Welcome New Summer Members
For the first time, the Winneshiek Energy District welcomes two additional Green Iowa AmeriCorps members for 3 months of service to northeast Iowans this summer. These seasonal additions to the regular 11-month team come from the Green Iowa AmeriCorps Land and Water Stewards program addition (click here to learn about it).
Jeffrey Lauck and Anna Restemayer joined the team in late May and will spend over 300 hours serving northeast Iowans this summer. In addition to supporting general education, outreach and home audits of the full-time Green Iowa team, the Anna and Jeff will tend to maintenance of the educational butterfly garden at the Decorah community prairie, support environmental work at local nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange, and providing environmental education activities every Wednesday at the Winneshiek Farmers Market (3-6PM in Oneota Co-op parking lot).
Anna hails from the twin cities and is preparing for her senior year at Luther where she studies biology and art in hopes of applying creative skills as a teacher for an environmental magnet school or as an occupational therapist, helping kids with mental disabilities. One of her favorite things about Decorah is that there are so many opportunities to be outdoors and active whether that be on the trails, on the river, or in the snow in crazy April snowstorms.
Jeffrey comes to us as a fresh graduate of Gettysburg College where he majored in History and Political Science and minored in Civil War Era Studies and Public History before moving to Decorah to join the Green Iowa AmeriCorps team. Jeff loves hiking, traveling, and the National Park Service, which he worked for as a summer intern in 2016 at Richmond National Battlefield in Virginia. After Green Iowa, Jeffrey will move to Portland, OR with his fiancee Ashley.
“Decorah has enriched the last three years of my life with adventure, academics, and wonder,” says Anna. “As a thank you, I wanted to give back to the community through volunteering. The Green Iowa Americorps program offers me so many opportunities to do just that.”
Join us in welcoming these two to our community and thanking them for their service!