My AmeriCorps Years — with Paws

The ad in the Columbus Dispatch classifieds said “Artists Wanted,” which, as any artist knows, is not something you see very often. In fact, that was my opening statement at my interview with AmeriCorps in December 1998.

Six weeks later, five teams of three artists each, including dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists, set out for each of the city’s five inner-city recreation centers to work with 5-12 year old children during the after-school hours, when most were largely unsupervised and at risk for getting caught up in the violence of their surroundings.

Our mission was to use art as a vehicle to teach the kids conflict resolution and communication skills, help build their self-esteem and allow them to discover what was possible for their lives beyond their everyday experiences. Little did I know that year would turn out to be one of the most challenging and transformative experiences of my life.

I knew I was in for it the first day when 8-year old Paula walked up to me, arms crossed and asked me how many fights I’d been in. When I answered “none,” she rolled her eyes and walked away. I wondered what I’d gotten myself in to. There were many times I wanted to run away from their anger, pain and tendency toward violence, naively believing those things didn’t exist in me.

I believed in our mission and in the kids, and with the support of my team, our AmeriCorps leaders and our partner organization, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, I stuck it out. I learned a lot that year about violence — its origins, reasons and rules. I came to know what hopelessness looks and feels like, and I came to the humble realization that I, too was capable of feeling every emotion these kids felt.

We did a lot of really cool things that year, and as we got to know the kids, they got to know us, too. One of the things they learned about me was my passion for animals and nature.

One day, some of the young boys were discussing the “mean dogs” that lived at a house behind the rec center. A little questioning revealed that the neighborhood kids often teased the dogs through their fence and, after some education and empathy building about this, I came up with an idea.

The next day I showed up with dog biscuits, dry cat food (for the outside cats another neighbor lady was reportedly feeding) and bird seed.

“All right,” I said, “we’re going for a walk to make friends with the animals!”

Well, we had a blast. The kids wanted to feed everything — all the animals, everywhere. When we came to the house with the dogs, I literally had to stop them from climbing over the fence to play with them.

The last day of my service year is also one I’ll never forget. It was just a few days before Christmas. My co-workers had already completed their service hours, but I wanted to finish the mural we were painting on the wall in the art room of two kids sitting amongst Indian paintbrush flowers, gazing at the starry night sky with the Columbus skyline in the background.

We were listening to Robbie Robertson’s “Contact from the Underworld of Red Boy,” painting and drinking hot chocolate when suddenly one of those same little boys piped up and said, “Miss D. Did you know there’s a dead squirrel in the parking lot by our apartment that got run over by a car?” “Well,” I thought to myself, “I started this …”

So, out we went, all of us, me with gloves and a bag and rescued the dried pancake of a squirrel from the pavement. We found a tree in the church yard next door and had a little funeral for it before heading back inside to finish our chocolate and mural.

In April of this year, Donald Trump cut nearly half the funding for AmeriCorps, and on a single day 32,000 AmeriCorps members, just like, me lost their jobs. The casualties also included recipients of AmeriCorps services, from school kids, senior citizens and military veterans, to community parks, riverbeds and more.

In September, just under half of those funds were restored; however, the future stability of this outstanding program is still uncertain. Next month I’ll tell you about my second year with AmeriCorps right here at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, and the impact that year had on my life, career and a bunch more animals. Happy Christmas everyone!

(Colleen Dougherty is a writer, educator, artist and behavioral health therapist. She has worked and volunteered in animal welfare for more than 20 years, and has spoken at several animal welfare conferences. She holds degrees in art and counseling therapy, and graduate certificates in eco-psychology and humane education. Her passion is fostering joyful and respectful relationships between animals, humans and the earth. She’s been writing Paw it Forward since 2016.)