By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

HARPERSVILLE—There are more than 75,000 AmeriCorps volunteers working at nonprofits, schools and other organizations and performing service projects across the country. On April 5, local M4A AmeriCorps volunteers were honored during a Mayor and County Recognition Day ceremony at Harpersville Town Hall.

Headquartered in Alabaster, M4A AmeriCorps volunteers serve a wide area of central Alabama, including Blount, Chilton, Shelby, St. Clair and Walker counties. Volunteers can be found in area senior centers leading nutrition programs, delivering meals, teaching exercise classes and more.

“Whatever it is for the elderly, to educate them, to empower them, we’re there,” Shelby County volunteer Bettie Davis said.

M4A AmeriCorps volunteers also work out in the community. On March 5, volunteers built a ramp for a wheelchair-bound man in Helena, allowing him to enter and exit his home with ease.

“Everyone here pitched in, we got dirty,” M4A AmeriCorps Program Assistant Director Alexia Barbour said, explaining some volunteers learned to use power tools for the first time. “We had a really great team.”

The nutrition and exercise programs M4A AmeriCorps volunteers bring to senior centers have a significant impact as well. Walker County volunteer Trecia Benefield leads exercise classes at senior centers and said participants enjoy and look forward to the classes.

“The seniors, they brighten up, they love those exercises,” Davis added.

Harpersville Mayor Theoangelo Perkins recognized volunteers with certificates of appreciation and read a proclamation deeming the day an annual day of volunteer recognition in Harpersville.

“People volunteer for all kinds of things, and from now on in Harpersville, we will be recognizing people who volunteer in our area,” Perkins said. “So this started something for us.”

For more information about M4A AmeriCorps, visit the M4A AmeriCorps Facebook page or Nationalservice.gov.