YELLS has seen many volunteers over the years that have impacted the lives of both our staff and the youth we serve. However, few have impacted our organization like one of our AmeriCorps Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA), who dedicated a year of her life to growing the operational capacity of YELLS in the midst of an unpredictable pandemic while simultaneously supporting our 3 programs every day. This month, we are spotlighting our amazing Volunteer Specialist, Amanda Jimenez Biehler, who is wrapping up her year of service with AmeriCorps!
Amanda was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California, where she was involved in community service from a young age. She joined Girl Scouts in Kindergarten, introducing her to service projects and volunteer work, but Amanda says it was her family that really instilled in her a passion for helping those in need.
“With my family growing up, we would feed the homeless once a month. My entire family, all my cousins, aunts, uncles, we’d make a whole meal and then feed all the homeless in an area in town,” she said. “And when I got older, I think it was in high school, I started coordinating that. So I’ve always really liked to volunteer, I’ve done a ton of volunteer work. I was president of Youth for Direct Relief at my high school, which Direct Relief is a huge volunteer organization. I worked with fundraising and just doing different volunteer things like making mother kits and hygiene kits to hand out in the area. That’s how I’ve always enjoyed it.”
Amanda & YELLS
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara with degrees in biology and applied psychology, Amanda moved to Atlanta in the summer of 2021 with her husband Michael, who was set to begin a PhD program at Georgia Tech. She didn’t know what she would do during that time, but she wanted to find something that could allow her to serve a community, much like she did back home. Amanda stumbled across YELLS during her job search and was drawn in by the opportunity to be immersed in the Franklin Gateway community as an AmeriCorps VISTA.
“I really liked the fact that they focused on one community. I thought that would make it a little easier for me to make an impact working in one smaller area because Atlanta is huge. So because they work in a niche area, it’d be easier to make an impact and also get to know a community and the people that live there and the culture,” Amanda said.
Amanda officially joined YELLS on June 7, 2021, and has become an indispensable member of the YELLS family ever since! As our Volunteer Specialist, she coordinated with new and returning volunteers in our programs and worked with community partners to organize exciting volunteer opportunities. Amanda also built the capacity of our organization by engaging with families and community members in both English and Spanish, ensuring that language was not a barrier when accessing our services. But her work at YELLS extends far beyond just the volunteer realm! From the beginning she has stepped up and supported our three programs when needed, especially when it comes to filling in for the Mentoring Program and ASP.
“As soon as she came on and joined us last summer, she immediately understood the vision and rose to the occasion as far as stepping in and prepping and planning for the summer,” said ASP Coordinator Ms. Sherri. “She took a leadership role amongst newer staff, even though she was new herself, and I admired that from her. Since then, a lot of what we have been able to accomplish over the year probably would not have been completed had it not been for her, not only in supporting the staff, but championing things for us to do.”
In reflecting on the past year, Amanda says that she is most proud of the confidence she found in using her voice during her year of service to champion our youth. Whether it’s communicating with coworkers or advocating for our youth, she says that now she doesn’t shy away from speaking up and providing her ideas and input. A great example of this is the recent Scholar Dollars initiative that was implemented in ASP, which Amanda spearheaded along with our Scholar Success Specialist, Jamie.
“It all started with a conversation between Jamie and I. We were talking one day and talking about how in school, if you can guess the number of marbles in a jar in class, you can earn things,” Amanda said. “So it was really cool to see that from that conversation, we made it into something that the kids really enjoyed, and that it helped a lot of kids. For the ones that were really into it, I think it helped get their schoolwork done, and also gave them incentive to do more reading and things like that.”
Life After YELLS
With her year of service ending in early June, Amanda will continue part-time at YELLS Summer Camp as the ASP Social-Emotional Learning Specialist. After the summer, Amanda says she sees herself taking a few months of maternity leave to rest and prepare for the arrival of her first child, a baby girl! We all know she is going to be an excellent mother, and eventually she does see herself returning to school to receive a degree in clinical mental health counseling with the hope of one day working again with children in a community.
“Through this experience, I have come to realize that in the future I want to continue working with youth in some capacity. I have really enjoyed playing a role in helping shape and expose the youth to new things. Becoming a VISTA has helped me decide on wanting to be a counselor specifically working with youth or in the school systems in my future.”
Thank you Amanda for a truly remarkable year of service! You made an incredible impact at YELLS and the Franklin Gateway community, and your work in our organization will be remembered for a long time!
If you or someone you know is looking for a life changing experience like Amanda enjoyed through VISTA, consider joining our YELLS AmeriCorps VISTA team! Click here for more details on our VISTA roles.
