New VISTA leader

I have been in Olympia working as the VISTA Leader for a week now and had the chance to chat with a few of the VCW VISTAs who have been great. I moved here from Ohio and trekked across the county with my husband our basset hound and cat.

I did my VISTA project in Ohio working as a tax and benefits trainer for the OBB. My volunteers completed applications for public benefits and did taxes for free.

Part of the reason I was so interested in becoming a VISTA leader in Washington is because of the interesting projects they have for VISTAs. A lot of the projects are eco-friendly and community building, which is much different than other projects I’ve seen. Also in Ohio, mentoring was a large part of my project that ended up really enjoying. I wanted to make that a larger part of my job, and VISTA leader seemed like a perfect fit. I wanted to support VISTAs in their projects and be a liaison between them and AmeriCorps to help the programs and members in their have a seamless service year.

Right now, we are preparing for In-Service Training for VISTAs that will be next week. I’m looking forward to meeting the VISTAs in person and talking with them about how their projects are going. The event looks great, with some interesting speakers. I think they will really enjoy it.

Alena Swanson
Volunteer Center of Washington VISTA Leader
Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason and Thurston Counties