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NEVADA VOLUNTEERS SALUTES 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF VISTA
Sponsors Nevada VISTA Alum at National Service Conference in New York
June 14, 2010 |
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Since 1965, 175,000 Americans have dedicated a year of their lives to serve as VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America), working to eradicate poverty in the United States through this 45 year old National Service program. A key goal of this year’s anniversary activities is to reconnect with VISTA alumni to highlight their stories of service. Nevada Volunteers, the state commission on national and community service, is honoring this goal by sponsoring Alex Cherup, a Nevada VISTA alum, to travel to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in New York, June 28th to 30th.
Cherup’s experience as a VISTA illustrates the promise the VISTA program holds for those who want to serve, especially for our nation’s young people. Fresh out of college, at 21, Cherup had a strong desire to work in the disability community—inspired by a close friend with an intellectual disability who overcame many challenges to succeed in college—but he wasn’t sure how to follow that dream until he discovered the VISTA program.
Cherup found a VISTA position in Las Vegas with the Family Ties Youth in Transition Project, which assists youth with disabilities from ages 16 to 22, giving them the tools and support to make a transition from high school to the real world. According to Cherup, “Disability and poverty are unfortunately very connected.” Employment rates for disabled people are very low, and for those who are employed, their jobs may not pay well. The Youth in Transition Project gives young people with disabilities both soft and hard tools, such as self-determination, job-seeking, and interviewing skills, as well as assistance with customized employment searches with the aim of carving out a job to match their specific skills and abilities.
VISTA enabled Cherup to succeed in ways that challenged him to grow while nurturing his instinct to serve others. He is sometimes amazed, when he is at a conference or putting together a networking session, that he is actually doing this wonderful, fulfilling work at a young age. He is also gratified for the community-minded perspective that VISTA has built in him. “When you have only a limited living stipend and are basically devoting all of your time to service, it is hard to look at your success as personal because the monetary rewards are so much removed from the picture,” Cherup explained. “As a VISTA, my success is inseparable from the community’s success.”
His experience as a VISTA has left a mark on him that will influence him the rest of his life. Indeed, Cherup is now a VISTA supervisor with Family Ties, overseeing the Youth in Transition Project in Las Vegas as well as the People First project, a self-advocacy organization for the disabled that has 7 chapters in Las Vegas. Though not originally from Las Vegas, he also has become a very active member in the community beyond his VISTA responsibilities. “Because of VISTA,” Cherup said, “I have been able to contribute to a community that initially wasn’t mine, but now definitely is.” This illustrates the benefit of VISTA, not just for the service member or the population they serve, but for the people of Nevada. VISTA, and other national service programs such as AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America, help to generate the community leaders of tomorrow by giving people the skills and the inclination to become involved in making their communities a better place to live.
“Nevada Volunteers is proud to be a collaborative partner with all the National Service programs in Nevada,” said Shawn Lecker-Pomaville, CEO of Nevada Volunteers. “Alex Cherup is an impressive young man, and we are happy to support his professional development by sponsoring this trip to the national conference, especially in recognition of the 45th anniversary of VISTA.”
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