The S-Files

Serve Wisconsin

Welcome to The S-Files, which is sponsored by Serve Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s National and Community Service Board. The S-Files is your look into the impacts and stories of AmeriCorps members and volunteers serving throughout the State of Wisconsin. In each episode, we will be digging into their Service Stories, or S-Files, to learn about the people and programs whose service is meeting critical needs across Wisconsin and enriching the lives of the people and communities they serve.

  1. 29. Juli

    Giving Back and Gaining Skills through Service with Graduation Plus through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Zu Bai, who is serving this year with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (BGCGM) - ClubCorps. Zu discusses how he is assisting students participating in their Graduation Plus program by providing mentorship and guidance to high school students from their freshmen year through and after their graduation from high school. He describes assisting students with all of the stages of the college application process and their preparation in the summer after graduation as they prepare to enter college. Zu discusses how he strives to form connections with students to strengthen the support he can provide to students, understanding the value of this assistance from his own participation in the program as a student. Listen in to learn about how Zu has gained skills in communication and leadership, which he plans to build upon once he completes his own college coursework for his nursing degree.

  2. 29. Apr.

    Providing Environmental Education at Beaver Creek Reserve with MCHS Community Corps

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Peter Laskin, who is serving this year with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps at Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve. Peter discusses his service as an environmental educator at Beaver Creek Reserve in Fall Creek, including working with school field trip groups and the public at various events. He describes several different activities he has done with field trip groups based upon the season, as well as working with their various ambassador animals, including their owl Luna, to educate the public about the natural world and the local environment. Peter also shares about how he has been supporting their tree tapping and syrup making on the reserve, working with field trips and volunteers to create maple syrup over the last few months. Listen in to learn more about the different projects and events that Peter has supported, including dressing as a termite for their Halloween Boofest event as one of the “scary” animals their education team dressed as to let people know the real facts and impacts of the animals.

  3. 12. März

    Finding Joy and Gaining Experience while Serving Across the Seasons with the Green Bay Conservation Corps

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Cailie Kafura, who is serving her third term with the Green Bay Conservation Corps (GBCC). Cailie discusses the different conservation projects she has worked on across her terms, providing an overview of how the projects change according to the season, from invasive species removal in the winter to planting native plant species and later gathering their seeds as the year progresses. She also describes how GBCC engages the public in different projects, including their extensive MLK Day of Service Project that she helped organize at the Brown County Central Library featuring roundtables and resources focused around five community issues and packing over 100 care kits for homeless individuals and others in need. Reflecting on her service, Cailie discusses the skills, experience, and confidence she has gained through her service with GBCC and how it has prepared her for future positions in the conservation field following her service.  Listen in to learn how her service not only helped her gain these skills, but also connections with the community and her fellow AmeriCorps members and why deciding to serve with GBCC was “honestly the best decision I've ever made because it's been probably one of the happiest years of my life.”

  4. 26.11.2025

    Service as an Opportunity to Help Others and to Gain Valuable Experience and Have the Learning Opportunity of a Lifetime

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps alumna Barb Suozzi, who previously served three terms with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Recovery Corps from 2018-2021. Barb discusses her service as a recovery coach at two different sites across her service, detailing how during her first year she helped individuals with substance abuse disorders to make and follow their recovery plans while serving at the Family Health Center of Marshfield Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center in Minocqua. She then described her service the next two years at Arbor Vitae - Woodruff School, where she was primarily working on prevention activities and support for counseling, with her activities and roles adapting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including shifting to preparing and delivering lunches for students that needed them when school shifted that for several months to virtual in 2020. Barb later discusses how her service experience helped lead to a job at the school assisting students as a mental health liaison before retiring and then using her Segal Education Award to study and complete volunteer service in Italy. Listen to learn about the advice that Barb would share for AmeriCorps members that she gained from her own experience, and how it led her into new career pathways and the learning opportunity of a lifetime.

  5. 29.10.2025

    Supporting those in need with MCHS Community Corps at Stepping Stones of Dunn County and through previous AmeriCorps service with multiple programs in Minnesota

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Debra Bappert, who is serving her second term with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps at Stepping Stones of Dunn County and previously served terms with two programs in Minnesota. Debra shares about how her service supports multiple aspects of how Stepping Stones supports individuals in need through food and shelter. She discusses her role helping to manage volunteers and assist the public at their food pantry several days during the week, as well as supporting volunteers creating SAM bags for their Share a Meal Program, which packs  easy-to-serve meals for school children that can be sent home to increase access to food during the weekend. She also describes serving at their homeless shelter, Cairn House, helping to manage the kitchen on certain days each week and creating lunch menus based upon food in stock at the pantry and from produce donated by local farmers and gardeners.Debra also describes her previous AmeriCorps service several years ago in Minnesota shortly after graduating college, first serving as an employment coach supporting welfare-to-work program participants with Minnesota Opportunity Corps, and later serving as a reading tutor for young elementary students as a part of Minnesota Reading Corps. Listen to learn how Debra’s AmeriCorps service journey with multiple programs has led to several full circle moments, including reconnecting with her supervisor from her first term years later in their time of need and returning to Stepping Stones as an AmeriCorps member the last two years after volunteering and sitting on their board two decades ago while a college student.

  6. 29.09.2025

    Supporting the Stewardship of the Lake Superior Reserve and the St. Louis River Estuary with MCHS Community Corps

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by AmeriCorps member Callie Grones, who is serving her second term with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps at Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve in Superior. Callie discusses several different service activities she has done with people who are stewarding and protecting the St. Louis River estuary, which is where the river that serves as the border between northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota empties into Lake Superior and creates a place filled with biodiversity. She describes events to educate and mobilize the public that she has helped coordinate or participated in during her service, including school field trips to the estuary, their birding series, tree planting, and beach cleanups. Callie also describes learning how to take water quality samples and helping to collect them by taking a boat to their sampling sites, with the data being used to track the quality of the water on a day-to-day and long-term basis. Listen to learn how Callie came to her service position at the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve looking for an opportunity after graduating college to expand her skills and make a difference in the outdoors and how everything she has been learning is opening up different pathways for continuing her education following her service.

  7. 21.08.2025

    Having a Fire Lit Inside You by Service as a Volunteer and as an AmeriCorps Member

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by Sage Spear, who was recognized as one of the Volunteer of the Year honorees at the 2025 Governor’s Service Awards for her efforts supporting the United Way of Jefferson & North Walworth Counties Inc and other nonprofit organizations and is currently serving as an AmeriCorps member with Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) Community Corps. Sage discusses how her volunteer service at the United Way of Jefferson and North Walworth Counties started with supporting their weekly bingo nights and grew to supporting several other initiatives and projects. She also describes her service as an ambassador for Setting Scoliosis Straight, drawing on her own experiences needing a back brace for treatment as a child, as well as helping raise over $18,000 to build tiny homes for veterans in southern Wisconsin and over $100,000 for local nonprofits through the Miss Whitewater and Mr. Lake Geneva pageants. Sage then discusses her AmeriCorps service over the last year with MCHS Community Corps, expanding her service at the United Way of Jefferson & North Walworth Counties Inc, including leading their Parent Perks program to collect donations for their Parent Perks and Holiday Helpers drives and distribute the children’s supplies and items and the holiday gifts to individuals in need. She continues by explaining the impacts of having to stop and restart her service due to AmeriCorps grant terminations and reinstatements and how she has balanced serving as an AmeriCorps member this year while also working full-time, volunteering with other organizations, and her responsibilities this year while serving as USOA Miss Wisconsin. Listen to learn about Sage being recognized with the Governor’s Service Award earlier this year and service lights a fire in you so that you can see what can be achieved through service and want to do even more.

  8. 15.07.2025

    Promoting Literacy and a Love of Reading by Collecting and Donating over 25,000 Books

    In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by Analena Peterson, who was one of the honorees recognized as Volunteer of the Year at the 2025 Governor’s Service Awards. Analena discusses how after struggling with reading when she was a younger student, she learned to love reading and wanted to provide books for other children to help them develop their own passion for reading. She describes how her volunteer efforts grew from donating books to local Little Free Libraries and a few nonprofit organizations to collecting, sorting, and donating over 25,000 books and opening more than twenty of her own Little Free Libraries throughout Wisconsin and in a few other states before graduating high school this May. Analena discusses how the connections she has made through participating in pageants has expanded her ability to open up more Little Free Libraries across the state. She also shares about volunteering to assist numerous non-literary collection drives with organizations like the Volunteer Center of Washington County.  Listen to learn how she plans to continue her volunteer efforts as she prepares to start college this fall while running track as a student athlete, including creating her own nonprofit organization to  help support her philanthropic efforts in the future.

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Info

Welcome to The S-Files, which is sponsored by Serve Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s National and Community Service Board. The S-Files is your look into the impacts and stories of AmeriCorps members and volunteers serving throughout the State of Wisconsin. In each episode, we will be digging into their Service Stories, or S-Files, to learn about the people and programs whose service is meeting critical needs across Wisconsin and enriching the lives of the people and communities they serve.

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  • Erstellt von
    Serve Wisconsin
  • Jahre aktiv
    2021 - 2026
  • Folgen
    73
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    © 2026 Serve Wisconsin