Americorps VISTA members from around upstate New York traveled to Ithaca on Friday, June 15th to work on a service project at New Roots Charter School. Hosted by New Roots VISTA members Preeti Panda and Alex Graham, the VISTAs will be volunteering to work on the New Roots Farm to School Program's farm plot, located adjacent to West Haven Farm at Ecovillage of Ithaca. This farm plot is used to grow food for school lunches at New Roots, and the VISTAs will be planting winter squash and assisting with maintenance of the other crops.

Americorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members around the country organize service days to foster community among corps members and directly engage in communities.

Preeti Panda, who helped organize the service day said, "The majority of VISTA members in our program are in the Buffalo region, so we are excited about hosting them in in Ithaca for the first time this year, and working on a fun project that benefits our host site."

Americorps VISTA is a national service program that aims to alleviate poverty in America through building capacity in non-profit agencies. This is New Roots Charter School's second year hosting two Americorps VISTA members, and currently has two VISTA positions open for the 2012 - 2013 school year.

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