Cal Poly graduate Megan Mastache was given the first California Americorps Member of the Year service award by Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver on May 6.
AmeriCorps is a national service organization, considered the domestic version of Peace Corps. It is comprised of divisions of volunteers who assist non-profit and public service agencies nationwide. Mastache was honored for her impressive volunteer work over the past two years.
San Luis Obispo County’s division of AmeriCorps is the Central Coast Volunteer Corps (CCVC) and was established in 2007. There are currently 35 CCVC members in the San Luis Obispo area, serving 28 nonprofit organizations.
The AmeriCorps award given to Mastache by Schwarzenegger and Shriver is the first of its kind, and singled Mastache out among the roughly 8,000 AmeriCorps members in California.
At the Governor and First Lady’s Medals for Service awards ceremony in Sacramento, National Guard General Mary Kight introduced Mastache as “a young woman who uniquely demonstrates the power of a single individual to create remarkable community change … She has already made a tremendous impact in the lives of countless Californians.”
Mastache said she was surprised, but very honored when she heard she had won the AmeriCorps award, adding that she believes an important part of being a dedicated volunteer is never expecting to be recognized.
“I was so proud and really in awe of all the other honorees, and I left wanting to get involved in all of their organizations,” Mastache said.
Mastache’s dedication to serving others began long before she joined AmeriCorps. While at Cal Poly as an art student, Mastache was involved with groups such as Student Community Services via Student Life and Leadership. She joined the CCVC soon after graduating in 2008. Jesse Torrey, the AmeriCorps coordinator on campus, said it was clear Mastache truly enjoyed her work.
“Megan didn’t really find her passion for service until she came to Cal Poly, and she’s really established SLO as her community,” Torrey said. “She’s an excellent example of how much AmeriCorps can give to students and how much students can give back.”
Since joining AmeriCorps, Mastache has been involved with several non-profit organizations in San Luis Obispo. She helped begin the Developing through Art program in 2006, which gives children in homeless shelters the opportunity to express themselves through art. She also helped establish the Food Share Initiative in 2005, a program that brings leftover food from San Luis Obispo restaurants to shelters. She still personally collects food and donates it to local shelters once a week.
In 2009, Mastache’s primary position was with the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum, where she established the museum’s volunteer program.
Mauria Betts, the museum’s marketing manager, said Mastache was an ideal volunteer.
“Megan has a great amount of energy — she was really like a ray of sunshine for us. It’s clearly really important for her to make a difference in everything she does,” Betts said.
Mastache is currently working at the Sexual Assault Recovery and Prevention (SARP) Center, but said every place she has worked for has been special to her.
“When you see how many opportunities there are to help, just in San Luis Obispo, you can’t stop,” Mastache said. “It sounds cliche, but it really gives you a warm fuzzy feeling to help other people. I always leave someplace I’ve volunteered at with so much energy, and I can’t help being proud of making a difference.”
Graduate school is somewhere in her future, and she said she hopes to get a master’s degree in public policy or social work. But for now, she said she is content with working at the SARP Center, which she said is one of the most rewarding places she has worked with.
“Going from the Children’s Museum to the SARP Center this year was a big change, but I really enjoy working with the survivors of sexual assault,” Mastache said. “AmeriCorps has allowed me to work in many areas that I want to be involved in. It’s the perfect step between college and a career in social work.”