in National Service programs who deployed 

to the Gulf in the past year coordinated, trained, and supervised the far larger numbers 

of community volunteers helping rebuild communities through organizations like Habitat for 

Humanity, YouthBuild, Hands On Network affiliates, and Points of Light Volunteer Centers. 

Often they planned and led the volunteer efforts to restore entire communities, like St. 

Bernard Parish, Pass Christian, and Waveland. And, across the region the National Service 

participants often worked shoulder to shoulder with both paid recovery teams and volunteers 

through organizations like the Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, and others. 

One year later, this is a report on the effort so far. It is dedicated to the selfless and inspired 

staff and participants in our programs, the nonprofit and faith-based organizations whose 

missions they fulfill, and the volunteers they support and serve with. And, it is also dedicated 

to the 65 million Americans who make their own communities stronger each year through 

volunteer service.
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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

RSVP volunteer Betty Hendrix 

supervises evacuee intake 

specialists at the Austin (Texas) 

Convention Center following 

Hurricane Katrina.

An AmeriCorps*NCCC member 

dispenses food and water to 

hurricane survivors at an 

emergency feeding station.

National Service participants with 

the AmeriCorps READS Initiative 

of Southern Minnesota deliver books 

to students at Bunche Middle School 

in New Orleans.
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k CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES 7-10

A Question of Capacity

k SUPPORTING THE INITIAL RESPONSE 11-14

Saving Lives, Serving Evacuees, and Building Critical Capacity

k PROVIDING HANDS-ON HELP 15-20

From Debris Removal to Building New Homes 

k MOBILIZING VOLUNTEERS 21-26

Multiplying the Number of Engaged Citizens

k THE POWER OF SERVICE 27-29

Spreading Hope to Survivors and Communities

k APPENDICES 30-32

 I. List of Partner Organizations

 II. National Service Activity by Program 

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

A Navy helicopter flies over a flooded 

New Orleans neighborhood after the 

levees broke.

Evacuees try to take stock of their 

newly upturned lives at a shelter 

in New Orleans.

A woman walks by debris of what used 

to be a residential neighborhood near 

the Mississippi coast.
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C H A L L E N G E S A N D O P P O R T U N I T I E S

Hurricane Katrina revealed nature at its worst, destroying everything in its path along 

90 miles of America’s historic Gulf Coast. The breaching of the levees in New Orleans 

simultaneously created a tragedy of epic proportions and spotlighted profound, preexisting generational despair and hopelessness linked to racial inequality. And Hurricanes 

Rita and Wilma stretched the limits of our nation’s already overtaxed ability to respond 

effectively—and also tested the emotional and spiritual fortitude of the survivors.

But like the horrors of September 11, 2001, the hurricanes of 2005 also showed America 

at its best. Even before the storm made landfall, Americans opened their hearts—and 

their wallets—to help their fellow citizens in need. America’s armies of compassion—

individuals, church groups, schools, and nonprofit groups large and small—sprang to 

action by raising funds, conducting clothing and food drives, and organizing a myriad of 

other efforts to help. By some estimates, more than 45 million Americans reached out in 

some way to help.

In all, U.S. organizations raised more than $3.5 billion in individual and private

contributions to support the relief effort. What’s more, an estimated 550,000 

Americans have volunteered their time directly in the Gulf region—by all accounts 

the single largest non-military volunteer response in our nation’s history, far exceeding 

the more than 140,000 volunteers who participated in hurricane relief activities in 

Florida in 2004.

In the early stages of the disaster, the volunteers and staff of the major relief 

organizations offered hurricane survivors and evacuees safe places to stay, food, basic 

healthcare, information on available benefits, counseling, and, not least importantly, 

a caring and sympathetic ear. Over time, hundreds of nonprofits, faith-based 

organizations, and volunteer groups—many recruited, trained, and coordinated through 

National Service programs—journeyed to the Gulf Coast to assist in the recovery process. 

In addition, scores of new charities rose from the rubble to provide desperately needed 

goods and services.

But the scope of the disaster—which affected an estimated 10 million people and covered 

an area the size of Great Britain—created demands beyond what the official and unofficial 

relief mechanisms could support. As Scott Francis, one of the first AmeriCorps members

to arrive on the disaster scene, put it, “Trying to comprehend the devastation in the Gulf 

from television or the newspapers is like looking at the Grand Canyon through a straw.”

k A QUESTION OF CAPACITY 
8

The storm and its aftermath presented an unparalleled challenge for the nation’s network 

of social service and volunteer organizations, particularly in the area of mobilizing 

volunteers for what will be a long period of recovery. The key issue was local capacity. 

Where entire towns were washed away, essential services lost, police and fire units 

devastated, and livable housing scarce, established local nonprofit and governmental 

entities had virtually no capacity to support the great desire of volunteers from across 

America to help. Months later, even after access to roads, electricity, phone service, 

sewerage, and water had been largely restored, it remained extremely difficult to house 

and support the tens of thousands of Americans ready to donate their time to the 

recovery effort.

Consequently, in addition to providing desperately needed direct services, National 

Service programs looked to build up the capacity of the region to enable large numbers 

of volunteers to contribute.

Thus far, more than 35,000 participants in the Corporation’s AmeriCorps, VISTA, NCCC, 

Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs have contributed more than 1.6 

million hours to the hurricane relief and recovery efforts since last August. And National 

Service participants have coordinated or enabled the work of an additional 92,000 

community volunteers, who have cleared tons of debris, served tens of thousands of 

meals, put tarps on thousands of roofs, and mucked and sanitized thousands of houses.

One of the great advantages of National Service is that it can play a critical role in 

continuing to mobilize resources for recovery and rebuilding efforts over the long haul by 

building the capacity of local nonprofit groups to do what they need to do and to tap the 

great generosity of citizens from across the country to help. Its experience over the past 

12 months leaves National Service poised to strengthen the nation’s disaster response and 

recovery mechanisms, to build stronger communities, and to nurture and leverage the 

culture of service and civic participation that continues to grow and prosper in America. 
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“Katrina has presented an unparalleled challenge for the nation’s 

network of social service and volunteer organizations. Our grantees, 

participants, and partners have been at the forefront of meeting that 

challenge, particularly in the area of mobilizing people from across the 

country to lend their services to what will be a long and trying period 

of recovery.”

 – David Eisner, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service

A newly arrived volunteer enters the reception center that 

was set up by the AmeriCorps team in Pass Christian, Miss. 
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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

Two volunteers from the Marshall County 

RSVP Program in Guntersville, Ala., get 

information from an evacuee at a Red Cross 

mobile food station.

Putting emergency blue tarps on a leaky 

roofs was one of many tasks performed 

by AmeriCorps and NCCC teams as part 

of FEMA mission assignments. 

AmeriCorps member Adam Rose and 

Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service 

Executive Director Marsha Kelly handle a call 

to the state’s emergency hotline.
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National Service programs are not designed to be “first responders” to disasters. 

Consequently, the main role played by National Service programs in the immediate 

aftermath of Katrina was to support critical life-saving organizations such as FEMA, the 

Red Cross, and the State Service Commissions in each of the affected states. The focus 

of all these efforts was to ensure that people in dire need were connected with food, 

shelter, and support—and that people wishing to donate time, goods, and money could do 

so in an effective manner.

AmeriCorps, NCCC, and Senior Corps participants helped the Red Cross provide mass 

care to thousands of people at shelters in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. 

AmeriCorps and NCCC members were instrumental in setting up and staffing the main 

Red Cross emergency call center in Fairfax, Virginia, and various satellite centers 

in Denver and across the country. After Katrina made landfall, VISTA members serving 

with Volunteer Mobile in Alabama were immediately reassigned to disaster-related tasks, 

including supervising volunteers at the main donations warehouse, coordinating 

the phone-answering system for the state’s Emergency Management Agency, 

and organizing housing, meals, training, and projects for out-of-town volunteers. 

And, an AmeriCorps team from St. Louis with extensive disaster experience deployed 

to Jackson, Mississippi, to lead the State Service Commission’s effort to set up a 

call center and warehouse operation for donated goods. As Marsha Meeks Kelly, the 

Mississippi Commission on Volunteer Service’s Executive Director, put it: “That team 

came in and became the backbone of that whole operation. I don’t know where we would 

have been without them.”

In addition, a number of special initiatives funded by the Corporation to engage 

volunteers in disaster preparedness and response sprang to action. Pilots with Mercy 

Medical Airlifts flew more than 300 volunteer missions in private jets to transport 

hospital patients, reunite families, and bring in medical supplies. Similarly, radio operators 

with the American Radio Relay League helped coordinate emergency communications 

for the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other relief organizations—in some cases alerting 

rescue personnel to victims stranded in their attics or on their roofs. 

In the first days after landfall, specially trained and easily deployable National Service 

programs such as AmeriCorps*NCCC and other youth corps were tasked by FEMA with 

removing trees and debris and helping with emergency roof repairs, in most cases 

providing services to the elderly, infirm, or disabled. 

S U P P O R T I N G T H E I N I T I A L R E S P O N S E

k SAVING LIVES, HELPING EVACUEES, AND BUILDING CRITICAL CAPACITY
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Meanwhile, as evacuees from Katrina scattered to virtually every state in the union, 

National Service programs rallied to help meet their needs. Senior Corps volunteers 

and AmeriCorps members all across the country staffed shelters, provided case 

management, mentored children, conducted clothing and food drives, and pitched in 

however they could. And youngsters with Learn and Serve America reached out to 

those who were hardest hit with cards, disaster kits, and fund-raised donations. But 

the long, difficult road to recovery was just beginning.

AMERICORPS*NCCC IN MISSISSIPPI: 

IN THE EYE OF THE FIRST RESPONSE 

As Hurricane Katrina was threatening the Gulf Coast, AmeriCorps*NCCC deployed 

50 members to Montgomery, Alabama, to assist the American Red Cross with the 

anticipated hurricane relief efforts. While in Montgomery, the members set up a 

“staging area” for volunteers to be registered, credentialed, immunized, hooked 

up with volunteer assignments, and shipped off to work sites. Then, after Katrina’s 

damage could be assessed, the AmeriCorps members were sent to Biloxi to support 

emergency response activities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Getting to Biloxi, however, proved to be a challenge. The drive, which normally takes 3 

hours, took 20 as the members waited for roads to be cleared. Once in Biloxi, the NCCC 

members were immediately sent to locations throughout the state to support shelter, 

warehouse, and mobile feeding operations.

At the shelters, members registered clients, helped them fill out disaster assistance 

forms, registered “missing persons” on official lists, and helped staff kitchen facilities. 

At the warehouses, members helped collect, sort, and distribute supplies and donated 

goods. NCCC members also prepared and staffed the Emergency Response Vehicles 

that the Red Cross uses to deliver food, medical supplies, and personnel to shelters 

throughout the Red Cross network.

AmeriCorps*NCCC is a team-based, residential program for young adults between the 

ages of 18 and 24. Based at regional campuses across the country, members are trained 

in first aid and can be deployed to emergencies on short notice. About 1,100 members 

serve through the program each year.

AmeriCorps*NCCC member Amanda McCaughey staffs the Red Cross mobile food station that 

served the residents of rural Pine Grove, Miss.
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“ This mission would be impossible without the support of agencies like 

yours. The National Service participants that you have provided us have 

lent many valuable attributes to our effort, including a great deal 

of leadership, a thorough understanding of community service, and, 

most importantly, dedication to their country and the people they serve. 

Their professionalism, diligence, and commitment to service reflect 

greatly on themselves and your department. They are the epitome 

of the American spirit.”

– Letter from three FEMA officials in Mississippi

An AmeriCorps*NCCC team takes a break from gutting out 

homes in St. Bernard Parish, near New Orleans.
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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

AmeriCorps members with the 

Ready*Reserve project of the 

Washington Service Corps muck out 

a home in New Orleans.

Kent Adcock, an Associate Director 

with Habitat for Humanity International, 

works with AmeriCorps*NCCC members 

Lori Hermosillo and Meredith MacMillan 

on a homebuilding project in Gulfport, 

Miss. FEMA photo by George Armstrong.

A young girl folds donated towels at 

a Gulf distribution center, as people 

of all ages reached out to their fellow 

Americans in distress. 
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As the weeks and months wore on, many of the same groups that were able to support 

the initial response in the Gulf expanded their efforts to include additional hands-on 

activities such as home and roof repairs, mold remediation, and even new home building. 

The AmeriCorps*NCCC program steadily built up its presence in the affected states so 

that by this past spring, approximately 75 percent of its corps members were engaged 

in Gulf Coast recovery projects. Members built homes for evacuees with Habitat for 

Humanity, organized afterschool activities for children in shelters, salvaged recyclable 

building materials from the debris wreckage, and coordinated the activities of local 

volunteers. In all, more than 1,900 AmeriCorps*NCCC members have served on disaster 

services projects in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, in addition to continuing to help various volunteer organizations in 

Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, the AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response 

Team made a year-long commitment to help rebuild the town of Pass Christian, 

Mississippi, which lost 75 percent of its homes and 100 percent of its businesses to 

Katrina. Over the past 11 months, rotating teams of AmeriCorps St. Louis members 

have filled in wherever and whenever they were needed. They unloaded, stocked, and 

distributed tons of donated goods; opened an “Information and Referral Center” to let 

residents know of available benefits and key developments; assisted with under-sourced 

municipal functions; conducted needs assessments in Pass Christian neighborhoods; 

helped hundreds of local residents muck out and sanitize their homes, cut down trees, 

and remove debris from their yards; and operated a tent-style housing facility that the 

Seabees, the U.S. Navy’s construction force, had built for displaced residents. What’s 

more, when the town’s residents no longer had use for the facility, the AmeriCorps team 

transformed it into a base camp for out-of-town volunteers. Since earlier this year, they 

have coordinated the housing and projects for more than 2,400 volunteers from across 

the country, who have contributed more than 120,000 hours of service to Pass Christian 

and the immediate environs. 

State youth and conservation corps also increased their presence, with approximately 

350 AmeriCorps members from 12 member organizations of the National Association 

of Service and Conservation Corps serving dozens of deployments in the five main 

hurricane-ravaged states. Corps have traveled to the Gulf region from as far away as 

California, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and even Alaska, with some 

corps returning numerous times. The Washington Conservation Corps, for example, has 

P R O V I D I N G H A N D S - O N H E L P

k FROM DEBRIS REMOVAL TO BUILDING NEW HOMES 
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been to the Gulf half a dozen times, doing everything from 

removing debris and felled trees in the first weeks after the storm 

to helping to muck out homes. And the Louisiana Delta Service Corps 

and the Mississippi Delta Service Corps have been providing needed 

services to survivors and evacuees from the beginning, including 

emergency services, case management, and volunteer recruitment 

and management for volunteer centers. To expand these youth corps’ 

efforts in the coming year, the Corporation awarded a grant that will 

enable 27 service and conservation corps crews, comprising hundreds 

of AmeriCorps members, to be rotated in to the Gulf from around 

the country.

In addition, tens of thousands of college students, often supported with 

a grant from Learn and Serve America, spent their winter and spring 

breaks volunteering in the Gulf. In the coming year, the Corporation will 

continue to support efforts to bring students and their needed passion 

and skills to the region. 

National Service participants also have provided meaningful support 

to evacuees in their newly adopted states. Throughout the entire Gulf 

region, AmeriCorps members have provided case management and 

referral services, and counseled evacuees on homeownership and 

personal finance.

Additional support from AmeriCorps and VISTA also allowed a number 

of organizations to ramp up their efforts. The Southwest Louisiana 

Health Center, for example, expanded from 24 to 54 sites in less than 

two months so that it could adequately provide health information and 

services to residents and evacuees living in a 13-parish “disaster zone.”

AmeriCorps*VISTA members serving with Catholic Community 

Services in Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana, where tens of thousands 

of evacuees had fled, are helping evacuees living in FEMA trailer parks 

address the primary obstacles in their lives: food, money, employment, 

housing, and transportation.

Grants have also helped create civic activity in the Gulf region. A new 

AmeriCorps grant, for example, has enabled the nationwide youth 

corps City Year to establish a new chapter in Baton Rouge to focus 

on the needs of evacuees. YouthBuild, a nonprofit group based in 

Massachusetts, which provides hands-on construction skills training 

to young adults from low-income families, will take on an additional 

385 AmeriCorps members to build hundreds of units of housing in the 

Gulfport, Mississippi, area. 

The Corporation’s focus, however, is not just on recovering from last 

year’s storms. Grants and existing resources also are being reallocated

to help ensure that the region is adequately prepared to cope with any 

RSVP of Hancock County: A True Community 

of Older Volunteers 

Even though a massive sea wall washed away their 

homes and their hometown, the volunteers with RSVP 

of Hancock County continue to find ways to serve their 

beloved Mississippi Gulf Coast community.

Because of the devastation, it took three or four weeks 

before the group could “put up a sign, put up a flag, 

and start looking for our volunteers,” says JoAnn 

LaGasse, who has been director of the Waveland 

program for more than 20 years. Of the 425 RSVP 

volunteers with the program before the storm, only 

8 could be found, the remainder having evacuated 

to other parts of the country.

To help build back up the community of volunteers, 

RSVP decided to hold its annual “recognition event,” 

which was scheduled for late September. Using 

donated laptop computers, the group wrote and sent 

out invitations to all its former volunteers, more than 

200 of whom could be located. About 80 showed up 

for the event, which was held in a tent in town that had 

been erected by a faith-based organization from Utah. 

“The senior volunteers were so happy to be together, 

to talk to each other, because people had been so 

isolated,” LaGasse says.

Thanks to the gift of a 15-passenger van—which was 

vitally important because Katrina destroyed most 

of the volunteers’ vehicles—RSVP of Hancock then 

got back to business: the business of helping others. 

Currently, about 120 RSVP volunteers, all of whom live 

in FEMA trailers, are involved in a variety of activities, 

from working at the Chamber of Commerce to 

assisting at the food pantry and city welcome center. 

“It’s so amazing that people would do this when they 

themselves need help,” LaGasse says.

Still, LaGasse says, “there’s not a lot of energy here. 

People are doing what they have to do to survive.” 

Consequently, the RSVP program has devoted some 

of its efforts to meeting the emotional needs of the 

volunteers themselves. “We try to make sure they 

get out, get food, enjoy some diversion. Our program 

is so very different from what it was before.”

RSVP of Hancock County, located in Waveland, 

Mississippi, is a program of Senior Corps, which 

supports nearly 500,000 older volunteers in 

communities across the country.

Those living along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including 

many older Americans, lost virtually everything they owned 

to Katrina.
17

future storms or emergencies. For example, National Service programs 

have been working with Red Cross chapters in Gulf states to overcome 

a number of challenges that have lingered from the last hurricane 

season, including staffing shortfalls, the unsuitability of former shelters 

for continued use, and the need to prepare Gulf Coast residents 

currently living in temporary housing communities—some of which are 

located in flood plains—to deal with a new storm. AmeriCorps*NCCC 

members working with the Red Cross have identified new shelter 

options in Gulf communities, distributed emergency preparation and 

evacuation materials, made presentations to schools and churches, 

and supported warehouse operations; in addition, many are now 

being trained to be shelter workers. And the Red Cross of Houston, 

using a special grant from the Corporation, is training seniors across 

the Southwest and Gulf states in how to educate older Americans in 

disaster preparedness.

Finally, National Service participants have become part and parcel 

of the long-term recovery, often providing support to State Service 

Commissions and county efforts. The VISTA members serving on the 

Alabama Disaster Response and Recovery Team, which was created 

in response to Katrina by the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and 

Community Initiatives, helped develop operating procedures for the 

state’s volunteer and donations call center. They also coordinated the 

first Alabama Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Conference, 

which brought together dozens of faith-based and secular community 

organizations active in disaster response. And, AmeriCorps*VISTA 

is working with the Louisiana Office of Community Development to 

implement a major statewide initiative that will use Local Recovery 

Councils to help every Louisiana parish address poverty and capacity 

needs as well.

Perhaps the most critical long-term commitment the Corporation 

has made has been to increasing the capacity of communities to 

engage volunteers effectively. A full year after the storm, volunteers 

are desperately needed, but the activity must be organized and 

coordinated to ensure that their experience is safe, effective, and 

productive. In this, the Corporation is playing an increasingly significant 

role based on some of the key successes of the past year.

Learn and Serve in Mississippi: 

Teen Says YES to Rebuilding His State

Since Hurricane Katrina hit his state last August, high 

school student Ja’Detrus Hamilton has dedicated 

himself to relief and recovery efforts through Youth 

Engaged in Service (YES), a community organization 

supported by Learn and Serve America and the 

Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service. 

As the storm approached, Ja’Detrus and his family, 

who live in Leakesville, a small rural community about 

80 miles north of the Gulf Coast, found shelter in a 

local church. Fortunately, the Hamiltons sustained 

minimal personal losses. But Ja’Detrus was so moved

by the suffering of his fellow Mississippians that he has 

spent the better part of the past year helping others 

get back on their feet.

Along with the other YES teens, Ja’Detrus put 

together backpacks of school supplies for elementary 

school students; helped a number of families “gut out” 

and begin repairs on their homes; and interviewed Gulf 

Coast residents to begin to document stories of hope 

and courage. “Volunteering is something that everyone 

can do,” Ja’Detrus says. “It doesn’t matter how old 

you are, it doesn’t matter if you are the star athlete or 

number one in your class. It’s great because anyone 

can give back and serve.” 

Youth Engaged in Service (YES) is funded by Learn and 

Serve America, which provides resources to more than 

2,000 schools and community groups nationwide to 

support service-learning activities by more than 1 million 

students from kindergarten through graduate school.

In recognition of his service in the Gulf, student volunteer 

Ja’Detrus Hamilton received a place of honor at the 2006 State 

of the Union Address, right next to First Lady Laura Bush. 
18

AMERICORPS IN NEW ORLEANS: 

HELPING TURN VICTIMS TO VICTORS 

For seven years, the Reverend Kevin Brown, director of Trinity Christian Community, a faithbased community development corporation, had marshaled a force of AmeriCorps members 

to serve at-risk urban families and youth in neglected New Orleans communities, offering 

such services as mentoring, financial counseling, and recreational activities. But the 75 

members who signed on with Trinity Christian Community last November took on a vastly 

different task: helping gut out and repair the homes of the poor and elderly living in the 

surrounding neighborhood.

“We have the special privilege of serving this once-great city,” says Rev. Brown. “But this is no 

easy task. Our AmeriCorps members must be willing to work hard for a year with a minimal 

stipend in a tough situation. It is truly an adventure.”

Rev. Brown is impressed with how quickly the members, many of them recruited from the 

local community, have taken to the work. Despite the grimy duty and the oppressive heat, 

they quickly have become experts in mucking out houses, and can tell at a glance if the work 

has been done improperly.

Trinity is a full-service operation. In addition to mucking out homes, AmeriCorps members 

serving there provide local residents with hurricane preparedness information and supplies, 

access to tools, help filling out forms, mentoring services, and seminars on home repairs, 

property usage, and civic responsibility. 

“Getting the grant to bring aboard these hard workers for a year was an answer to a prayer 

and a blessing for my community,” says Rev. Brown. “We are victims of this storm, but with 

faith in humanity and faith in God, we are also victors.”

Trinity Christian Community is part of AmeriCorps*State and National, which provides 

service opportunities for nearly 67,000 of the 75,000 AmeriCorps members serving in 

nonprofit organizations across the country.

An AmeriCorps member with Trinity Christian Community in New Orleans guts out a house in the local neighborhood.
19

“Those kids came out of those vans and cars and immediately started 

working. You couldn’t hire anybody to work as hard as they worked.”

 – Jerry Lawson, Harbor Patrol Officer, Pass Christian, Miss.

National Guard soldiers, Air Force airmen, and volunteers from AmeriCorps and 

elsewhere remove debris from below the high tide water mark on the beach in Biloxi. 

FEMA photo by Mark Wolfe.
20

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

Robert Hickman, a volunteer with the 

St. Charles RSVP, was instrumental in 

setting up and recruiting volunteers for 

a base camp that can house 80-100 

out-of-town volunteers a day.

AmeriCorps members and other 

volunteers sometimes face cramped 

living conditions, like at this base camp 

in Cameron, La. FEMA photo by Marvin 

Nauman.

During Spring Break, hundreds of 

college students load onto buses at a 

FEMA base camp in New Orleans to be 

transported to clean-up sites throughout 

the city. FEMA photo by Marvin Nauman.
21

Although mobilizing volunteers and building the capacity to manage them are directions 

in which National Service has been moving steadily for the past six years, Hurricane 

Katrina revealed the true importance of those efforts.

To help the Gulf states recover more quickly and to meet the great demand among 

Americans to serve, several National Service programs and participants have focused 

their efforts in these areas. For example, AmeriCorps members serving with Habitat for 

Humanity, which has chapters spread throughout the region, and the Hands On Network, 

which established new operations after Katrina in Biloxi and New Orleans, typically 

recruit volunteers, train them, and manage their projects. VISTA members at several 

key colleges and universities in the Gulf region, including Tulane and Xavier universities 

in New Orleans and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, also are 

mobilizing students and local volunteers to rebuild their communities. And a number 

of AmeriCorps and NCCC programs are working directly with governmental entities such 

as St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana and the cities of Waveland and Pass Christian 

in Mississippi, which sustained such extensive damages that they no longer have 

a nonprofit infrastructure through which volunteers can help. 

Why is this activity such a good fit for National Service? Community volunteers usually 

cannot commit to more than one or two weeks of volunteering at a time, while many 

National Service participants serve an entire year. This intensive service commitment, 

and the training that AmeriCorps members receive in managing volunteers and 

completing specific projects, means that volunteers are properly trained and supervised, 

and that their time is used efficiently. 

National Service participants ensure that the work is done safely and that the lessons of 

what works best are passed on to every new crew. And they help make the experience a 

positive one so that the volunteers will be more likely to return—and bring others with them. 

Consider the case of St. Rose de Lima Parish in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, which was 

particularly hard hit by the storm. Since September, St. Rose has hosted many volunteer 

groups from all over the country, most of them from individual churches. For the 

parishioners of St. Rose, many of whom were trying to rebuild their own homes and 

lives while also trying to offer goods and services through the parish, the work involved 

in assessing the community’s overall needs and then organizing, feeding, housing, and 

supervising outside volunteers proved to be immensely challenging, if not overwhelming. 

M O B I L I Z I N G V O L U N T E E R S

k MULTIPLYING THE NUMBER OF ENGAGED CITIZENS
22

So the parish turned to National Service for help. Since the spring, St. Rose has been hosting 

AmeriCorps teams from NCCC and the West Seneca (New York) Youth Bureau, who have been 

working with the Hands On Network. These teams have met a critical need for the parish. By 

assessing the work and materials needed, preparing sites for volunteers, coordinating work teams, 

and completing a host of other tasks, they make it possible for debris to be removed, roofs to be 

replaced, drywall to be added, and walls to be painted. The bottom line is that this specialized 

support for nonprofit and faith-based groups expands those groups’ reach exponentially.

The four profiles that follow feature organizations through which National Service has played 

a key role in managing volunteers in the Gulf.

AMERICORPS IN BILOXI AND NEW ORLEANS: 

LEVERAGING HANDS-ON HELP

Several months after the storm hit, the Hands On Network, a nationwide group of organizations 

dedicated to engaging citizens in service to their communities, committed to helping the Gulf’s 

communities create long-term capacity for using community volunteers. With the help of 

AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps*NCCC members, Hands On opened two new Civic Action Centers, 

one in New Orleans and the other in Biloxi, Mississippi. 

The centers can host, equip, and deploy approximately 500 volunteers per day on projects 

in the area. AmeriCorps members often oversee the projects, which include gutting homes 

and churches, treating buildings for mold, and cleaning up parks.

All told, more than 4,000 volunteers from around the country have served more than 280,000 

hours at the group’s two sites. Notably, nearly 200 AmeriCorps alumni demonstrated their 

continued commitment to service by volunteering at Hands On Biloxi throughout the month of June. 

As President Bush noted on a recent visit to Hands On’s Biloxi site, “People here are bound by 

a common desire to show compassion to their neighbors in need.”

President Bush meets with volunteers from around the country at the Hands On Gulf Coast base camp 

in Biloxi, Miss., and thanks them for “setting a great example” for the nation. White House photo by Eric Draper.
23

AMERICORPS*NCCC IN ST. BERNARD PARISH: 

“A FORCE MULTIPLIER”

St. Bernard Parish, located just outside New Orleans, saw some of the most extensive damage 

from the hurricane, flooding, and a resulting oil spill, but it received far less attention and 

assistance than its neighbor.

One of the few resources that the parish’s Director of Recovery, David Dysart, a former U.S. 

Marine colonel, was able to secure was the help of an AmeriCorps*NCCC team, which began the 

daunting task of mucking out the thousands of parish homes that were seriously damaged. At the 

end of the week, after working tirelessly 12 hours a day, the team had completed 10 homes.

Clearly, for the parish to make any real headway, a much larger force of volunteer labor had to be 

recruited, housed, fed, and organized.

So in December 2005, Dysart and NCCC identified a new mission: setting up and running a 

volunteer operation that had the capacity to take on up to 2,500 volunteers a day—the size, 

Dysart was quick to note, of a military battalion. 

In short order, the AmeriCorps members set up the Operations Command Center at Camp 

Premier, a large FEMA base camp in the parish. Then, basically from scratch, they put together 

processes for each step of the volunteer management operation—from receiving and orienting 

volunteers to matching skills with assignments and coordinating logistics.

With NCCC members leading the way, the Parish was able to go from mucking out 10 houses 

a week to more than 200 in a matter of weeks. “The parish would not have been able to 

accomplish the task but for the efforts of these AmeriCorps personnel,” says Dysart. “They have 

been a force multiplier of exponential proportions.”

When Camp Premier closed down in June 2006, the AmeriCorps members moved their entire base 

of operations to a new site, known as Camp Hope, from where they continue to recruit, house, 

and fully manage about 350 volunteers a day. The NCCC teams, says Dysart, provide “the glue 

and consistency” to enable outside volunteers to help the citizens of his parish “begin to put their 

lives back together and give them reason to believe there is hope for rebuilding.”

AmeriCorps*NCCC is a team-based, residential program designed for young adults between 

the ages of 18 and 24; each year about 1,100 individuals, each of whom is trained in first aid 

and can be deployed on short notice, serve through the program.

NCCC Team Leader Diane Howald charts out the day’s 

activities and logistical support for out-of-town volunteers 

staying at Camp Premier in St. Bernard Parish.

The St. Bernard Parish Director of Recovery is 

surrounded by his “command and control” team 

of AmeriCorps*NCCC members, whom he calls 

“a force multiplier of exponential proportions.”
24

NATIONAL SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS: 

LINKING ACADEMICS AND SERVICE

Katrina forced Tulane University to close its doors. But this year Tulane is back up and 

running—and in the forefront of efforts to rebuild its historic Garden District neighborhood 

and the entire city of New Orleans. 

Building on its Learn and Serve America grant, Tulane has transformed its curriculum to 

focus more on service, instituted a community service requirement for all its students, and 

created a university-wide Center for Public Service to strengthen and expand the connections 

between academic study and public service.

To spread that ethic to the community at large, the Center has formed a partnership with 

AmeriCorps*VISTA to engage public school students, college students, and other members 

of the community in service to local nonprofit groups. The VISTA members help to identify 

suitable projects for Tulane’s service-learning students. VISTA members also are training 

nonprofit groups in the management of students and other community volunteers.

Meanwhile, Xavier, a historically black university in New Orleans, is using a Learn and Serve 

America grant to establish service-learning academies that offer lessons in community 

involvement and rebuilding to students in the Orleans Parish school system. And Dillard, 

another historically black university in the city, is amending its community health-outreach 

program so that it focuses on the specific health issues related to the hurricane, including 

illnesses related to mold and toxic debris, as well as continuing mental health concerns. 

NAZARENE COMPASSIONATE MINISTRIES: 

MEETING THE CHALLENGE

In March 2006, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, a faith-based charity involved in disaster 

response, received a one-year Challenge Grant from the Corporation for National and 

Community Service to form Rapid Response Teams to mobilize volunteers for 300 recovery 

and rebuilding projects in Bayou La Batre, Alabama; Gulfport, Mississippi; and New Orleans. 

After the storm hit, the Corporation had revised the competition to focus on disaster relief, 

with an emphasis on mobilizing baby boomers. 

To date, 3,100 volunteers have already served at the three sites, and thousands more are 

signed up to serve over the next few months. The volunteers have completed several hundred 

renovation and rebuilding projects in Alabama and Mississippi; because New Orleans’ recovery 

lags behind that of the other two regions, Nazarene plans to focus all its resources on the 

greater New Orleans area once current projects in Bayou La Batre and Gulfport are completed. 

“Our Challenge Grant recipients are some of the very best at both innovation and financial 

sustainability,” notes Corporation CEO David Eisner. “We are excited that they have been able 

to develop new sources of funding, build effective and sustainable service, and engage baby 

boomers and other Americans in volunteer programs in the Gulf region.” 

Corporation Challenge Grants require that each Federal dollar awarded be “matched” 

by a minimum of $2 in private funding.
25

“ Recovering, rebuilding, and renewing the Gulf Coast will take many 

years. Katrina has taught us many lessons, including the value of 

National Service when dealing with disaster relief.”

– Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour

Volunteers carry a floor joist at a Habitat for Humanity home site in New Orleans, 

where university students are helping to rebuild the city. FEMA photo by Marvin Nauman.
26

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

The spirit of serving others 

comes through in this sign for an 

emergency kitchen in St. Bernard 

Parish, Louisiana. 

A woman and her daughter in 

Mobile, Alabama, became new 

homeowners after more than 200 

AmeriCorps and VISTA members 

from eight states constructed 11 

houses in a week for Katrina victims 

and evacuees. Habitat for Humanity 

photo by Alice Jackson.

AmeriCorps*NCCC members 

celebrate National and Global Youth 

Service Day by reinstituting the 

annual trash can painting contest 

in Waveland, Miss. FEMA photo by 

George Armstrong.
27

Renewed hope. Such is the power of volunteering and service. For in the end, the upshot 

of all these volunteer and National Service activities—from support of initial responders, 

to providing vital services to victims and evacuees, to leveraging community volunteers—

amounts to instilling in Gulf residents the hope and faith they need to recover from this 

terrible catastrophe.

Time and again, we heard it said: Volunteers add a dimension to the recovery effort that 

goes well beyond the numbers or the cost savings to residents. Having compassionate 

people from all over the United States donating their time in the Gulf provides despairing 

residents with real and tangible evidence that they are not alone or forgotten.

Unlike contractors, volunteers provide a personal, patient, caring touch to homeowners 

who often need to say “goodbye” to a way of life that no longer exists. Volunteers spend 

a few extra moments with residents to console them about their loss—a loss that often 

seems as fresh today as it did a year ago.

It’s not complicated. Volunteers provide what individual survivors need most: a hug and 

a shoulder, and reassurance that things will get better. As one resident, speaking about 

an AmeriCorps team, put it: “These angels from God cleaned everything out of my 

house. ... They were able to find some things that they thought I might want to keep ... 

Seeing what they did made me want to move back into my house, which I didn’t want to 

do since right after the storm. But I am going to rebuild because of the brand new start 

that they have given me.”

The value of volunteer activity to the whole community is no less important. When 

residents see organized volunteers working on their neighbors’ homes, they get the urge 

to work on their own. When neighbors see others rebuilding their homes, they decide 

to rebuild theirs, too. And when residents return, then businesses can return, and once 

again neighborhoods, towns, and cities can begin to prosper. In short, volunteer activity 

helps spark the perception that a neighborhood or city can return, which greatly 

increases the likelihood that it will return.

Not least importantly, volunteers—and especially National Service participants—bring a 

positive attitude and spirit to the long recovery effort. In many cases, their energy, can-do 

mentality, and belief in serving others are infectious. That volunteer spirit is critically

T H E P O W E R O F S E R V I C E

k SPREADING HOPE TO SURVIVORS AND COMMUNITIES 
28

important, not only in the Gulf but also as we look to develop a new generation of leaders 

who understand the value of public service.

The sense of hope doesn’t just flow one way, though. Indeed, those who serve often are 

just as inspired and uplifted by the experience of volunteering as those they are serving. 

That’s because volunteering instills in people not only the belief that they can make 

a difference, but the realization that they are making a difference.

Perhaps the power of volunteering, of national service, and of hope was best summed 

up by West Seneca (New York) AmeriCorps member Patti Jarmott, who offered these 

reflections after her team’s three-month deployment to Slidell, Louisiana: 

 “ Devastation may never leave, but service and collaboration are meaningful 

forces that will always make a difference and will surely last forever. What 

a privilege it has been to serve in Louisiana and to be a part of such a hopeful 

endeavor in the aftermath of such a devastating storm. So many still need 

to see this hope. There is more room to serve.”
29

“The AmeriCorps members did much more than provide physical labor. 

... They gave us hope for the rebuilding of Mississippi and, even more 

important, they gave us hope in the future of America through their 

sacrifice, integrity, and compassion.”

– Brooks and Pamela Moore, Storm Survivors, Brandon, Miss.

 Two teams of AmeriCorps*NCCC members show off their work after gutting and disinfecting a home 

identified for assistance by the First Baptist Church of New Orleans. Photo by Cadi Poile.
30

AMERICORPS*STATE/NATIONAL

American Red Cross

American Red Cross Badger Chapter 

American YouthWorks 

Appalachian MentorCorps/Sojourners Care Network

Arkansas Children’s Hospital 

Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Bethel Lutheran Church

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Brevard ElderServe Project

Broward Mental Health Association

Brownsville Community HealthCorps

Butler County Board of Education 

Campus Crusade

Centro Campesino Farmworker Center

Chicago Health Corps

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee 

City of Pass Christian

City of Selma

City Year

Civic Works

College of New Jersey/Bonner Foundation 

Community Leaders Program

Eastern Kentucky University

Education Corps/Partnership for Youth

Employers’ Child Care Alliance

Equal Justice Works

Fannin County Family Connection, Georgia

Florida State Parks 

Front Steps

Georgia Habitat for Humanity 

God’s Katrina Kitchen

Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers

Green River Area Development District

Habitat for Humanity/New Orleans

Hands On Atlanta

Hands On Gulf Coast

Hands On New Orleans

Hands On USA

Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky

Hoopa Valley Tribe

Inner Harbour AmeriCorps

KCR AmeriCorps

Leon County Schools 

Louisiana Delta Service Corps

Maryland Governor’s Office on Service 

 and Volunteerism

Meadowbrook Church of Christ

Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless

Mid South Community College

Minnesota Conservation Corps

Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service 

Montana Conservation Corps

Morehead State University

National Association of Community Health Centers

National Council of La Raza

North Central Community Action Program

Ohio State University

Operation Fresh Start

Pennsylvania Conservation Corps

Pennsylvania Mountain Service Corps

Project Recovery 

Public Allies

Public Interest Research Foundation of New Jersey

Restoration Point Ministries

St. Louis Partnership for Youth

St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation

Salvation Army

Save the Children

Shreveport Green/ShrevCORPS

Stafford AmeriCorps Reading Partners

Tallahassee Red Cross

Teach For America, Inc.

Town of West Seneca 

Tribal Civilian Community Corps

Trinity Christian Community

United Methodist Committee on Relief

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Vermont Youth Conservation Corps

Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona

Volunteers of America

Washington Conservation Corps

Washington Service Corps

Workforce Connections, Inc.

AMERICORPS*NCCC

Bethel Lutheran Church

Camp Coast Care

Camp Pearlington

Catholic Office of Long Term Recovery

Charleston County Human Services Commission 

City of Lake Charles 

City of Miami 

City of Pass Christian 

City of Waveland 

Community Collaborations International

Christus Victor Lutheran Church

Emergency Communities

Ferncliff Camp

Habitat for Humanity/Baton Rouge

Habitat for Humanity/Bayou Area

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a signatory to the National Disaster Response Plan, the official plan to 

protect our nation from natural and manmade hazards and attacks, in the categories of Mass Care and Volunteer Mobilization and 

Coordination. Following is a partial list of organizations with whom the Corporation has partnered as it seeks to broaden, deepen, 

and strengthen the relief and recovery efforts of local and national nonprofit groups, state commissions, other government agencies, 

and faith-based organizations in the aftermath of Katrina and the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. List current as of August 1, 2006.

KEY NATIONAL PARTNERS/STATE SERVICE COMMISSIONS

Alabama Governor’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives

American Red Cross

Army Corps of Engineers

Christian Contractors of America

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Habitat for Humanity

Hands On Network

Louisiana Serve Commission

Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service

National Association of Service and Conservation Corps

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters

One Star National Service Commission 

Salvation Army

Southern Baptist Convention

United Way

Volunteer Center National Network 

Volunteer Florida

A P P E N D I X I

k NATIONAL SERVICE PARTNERS IN HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF
31

Habitat for Humanity/Collier County

Habitat for Humanity/Harrison County

Habitat for Humanity/Highlands

Habitat for Humanity/Lee County

Habitat for Humanity/Metro Jackson

Habitat for Humanity/New Orleans

Habitat for Humanity/St. Tammany

Hands On Gulf Coast

Hands On New Orleans

Jackson Public Schools 

Jean Lafitte National Park

Mercy Corps Green Project

Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless

Mississippi Coastal Plains Resource Conservation

 and Development Commission

Morrell Foundation

National Council on Aging

Nature Conservancy

Operation Blessing International

Rebuild Northwest Florida

Rebuilding Together New Orleans

South Mississippi Regional Center

St. Bernard Parish

St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church

Tulane University

United Methodist Disaster Response 

United Way of Acadiana

Weeks Bay Estuarine Reserve

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Xavier University

Youth Excitement Team

AMERICORPS*VISTA

Alabama Governor’s Office of Faith-Based 

 and Community Initiatives

American Red Cross

American Red Cross/Mile High Chapter

American Red Cross of Mass Bay

American Red Cross/Cedar Rapids

Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming

Centennial Board of Cooperative Educational Services

Center for Faith and Health Initiatives

Church World Service

Concordia College

Father Lebeau Community Center

Friends of the Minnesota Conservation Corps

Goodwill Industries of Central East Texas

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha

Hurricane Rita Recovery Project, Diocese of 

 Lafayette, Office of Justice and Peace

Longview Community Ministries

Making Connections

Minnesota Housing Partnership

Morningside College

New Orleans Habitat for Humanity

PrepareME Corps

Random Acts of Kindness

Rural Resources Community Action

Teaming for Technology Chicago

United Cerebral Palsy of Texas

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Volunteer Services of Carlton County

Washington Association of RSVP Directors

Washington Service Corps

LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA

Arkansas Department of Education

Baltimore County Public Schools

Buford Elementary School 

Carroll County Public Schools

College of Saint Mary

Colorado Governor’s Commission on 

 Community Service

Curators of the University of Missouri

Dillard University

Doane College

Erwin Elementary School 

Florida Department of Education

Gulf Coast Community College

Haddon Heights School District

Howard University

Kids Consortium

KIDSCAN

Kilohana Elementary School 

Lumberton Township School District 

Massachusetts Department of Education

Morris Area

New Foundations Charter School

Northampton Community College

Oklahoma State Department of Education

Sykesville Middle School

Tulane University

University of Hawaii at Manoa 

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

University of Nebraska-Kearney

University of South Dakota

Waialua Middle School 

Washington County Board of Education 

Wayne-Westland Schools

Westbrook School Department

Xavier University 

SENIOR CORPS—FOSTER GRANDPARENTS 

Austin State School

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana

Caddo Council on Aging

Catholic Community Services

Charleston Area Senior Services

DeSoto High School Alumni Association 

East Bay Community Action Program

Escambia County Council on Aging

Kankakee School District 

Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce

Peoples’ Regional Opportunity Program 

Pinecrest Developmental Center

Ouachita Baptist University

Quad Area Community Action Agency

Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative 

Southeast Texas Regional Planning Council

St. Mary’s Hospital

Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services

SENIOR CORPS—RSVP

American Red Cross/Carolina Lowcountry Chapter

American Red Cross/Northwest Louisiana Chapter

American Red Cross/Mt. Rainier Chapter

American Red Cross/Western Chapter

American Red Cross of Metropolitan New Jersey

American Red Cross of the Susquehanna Valley

Baltimore County Office on Aging 

Blackstone Valley Community Action Program

Brazos Valley Area Agency on Aging

Caddo Council on Aging

Calcasieu Parish Office of Community Services

Catholic Charities of Broome County

CEFS Economic Opportunity Corporation

Citrus County Board of Commissioners

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chemung County

Central Arizona Association of Governments

Coles County Council on Aging

Colorado Mountain College 

Cornell Cooperative Extension

Crow Wing County Social Services 

Cumberland County Coordinating Council 

Decorah Public Library 

Dutchess County Association for Senior Citizens

East Baton Rouge Council on Aging

East Bay Community Action Program

Elder Service of Cape Cod and Islands

Escambia Council on Aging

Family & Child Services of Washington, D.C.

Flagler Volunteer Services

Future Builders

Garland County Council on Aging

Gaylord Community Schools 

Gericulture Corporación

Greater Hartford Community Renewal Team

Heart of America United Way

Henry County Health Center

Jefferson Community Action Program

John Wood Community College

Kansas Wesleyan University

Lincoln County Commissioners

Lincoln Total Community Action 

Mahoning County Volunteer Services Agency

Marquette County Commission on Aging

Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee

Natchitoches Parish Office of Community Services

North Conway Community Center

Northwest Louisiana Interfaith Pharmacy

Northwest Nebraska Community Action Agency 

Opportunities for Chenango

Orleans Council on Aging

Ozark Opportunities

Paris Junior College

Peoria Friendship House of Christian Service

Princeton Area Red Cross Bloodmobile 

Quad Area Community Action Agency

Rapides Council on Aging

St. Charles Parish Council

St. Martin/Iberia/Lafayette Community Action 

 Senior Hub

Scioto Christian Ministry 

Seniors Helping Others

Seniors Program of Santa Barbara 

Seniors Resource Development Agency 

South Arkansas Regional Health Center

South East Texas Regional Planning Commission 

State University of New York/College at Oswego

 Volunteers of America

Texoma Council of Governments

Travis County Department of Human Services

Treasure Coast Area Agency on Aging

United & Community Family Services of New London

United Community Services

United Way of Southeast Arkansas

University of Louisiana at Monroe

University of Northern Colorado

Visiting Nurse Association 

Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago 

Volunteer Center of Rhode Island

Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley

Volunteer Frederick 

Volunteers of America

Warren County Community Services

West Texas Rehabilitation Center

YMCA of Greater Whittier

YMCA of the Inland Empire 

YWCA of McLean County

York County Area Agency on Aging

SENIOR CORPS—SENIOR COMPANIONS

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center 

 Senior Resources

St. Landry Parish Community Action Agency

University of the District of Columbia

Wyoming Senior Citizens

SPECIAL VOLUNTEER PROJECTS

American Radio Relay League

Angel Flight America

Larimer County Medical Reserve Corps

Medical Reserve Corps

Mesa County Medical Reserve Corps

Morehouse School of Medicine 

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries 
32

PROJECT ACTIVITY

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS SERVICE HOURS LEVERAGED VOLUNTEERS

AmeriCorps*State and National 2,748 417,982 14,176

AmeriCorps*NCCC 1,900 775,000 47,000

AmeriCorps*VISTA 142 75,104 17,843

Senior Corps 8,638 264,195 10,194

Learn and Serve America 20,398 56,658 1,438

Other* 3,247 86,376 4,137

Totals 35,158 1,624,335 92,874

A P P E N D I X I I

k NATIONAL SERVICE ACTIVITY RELATED TO KATRINA

The following chart lists the number of participants who have contributed to hurricane-related activities for each of the Corporation’s 

programs, the total number of hours that they have served, and the number of volunteers that they have recruited or coordinated. The 

map shows the areas of the country where National Service programs either directly served or from where they offered assistance. Data 

current as of August 1, 2006.

* Includes the Corporation’s Special Volunteer and Challenge Grant programs
H O W T O S E R V E

k Thousands of skilled and unskilled volunteers are needed 

to help the Gulf Coast recover from last year’s hurricanes. 

Volunteers are also needed to meet a wide range of local 

challenges in communities across the country. If you are 

interested in helping out, either in the Gulf or in your 

hometown, please go to www.volunteer.gov.

If you are interested in joining or learning more about the 

programs of the Corporation for National and Community 

Service, go to www.nationalservice.gov. Under the “For 

Individuals” menu, click on “Join Now” to discover which 

opportunity is right for you.
34

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Washington, DC 20525

202.606.5000 | (202.606.3472 TTY)

www.nationalservice.gov