Farewell Anya and good luck as a VISTA Leader!

Anya and her UNCG supervisor Joe Frey.

NC Campus Compact VISTA member Anya Piotrowski will end her year of service this month. (Most of our VISTAs serve August - August terms, but Anya's placement began in February 2012.) Anya has made a great impact at her host site, UNC-Greensboro, and community partner, the Interactive Resource Center (IRC). Throughout her year, Anya has worked to help the IRC, in partnership with local grassroots organization Transition Greensboro, build a sustainable community garden at the IRC day shelter. Anya's made herself an amateur expert on organic and permaculture gardening through classes at the local Cooperative Extension office; organized over 400 volunteers for workdays throughout the year; and raised over $5000 in cash, grants, and in-kind donations to support the garden. She helped create internship positions that will support the IRC's housing department and the garden, and will leave behind a comprehensive garden manual to guide the intern and other volunteers managing the project.

On campus, she spear-headed the university's first campus-wide Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week and advised a group of students who organized themselves to sustain the event and continue engaging UNCG with these issues. Check out the Prezi Anya created to sum up her work.

Anya will take what she's learned about building community partnerships and higher ed engagement to her new position as the first VISTA Leader at Carson-Newman University in Tennessee. She'll lead a project that places VISTA members at local community-based organizations to build capacity and engage college and community volunteers. Good luck, Anya!

VISTA Profile: Anya Piotrowski

Anya hails from Reedsburg, Wisconsin, but is quite the traveler – she’s lived in four states in the past four years, has moved at least once a year since 2006, and has spent time in Brazil and Mexico! She studied history at the University of Tampa (B.A.) and the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire (M.A.). Anya has been serving as a VISTA at UNC-Greensboro since February 2012.

SP: What previous volunteer or work experience led you to becoming a VISTA?
AP: I spent time living in Brazil as a child and went on a mission trip to Mexico the summer before my senior year of high school. I also went on two Alternative Spring Break trips and an Alternative Weekend trip when I was a student at the University of Tampa. I loved the experiences and ended up becoming very involved with a campus organization that revolved around service! All of the experiences have made me more aware of how lucky I am and have inspired me to serve within any community I live in.

SP: What is the primary focus of your project? Which community partner(s) or populations will your project serve?
AP: The primary focus of my work is food security. I spend roughly 30% of my time working at the Interactive Resource Center (IRC), a day center for the homeless in downtown Greensboro. I am the IRC liaison for the community garden. At UNCG I am planning a full week of events for Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week since UNCG does not have a week of events already established. My on-campus events will be a great way to connect the UNCG community with the IRC in another way.

A recent harvest from the IRC community garden!

SP: What are you most looking forward to during your term of service?
AP: I am looking forward to Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week at UNCG and seeing the fall garden grow at the IRC. I'm also looking forward to the NC Campuses Against Hunger Summit in October, for which I am facilitating a panel discussion. On a personal note, I'm hoping to make it to a Carolina Hurricanes game when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning!