By Jake Dowling, icon intern
Like her friend Julie Brewer before her, ReStore Community Center is where she wants to be right now.
An Indiana native, Amanda Quintrell, a 2011 graduate with a degree in music at Ohio Northern University, decided she wanted to try something different.
Quintrell started working at Restore July 13th. She took over for the previous AmeriCorps VISTA worker, Brewer, who had held the position for two years.
The two are good friends.
“She would tell me, ‘you know, my two years are almost up if you’re interested in working at ReStore,’ and one day I decided to,” Quintrell said. Her boyfriend, Seth Hochstetler, who is a fifth year pharmacy major at Ohio Northern, helped her with her decision to join AmeriCorps.
“It was actually my boyfriend that asked me if this is something that I wanted to do, and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I knew it was what I wanted to do,’” Quintrell said. “It was kind of a joint effort.”
She realized she wanted to make a difference for others. “I wanted to be able to do more for my community.” Quintrell said
AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program that aims to fight poverty. VISTA members are not supposed to do direct service. Instead they work on strengthening the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of organizations that assist low-income communities. About 6,500 VISTAs are place each year in more than 1,200 projects around the country to work to eliminate poverty in the United States.
“It is my role to put on the finishing touches to what Julie already started, and our work is supposed to go on without us after I’m done,” Quintrell said.
Quintrell is still getting a feel for what she will be working on at ReStore.
“My experiences have led up to this point, and I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now in my life. I’m excited to see the Ada community from a different perspective, not just as a student,” she said.
She has been meeting with ReStore volunteers and community members to gain more insight on the atmosphere and culture of both ReStore and the community.
“I would like to see the whole community helping each other and working together,” she said.
Restore has one year left to hold the AmeriCorps VISTA position. Non-profit organizations can apply to have an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer on board for three years.
“I’m excited to see how this year will affect the next step in my life, because I know that it will. I’m open to what is down the road,” she said. “I know that everything happens for a reason.”
