MP mayor lends his hand during recent Mayor's Day of Service

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

April 1 marked the day where 1,750 mayors from across the country highlighted the impact of national service on city challenges.

Mt. Pleasant Mayor Steve Brimhall participated in the event by accompanying a home delivered meal route on Tuesday to recognize the effort given to bring a meal to people in the community.

According to information received from Carol Dustman, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) coordinator at The Fellowship Cup, the nation?s mayors are increasingly turning to national service and volunteerism as a cost-effective strategy to address city?s challenges at a time of fiscal constraint. More than 130 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members serve in Henry County, providing vital support to residents by driving patients to medical appointments, delivering meals to homes, reading with elementary students, assisting visitors to Henry County Health Center (HCHC) and helping many other organizations in various ways.

Dustman wrote, ?Volunteers have given 1,191 hours to home delivered meals, 445 hours to medical transportation, 273 hours to the reading program at the elementary and together, over 3,257 hours of volunteerism by RSVP volunteers in all activities combined.?

The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program allows people to get to their scheduled appointments because community members have taken the initiative to help those in need.

RSVP is a program that supports positive aging. It allows people of various skill levels and areas to tackle problems that directly affect their communities. It is a national program and in Iowa, only 44 counties have representatives.

?We provide medical transportation to hospitals for individuals who can no longer drive,? said Dustman. ?We have about 25 people in town (Mt. Pleasant) who provide transportation for those who need it.

The program is supported by state and federal grants, as well as some local grants. The RSVP program also includes: assistance with tutoring/mentoring of students, mailings for non-profit organizations, project builds for Habitat for Humanity, assistance at the HCHC gift shop and registration desk and maintain trails.

The Mayor?s Day of Recognition for National Service, which Brimhall participated in, is a national bipartisan effort to recognize the positive impact of national service in cities, to thank those who serve and to encourage citizens to give back to their communities.

The day is sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the National League of Cities, Cities of Service and the U.S. Conference of Mayors President Scott Smith.

According to the website, www. NationalService.gov, CNCS is a federal agency that helps more than 5 million Americans improve the lives of their fellow citizens through service. The service helps to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the nation. CNCS invests in thousands of nonprofit and faith-based groups that are making a difference across the country. The agency serves more than 70,000 locations across the country.

The agency includes groups like Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund and the Volunteer Generation Fund.

Volunteering and national service is a vital and cost-effective solution to our nation?s most-difficult challenges. The Corporation for National and Community Service stands ready to help Americans tackle these challenges and build a better future for the people, neighborhoods and nation, the website stated.