Hollywild Animal Park has been awarded an Americorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) team that will work on-site from Jan. 11th to March 14th.
The team will put in a minimum of 2,500 labor hours on an infrastructure improvement project inside the park. The team, with 8-10 members, comes from across the country. Their focus is to improve the infrastructure of and area around a pond in the park to reduce erosion, strengthen the resource, and create an educational focal point for indigenous wildlife.
“This is a national award and a very big accomplishment for us,” said Hollywild executive director Kim Atchley. Our internal team of staff and volunteers has been working to reclaim areas of the park that had been underused or fallen into disrepair. Having an outside team come in and focus on a big project like this saves us an incredible amount of money and time. With our current resources, it might have been years before we could have afforded to hire the labor to do this project,” she added.
Hollywild Animal Park board member Jack Spoon, a retired Milliken executive, first proposed an Americorp NCCC grant application over a year ago. Since then he and Atchley have worked through the extensive application process with program representatives in South Carolina, Missouri, and Kentucky. After the initial application was approved in September, a more in-depth application had to be completed. Once approved at that level, an on-site visit was required. That visit was held December 16 at the park with a six hour visit from a program representative.
During the site visit by Assistant Program Director Stephanie Gittinger, explained more of the team nature of the program. Young adults selected for the program work for 11 months, being provided a living allowance during their work time. The complete program specific training and then stay with their team for the remainder of their service term, rotating through four work projects across the country. After completing their term they are awarded $5,775 toward college expenses.
The dynamics of the team awarded to Hollywild will be reviewed in depth with the team’s leader during a conference call on Jan. 3. Then in less than two weeks, the team arrives, ready to work.
“The NCCC teams rank projects to which they would like to be assigned. We were told that ours was in the top three selections for all the teams. That’s exciting,” Atchley said.
The team will stay on-site at the park during their work period which begins Jan. 11 and runs through March 14. Inman First Baptist Church has partnered with the Park to allow the team to use their shower facilities.
Hollywild’s education coordinator has already begun reaching out to area educators who might be interested in bringing service learning groups out to work with the team, have a lunch-and-learn meeting with the team, or even combine those with a class in the park’s education center which officially opened on September 5. Though the park is not open to the public during this time, arrangements can be made for educational programs utilizing the center.
“Because this is a group of 18-24 year olds who have chosen service living as a way to earn money for college, we see this as a great opportunity for high school, college, and even some middle school groups to see what they are doing as a model for what they too might want to do in the future,” said Schmidt.
Hollywild is reaching out to area businesses requesting hospitality donations for the team. “I’d love for area restaurants, theaters, and entertainment businesses to offer the team a welcome with services from what they have to offer our community,” said Atchley.
“We would love for our community to wrap their arms around this team and show them what ‘Southern Hospitality’ is all about,” said Atchley. “We would also appreciate donations of supplies for the work they will be doing.”
Atchley says that many of the elements of the project will actually reuse, reclaim, and repurpose existing materials where possible, but among the materials supplies needed are fencing and water impervious lumber or decking to build the educational stations.
Those wishing to contribute to the hospitality and materials needs for the Americorps NCCC team project at Hollywild can contact the park by calling (864) 472-2038 or emailing [email protected].