AmeriCorps Team comes to Allensworth

AmeriCorps Team Blue 6 started their six week stay at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park on November 15, 2013.  The eight young men and women are the third AmeriCorps team to come to the park; one in 2012 and one earlier this year. Some of the projects completed by the other two teams are:

•          Painting the hotel
•         Installing signs for the cell phone tour
•          Staining and assembling an interpreter shelter
•          Fixing fences
•          Painting the campground armadas
•          Painting the Hackett house
•          Refinishing the floor in the Hackett house
•          Repainting a display case
•          Fixing and painting entrance gates

Stop by the Allensworth AmeriCorps FaceBook page and view photos of the AmeriCorps teams in action. While you are there let Ashvin, Elena, Mattie, Heather, Rick, Joe, Hannah, and Angela know how much you appreciate their hard work.

Cell Phone Audio Tour

AmeriCorps member installing Cell Phone Audio Tour Sign

Did you know cowboys lived in Allensworth?

Now you can use your phone to learn about the families that started Allensworth; learn about their life before Allensworth, in Allensworth, and after Allensworth. Simply call 661-206-3238 and enter the number for the family home or business you want to learn about.  (See table) If you are in the park you can scan the QR code on the sign in front of each of the homes and businesses. The cell phone tour is free, normal usage rates apply.

 

Special thanks go out to the Allensworth AmeriCorps team and Dorothy Benjamin. Installing the signs at each of the tour stops is one of the many projects that the AmeriCorps team completed during their six week stay at the park. 

The cell phone tour was made possible from the funds raised by the Colonel Allensworth 5K Run Walk For Health, which is organized and operated by Dorothy Benjamin. This year’s 5k Run Walk is Saturday, October 13^th at 9:00 am.

Stephen Hill, Sr.

AmeriCorps: Getting Things Done

Picture from the Colonel Allensworth SHP AmeriCorps Facebook page.

The blue trap catches the storm of weathered gray paint clips as they fall to the ground. Workers on ladders scrap away the old paint in preparation for a long overdue new coat of paint. They are “getting things done” at the Allensworth Hotel.

The motto of AmeriCorps is “getting things done,” and that is just what the AmeriCorps team is doing at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. During the team’s six week stay at the park they are taking on much of the maintenance and repairs that have been delayed because of budget cuts.

AmeriCorps was established on September 21, 1993 when President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act. Since then thousands of Americans have given a year of their lives tutoring kids, building homes, or on projects like Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. In other words they have been “getting things done.” In return for a year of service they are given an education award that helps pay their college tuition or student loans.

During the team’s first week at the park they started painting the hotel and placing sign markers for the park’s new cell phone tour, which will launch on April 2nd. After they finish painting the hotel the team plans to paint the school house.

You can follow the team’s progress on their Facebook page. While you are there thank the team for “getting things done” at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. Without their help there is no telling when the work they are doing would get done.



Stephen Hill, Sr.