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Athenians Sworn In As AmeriCorps Members
< < Back toOn the 20th Anniversary of AmeriCorps, Lt. Governor Mary Taylor sworn in over 800 AmeriCorps members, 5% of that group was from Athens.
46 individuals serving with the Ohio Stream Restore Corps at Rural Action and COMCorps at Ohio University took part in the ceremony on Friday.
Candy Withem is the AmeriCorps Director for the Ohio Stream Restore Corps. She said that AmeriCorps plays a big role in Athens County.
"It means everything for rural Ohio," she said. "AmeriCorps members bring so many assets, so many skills, so much passion to the work that they do. And in a place where there are a lot of needs, Rural Action and Ohio Stream Restore Corps and COMCorps help meet those needs in the local communities."
Patrick Tegge works with COMCorps and thinks his new membership with AmeriCorps will advance his service work.
"It is so beneficial to serve in [Athens County]," he said. "There are so many community assets, whether it be the local farms or people that just love the area that have lived there all their lives and really want to make it a better place to live and help people in this area that are unfortunate to build a stronger community. It is great to give back to that."
Nearly 1,000 AmeriCorps members, alumni, and special guests, kicked off a year of national service for AmeriCorps members in Ohio. This ceremony was part of a nationwide swearing-in of about 80,000 AmeriCorps members across the country.
Since 1994, more than 29,000 Ohio residents have served in AmeriCorps, providing more than 46.2 million hours of service