AmeriCorps volunteer serves with ‘hope’

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, January 12, 2010

JOHN DAY – Courtney Nolta just became a member of AmeriCorps in November and already she has a long list of community service projects and ideas.

Nolta is a volunteer with AmeriCorps’ Healthy Options through Prevention and Education (HOPE) program.

Among her duties are to lead two national service day projects.

The first one will be in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 18. Volunteers will join forces to take part in projects around the area organized by Nolta.

She is already planning another one for Earth Day in late April.

Nolta also has several objectives lined up in her HOPE service plan.

The new item on her list is to start up a SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) program at Humbolt Elementary. Two others she plans to bring back are the school “lunch buddies” program and “My Future, My Choice,” a sexuality education program for sixth-graders.

Nolta is seeking volunteers for the service day projects, as well as the lunch buddies and SMART programs

She also will be taking over the PEP club at Grant Union High School, as well as “Teen Radio,” which started up again Jan. 12 on KJDY. It airs 7-9 p.m. Tuesday nights.

Future programs Nolta has planned include a tobacco and drug prevention curriculum for students in grades 5-8, summer day camps in conjunction with the lunch-in-the-park, Girls Circle and parenting classes.

Department of Human Services volunteer coordinator Debi Hueckman is Nolta’s site supervisor.

Nolta can be reached at her DHS office by phone at 541-575-2595 or email at (cnolta@dhs.state.or.us).