By Renee Worthing 

Staff Writer

When the most recent team of AmeriCorps volunteers finishes their project in Sanford, there will be a new handicap accessible trail behind the Sanford YMCA.

A group of 11 AmeriCorps volunteers began July 10 to create the trail, a project they hope to wrap up by Aug. 28 when they leave Sanford for another assignment.

Working on the trail July 22, some volunteers were hacking away at tree roots and slapping at mosquitoes, while others loaded a tractor bucket full of gravel and drove it down the fresh trail.

Team Leader Spencer Vetter, 20, of Vancouver, Wash. who was part of the AmeriCorps group that visited last year and cleaned up behind the Emery Street mills, is back again for this project.

The weather has not been kind to them --– -they lost power July 18 at their Lebanon house when severe storms hit the area.

“I’m pretty much used to the rain,” Vetter said.

Volunteer Sara Lynch, 25, of Port Huron, Mich., said the rain didn’t bother her much either, but the mosquitoes were annoying. Vetter said a couple of volunteers were stung when they accidentally disturbed a bee’s nest in the ground.

Lynch, a first year AmeriCorps volunteer, said she joined after seeing “all the problems in the world.”

“I saw the problems here in our country and I wanted to help,” she said.

She said the team’s previous assignment was assisting Habitat for Humanity in Louisiana.

Team member Ashley Dixon, 21, of Casa Grande, Ariz. said she has learned a lot since joining AmeriCorps, particularly since coming to Sanford.

“This is different work for me,” she said. “I am getting in touch with the natural side of myself. I appreciate trees more.”

She said she also appreciates the relief from the 100-degree temperatures in her home state.

Vetter said the trail project was “ideal” for him and enjoyed the challenge of leveling the path and moving it from its previous location to avoid erosion.

He said a member from the Maine Conservation Corps joined them the first couple days to help identify goals for the project. From then on, the work was left up to Vetter and his teammates.

“It’s tedious sometimes,” Vetter said. “We just keep hacking away.”

While 11 volunteers arrived in Sanford, eight are now remaining. One volunteer was sent to California to fight the wildfires and another was sent the Louisiana area. A third volunteer, David Charles, 23, left July 22 to be part of the Gulf Liaison Team where he will edit an AmeriCorps newsletter.

The AmeriCorps team is part of the National Civilian Community Corps, a full-time, team-based program for men and women age 18 to 24. They commit to 10 months of service.

According to the AmeriCorps Web site, “The mission of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and faith-based and other community organizations, members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.”

Sanford Grant Writer Lee Burnett, who is responsible for inviting the AmeriCorps to town, said the National Civilian Community Corps is the “cream of the crop.”

“It is the only branch that lives and works in a team,” Burnett said. “Each member has a role. One person is a team leader, another’s job is to keep up morale, another is in charge of media relations and one is responsible for finding service opportunities. It’s not on chief and a bunch of Indians. They all have an important role.”

He said the team must also perform other services in the community besides the one they are here for, such as cleaning up a park or restoring a streambed.

Burnett said a new component added to the AmeriCorps mission this year is inviting local youth to work alongside them. He said youths from Strategies for a Stronger Sanford and “Reconnecting Youth” will be working with  AmeriCorps volunteers.

“Ideally, we would have a group of trained trail builders after summer,” Burnett said.

He said a video, documenting the trail work, is being produced that will be shown to other youths as a teaching tool for trail building.

Burnett said the work is coming along, but the group is still looking for a few more tractors to make the work go more quickly. Once the trail work is complete, volunteers hope to host an opening celebration and will conduct an outreach program to those in wheelchairs.

He also said the volunteers receive $4.50 per person, per day, for food, an amount that can be hard to stretch for three meals each day.

“They could use some home cooked meals,” Burnett said, adding they had access to a microwave, stove, refrigerator, oven and utensils.

Volunteers agreed – home cooked food would be welcome. They said they are not picky, but a few members would prefer food that is not too spicy.

“We got them to come back because last year was productive for them,” Burnett said. “They feel welcome and it has to be an enriching opportunity for them and us.”

Burnett said pre-cooked meals or oven-ready meals could be dropped off at the Sanford YMCA. He also said if anyone has a small tractor with a bucket volunteers could use, they should contact him at 608-4171.