#IamVISTA
50 years. It's a pretty monumental number. Half a century. The "golden age". It brings about a great anxiety to those who hit that age. It brings a great deal of warmth to see a couple reach that anniversary. Finally, it's also how old AmeriCorps VISTA is today. To celebrate this milestone, the Corporation for National and Community Service has launched a social media campaign, using the hashtag #IamVISTA. Naturally, being me, I jumped at this opportunity to get in on the buzz. Now that I'm home for the day, I have a bit more time to think on just what this really means to me. It's pretty coincidental to me that this campaign also falls very close to my halfway point of my service year (Officially, it's Monday). Yes, it's really almost been six months! Don't worry, I'm feelin' it too!
To me, VISTA is exactly what the "S" in VISTA stands for: service. It's waking up and being a part of something, wherever you are in the country, that is bigger than yourself. It's working with like-minded people who are in it for, at some degree or another, the same reasons you are. To me, it's work, yes, but most of the time it doesn't feel like work; it's working with fun, caring and supportive people, doing the things that I like to do already but am getting paid to do them. Like blogging :) VISTA is capacity building: that is, making the person, place, and organization better, enabling the organization with the tools to continue to help people and communities long after you're gone. I've gotten a pretty tangible taste with that just this week: a project that was in the works when I first started was completed and disseminated this week. And it's going to help folks for a long, long time! And it's been greatly and enthusiastically met with some awesome feedback! And I'll get more tastes of that as I continue, because that's what VISTAs do.
VISTA is more than a crappy paycheck and long days: it's change, and it's good! I think the best still may yet come!
P.S. Check out who retweeted me! :)
To me, VISTA is exactly what the "S" in VISTA stands for: service. It's waking up and being a part of something, wherever you are in the country, that is bigger than yourself. It's working with like-minded people who are in it for, at some degree or another, the same reasons you are. To me, it's work, yes, but most of the time it doesn't feel like work; it's working with fun, caring and supportive people, doing the things that I like to do already but am getting paid to do them. Like blogging :) VISTA is capacity building: that is, making the person, place, and organization better, enabling the organization with the tools to continue to help people and communities long after you're gone. I've gotten a pretty tangible taste with that just this week: a project that was in the works when I first started was completed and disseminated this week. And it's going to help folks for a long, long time! And it's been greatly and enthusiastically met with some awesome feedback! And I'll get more tastes of that as I continue, because that's what VISTAs do.
VISTA is more than a crappy paycheck and long days: it's change, and it's good! I think the best still may yet come!
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| Just a couple of the pretty fantastic people I work with! |
P.S. Check out who retweeted me! :)
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