Want a job where you can make a difference?

The Sojourners VISTA Program may be just what you need.

The Sojourners VISTA Program will provide ten individuals an opportunity to use their talents and skills to help young people living in Appalachian Ohio. Our VISTA members will work in programs within the four divisions of Sojourners.

Generation Now—Six VISTAs will be assigned to Generation Now, Sojourners division of runaway and homeless youth programs.  They will help develop sites in six counties for the Basic Center program, which provides services and community linkage for youth up to the ages of 18 who are runaway and homeless.

Sojourners Training Center—One VISTA will work with Youthbuild, a program for young men and women between the ages of 16 and 24 who have not received a high school diploma.  Participants learn the construction trade by building homes for low-income families while receiving leadership and education support leading to a diploma or GED. The VISTA will help to develop social enterprise initiatives where Youthbuild graduates can be employed and generating other employment opportunities with local businesses.

Family Development—One VISTA will work with the Foster Care program to train and support foster parents to provide high quality independent living skills to foster care youth.  The VISTA will be responsible for helping to create a curriculum that will provide individualized training to foster parents, and help them implement the curriculum in their own homes for their specific foster children.

Operations—Two additional VISTAs will work in the Operations Department as a Special Events Coordinator and a Volunteer Coordinator. The Special Events Coordinator will look at new ways to leverage community resources, increase community awareness of events, increase participation, and seek new special events to support Sojourners.  The Volunteer Coordinator will develop a volunteer program for the entire organization.

The AmeriCorps VISTA program is a national service program dedicated to fighting poverty. VISTA members commit to serve for a full year at a nonprofit organization. Serving in the VISTA program allows you to make a difference within your community, while gaining new skills and experiences.

VISTA is a full-time position that comes with multiple benefits, including health coverage, a living stipend, and an education award.

To view a full job description or to apply:

1.  Go to www.americorps.gov

2.  Under “Advanced Opportunity Search,” choose VISTA as the Program Type, enter    Sojourners as the Program Name, and check  Full Time

3.  Choose your preferred location. Select one or more preferred locations to apply!

The deadline to apply is April 30.

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The program provides disaster recovery in Hocking, Ross, and Vinton counties by removing debris from roads, creek streams, and other waterways.

Sojourners is working with the One Stop Centers in Hocking, Ross, and Vinton counties to identify potential employees. Employees must be able to work in all kinds of weather, be physically fit, and drug free.

A hiring event will be held at the Vinton County Department of Job and Family Services, 30975 Industrial Park Road in McArthur, on Monday, March 19, during which potential employees from all three counties will complete necessary employment paperwork, interview with program staff, and be given drug screenings.

Appointments for prospective employees will take place as follows:

• Vinton—9:00 am to 11:00 am
• Hocking—11:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Ross—1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

To apply, please visit your county One Stop Job Center.

Hocking County Jobs Services Center
The Shoppes at West Front Street
389 W. Front Street
Logan, Ohio 43138
(740) 380-1545
(866) 882-9500 toll-free

Hours of Operation:
7:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Ross County JOBS One-Stop
150 East Second Street
Chillicothe, OH 45601
(740) 779-2946

Hours of Operation:
7:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Thursdays until 6:00 PM

Vinton County One-Stop Employment Training Center
30975 Industrial Park Road
McArthur, OH 45651
740-596-2584

Hours of Operation:
8:00 AM – 3:30 PM

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The staff of Generation Now has made finding and securing

Want to become a Safe Place site?
Contact Matt Yates at 740.591.8795 to find out how.

Sojourners Safe Place Sites

Athens County
Big Mamma’s Burritos (Athens)
Goodwill (Athens)
Nelsonville Community Center (Neslonville)

Hocking County
Logan Hocking Activity Center (Logan)
Village Café (Logan)

Jackson County
Brodigans Sporting Goods (Wellston)
Launch, Inc. (Jackson)
Under The Oak Tree (Oak Hill)
Updraft (Wellston)
Video Plus (Wellston)
YMCA (Jackson)

Meigs County
Meigs County District Public Library (Middleport)
Meigs County District Public Library (Pomeroy)
Meigs County District Public Library (Racine)
Meigs County District Public Library (Reedsville)

Ross County
Carver Community Center (Chillicothe)
Chillicothe Fire Department (Chillicothe)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Bainbridge)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Chillicothe)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Chillicothe)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Frankfort)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Kingston)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (Richmond Dale)
Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library (South Salem)
YMCA (Chillicothe)

Vinton County
Cross Creek (Allensville)
Hamden Food Mart (Hamden)
McArthur Super Valu (McArthur)
Vinton County Sheriff’s Department (McArthur)
Vinton Industries (McArthur)
Wilkesville Fire Department (Wilkesville)

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Matt Yates, Street Outreach Coordinator, and our Peer

On Valentine’s Day the men presented this program to students enrolled in Vinton County High School. Students had to sign up for the assemblies, and by the end of the day hundreds of young men and women had learned about dating safely.

Also in February, the Street Outreach crew presented the same program to the Youth Group of St. Peter Catholic Church in Chillicothe.

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Cassie cries during proposal

When Travis Chevalier decided to ask Cassandra Miller to marry him, he chose to do it in front of his family—his Sojourners family.  So, at the end of staff meeting this morning he got down on one knee, told her how much he loved her and asked her to share his life.  For the most part, we’re a sentimental bunch, so many happy tears were shed.

Cassandra is a participant in our Youthbuild program and Travis is a Transitional Living participant and a member of our Peer Outreach crew in our Street Outreach Program. The couple is expecting a baby in the early fall. Congratulations to them both!

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The

Vinton County needs its donors to turn out for this drive. The winter season always proves to be a challenge for the Red Cross to recruit blood donors.

Wet weather conditions, cold and flu symptoms and even the winter blues can keep donors from making or keeping an appointment to donate. Yet the weather conditions can lead to more traumatic injuries on icy roads and can increase the need for blood. So many unpredictable factors can affect the blood supply during the winter — every single unit donated will be very important to our region’s blood supply.

People who register to donate will have two ways to win groceries. A ten dollar gift card from McArthur SuperValu will be drawn every hour, so six lucky donors will win. Also, all donors who register will be entered in a drawing to win free groceries from Kroger’s for a year.  If you donated on or before December 28, you may be eligible to donate.  Call 1-800-RED CROSS to schedule an appointment today. Be sure to tell them you are in the Central Ohio Blood Services Region when you call.

For more information contact Shelly Horvath at 740.591.6649 or shellyhorvath@yahoo.com.

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Tammy Chapman, one of our foster parents, with children she and her husband Ron have adopted

The Foster Care program of our Family Development division has been growing in recent months. We now carry an average census of between 70 and 80 young people in care.  Youth are placed in one of our 35 foster care and adoption homes in Allen, Athens, Auglaize, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Meigs, Morrow, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, and Vinton counties.  And, several more homes are in the licensing process. We currently contract with 22 counties for placement of children.

Added to our daily census of foster care youth in our homes, we also usually have between two and 10 children in respite care in our network. These temporary placements usually last from one to three days.

Our Foster care staff are incredibly busy these days visiting our homes, working with our foster care youth, and completing all the paperwork that is necessary for each placement. Congratulations to our Family Development team for the success of the foster care program.

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Young people play video games at the back of the Sojo Street Reach van during a stop in Jackson County

During the week of January 9^th, a film crew from Ohio University spent time at Sojourners doing a video about our Street Outreach Program. The crew members, Matt Fillman, Riley Gibson, Karen Kasmauski and Heather Rousseau, are graduate students in the Ohio University Schools of Visual Communications (VisCom) and Film.

The short film features Travis Chevalier and Steven “Vern” Vanover, both Sojourners Street Outreach Workers, and Matt Yates, Street Outreach Coordinator. The young men share their stories about what life was like before they became participants in the Sojourners Transitional Living Program, and why the work they do as Sojourners employees is so important to them. The film showcases the work the Street Outreach team does as it cruises through the streets and roads of southeast Ohio looking for homeless young people in need of assistance.

Thanks so much to this team of very talented men and women who so clearly captured the essence of the work of our Street Outreach Program and the young men who try to “Live it Right” every day.

Check out the video at:

http://vimeo.com/35551309

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MLK Day Express Rolls In

“Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”  – Martin Luther King Jr.

At Sojourners we take our community service seriously. Service is at the heart of all we do. In the almost thirteen years since our organization began, staff and participants of Sojourners have donated over 128,260 hours of community service to the region.

Without a doubt, the service day we most enjoy is MLK Day. This year we took Dr. King’s message about love to Central and South elementary schools in Vinton County, performing for 735 children and several teachers (who seemed to enjoy the program as much as the children).

The MLK Day Express rolled into the gymnasiums to the tune “Where is the Love” by the Black Eyed Peas and the fun got started.

The program, which featured a large cast of characters, encouraged the children to think about what they can to do foster love in their communities, with each other, and in themselves.

At the end of one program a student was heard to say, “I know where the love is—it’s in me.”

Dr King would have been so proud.

The Cast and Crew of Sojourners

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2011 MLK Day Express

Here at Sojourners, we are busy preparing for our 2012 Martin Luther King Day celebration. On Monday, January 16, the staff and participants of Sojourners will join hundreds of events held in states and cities nationwide to honor the legacy of Dr. King through community service.

We have taken part in the national MLK Day “day on, not a day off” community service celebrations for several years.  During those years we have held “Dream Camp” day camps for elementary school children, provided free lunches to the community, and completed several major service projects, including building a gazebo at the Vinton County Courthouse, replacing benches in the McArthur village park, repairing the entrance signs to McArthur, and creating new signage for the Vinton County Fairgrounds.

In 2011, after a year’s hiatus, Sojourners once again celebrated MLK Day in Vinton County, but in a new way designed to accommodate the fact that school was in session.  Our MLK Day 2011 School Assembly Program reached more students and provided school staff with an engaging and fun way to share the message of Dr. King.

The 30 minute assemblies were held in Central and South Elementary Schools on January 17. The assemblies featured the MLK Express, a train comprised of an engine, coal tender, and two passenger cars and powered by drummers highlighting Dr. King’s beliefs—Learn, Love, Dream and Celebrate. Passengers on the train helped to tell the story of Dr. King’s life and accomplishments.

The train was built by participants and staff of the Sojourners Youthbuild program and all of Sojourners’ staff and participants took part in the assemblies.

This year, the MLK Day Express will once again roll again into South and Central elementary schools, carrying the message of love for your community, love for each other, and love for yourself. The Sojourners family looks forward to a day of fun and service in Dr. King’s name.

Children sing during 2011 program

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