My name is Alyssa Haney, and I am the new Americorps VISTA member at iACT.  VISTA is a national service program that helps build the capacity of anti-poverty programs across the nation. I will be serving at iACT for one year as the Outreach and Partnership Specialist.

I began my term at iACT on April 30, and so am still learning all about this organization. As I continue to learn more, I am seeing how truly the organization engages diverse communities in doing good together. I saw this in so many ways within just eight hours on Saturday at the Hands on Housing event, which involves teams from various faith communities and organizations completing repairs on houses across the city. For this event, teams were working on six different houses in South and East Austin.

The commitment to doing good of those who came together to complete the repairs was really impressive. I was blown away not only by almost one hundred and fifty volunteers who came out to help their neighbors, but also by their energy and excitement. Individuals began arriving to pick up their materials at 7:30 in the morning, and not a one was dragging their feet. Some shared stories of having participated in Hands on Housing for years, for some groups it has been decades!

As I saw the groups interact with one another and the homeowners, I saw what a sense of community drives the event. Volunteers shared diverse reasons for participating, but a common theme arose of a desire to connect to their faith through service to others. At around 3:00 p.m., as we were wrapping up a couple of houses, a father and his two sons arrived at the shed. They had been at soccer games all morning, but wanted to stop by and see if there was still any work to do. The father told us he was eager to begin serving with his sons, as he wanted them to understand there is no better way to learn about the world than by serving it. After a long day of soccer, they went and helped at our largest house.

Hands on Housing provides individuals and groups the opportunity to make a huge impact on their community. Six houses were repaired, and nearly one hundred and fifty lives were changed in just one day!