Washington Nationals Take AmeriCorps Out to the Ball Game During AmeriCorps Week

600 AmeriCorps Supporters Expected at May 16 Game

Washington, DC -- AmeriCorps members, alums, and friends will be on hand to cheer the Washington Nationals baseball team on May 16 when the Nats face the Philadelphia Phillies. The evening marks the close of AmeriCorps Week, an annual event honoring the contributions that AmeriCorps members make to our country. As many as 600 AmeriCorps supporters are expected to attend the game.

Prior to the game, the Nationals will recognize several people involved in AmeriCorps: Nicola Goren, the Acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps; Stephen Anfield, AmeriCorps Alum; Jeffrey Bonilla, an AmeriCorps member at the Latin American Youth Center in Washington; and Natalie Wasserman, an AmeriCorps Alum who is now a member of the Serve DC staff, which runs AmeriCorps programs in Washington. Fans will also have the opportunity to learn more about AmeriCorps and talk to AmeriCorps members at an outreach table sponsored by AmeriCorps Alums.

“Across the country, AmeriCorps members are helping communities fight poverty, mentor youth, recover from disasters, raise graduation rates, build homes, and tackle our toughest social challenges,” said Goren. “AmeriCorps Week is a time to thank them for their service and inspire millions more Americans to serve, whether through AmeriCorps or volunteering in your neighborhood. We thank the Washington Nationals and AmeriCorps Alums for shining the spotlight on the valuable contributions AmeriCorps members make to their communities and our nation.”

The coast-to-coast recognition of AmeriCorps Week, May 9-16, includes more than 350 service projects and recruitment events, the announcement of AmeriCorps Recovery Act grants, video and photo contests, appreciation events by governors and major league baseball teams in Ohio and Washington, alumni gatherings, presentations to schools and community groups, and more.

In addition, this year's event focused on the new era of national service that President Obama ushered in on April 21 when he signed the Kennedy Serve America Act, which will put AmeriCorps on a path to grow from 75,000 to 250,000 members annually by 2017.

As AmeriCorps Week comes to a close, two service projects are scheduled for Saturday in Washington. The 5th Annual National Arab American Service Day taking place in 17 cities across the country will include a local project to construct a garden and providing landscaping for Freedom House, a program site administered by So Others Might Eat (SOME). This service day is an annual project organized by the National Network for Arab American Communities.Over the past four years, thousands of volunteers haveorganized dozens of community service projects throughout the country on Arab American Service Day. The Arab American Institute Foundation isleading the local project by teaming up with the D.C. Chapter of the Network of Arab American Professionals (NAAP) and SOME.

Serve DC is sponsoring a project at Turner-Green Elementary School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., including canal clean-up, a mural project, and literary assistance.

AmeriCorps was established in 1993 as a way for Americans to give back to their communities and country and earn money for college in return. AmeriCorps members serve with more than 4,100 nonprofit, faith-based, and community groups each year, helping them expand their reach and better meet their mission. Last year AmeriCorps members mobilized or managed 2.2 million volunteers for the organizations they serve.