Dear Editor,
On a morning in June 2008 the Cedar River was rising. I left for work and decided to drive downtown to see how high the water was at the time. As I drove by Fareway, I was surprised to see National Guard vehicles in the parking lot. It hit me then that this was serious. This was the atmosphere that the very first Americorps teams experienced when they arrived into town. Talk about trial by fire.
Americorps members worked in Vinton and then spent weeks in Cedar Rapids cleaning and clearing flood debris from the disaster areas. Americorps were there when Vinton sustained heavy damage from the derecho of 2011 and then the massive derecho of 2020 that hit south of Vinton and severely damaged Cedar Rapids. They have contributed to many projects throughout the country.
In addition to doing their teamwork, the members also volunteered on off hours in the Vinton area to help with community organizations and projects. Many of the projects were not known around the area but were very valuable to the organization's they served.
The City of Vinton and then the private owners of the Braille School property received monthly rental income for Americorps use of the facility. The economic impact will be missed now that they are gone.
The broader cuts will be felt throughout the country with the loss of such programs as Senior Companions, which connects elderly volunteers with other people in their age group who need help and Foster Grandparents, which pairs retirees with children with special needs.
Personally, I worked for over 4 years in Iowa City as Director the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). I helped to place senior volunteers throughout the area who volunteered for Meals on Wheels, Medical Transportation, working with students through a reading program and other volunteer opportunities in the area. RSVP operates with substantial funding through Americorps.
During that time, I came to know Pete McRoberts who now is a lobbyist in Des Moines for senior issues and RSVP specifically. He was quoted in an article from Politico as saying: "When people think of AmeriCorps, we think of young volunteers, but it's much larger than that," said Pete McRoberts, a former corps member and AmeriCorps advisory board chair. "There are tens of thousands of retired senior volunteers." Pete was part of the first class of Americorps in Vinton.
McRoberts said the effects will be felt across the country, especially in rural areas where the organization has long enjoyed bipartisan support. "This is huge in rural Iowa where we don't have a ton of nursing homes," he said. "To have that dissolved in this way is such a loss."
Additionally, Pete wrote on his Facebook page; "31 years ago, I had the honor of a lifetime to join the first class of the civilian national service,
AmeriCorps NCCC.
Over the decades, more than a generation of patriots have served America not for recognition, and certainly not for compensation. We and the corpsmembers who followed just did our jobs. More than a million people" The question I have is where are the Republicans and other Trump supporters even in our local community with at least an acknowledgement that the Trump Administration is doing real harm to the way we live, tearing down many of the constructs that we once thought was necessary for a productive and helpful society? How much do we have to lose, before those supporters speak to the welfare of our country and not a sycophant to a wannabe dictator.
The Trump Administration and DOGE cut the funding in their words because the organization does not align with the administration's goals. As with many of the areas that have been a victim of Musk's chain saw, the value of the programs is only viewed as dollars not the intrinsic worth of the programs considered at all.
What is really at the core of this cutting is an indifference to human dignity and concern for others. The reason is very clear; our country is run by a person who is unable or unwilling to have empathy for others. If there is not a financial benefit, it is not worth doing. How far are Trump supporters willing to let our current administration destroy what we used to consider necessary for a vibrant and just country?
https://www.newsweek.com/doge-cuts-thousands-disasters-let-go-2061012
https://apnews.com/article/americorps-volunteers-fema-doge-05b1d1cd53e0b5b9f64c17eaba7adf95
https://www.kcrg.com/2025/04/18/vinton-community-remembers-impact-americorps-workers/
Rosemary Schwartz
I contacted Rob Levis, former director of Americorps in Vinton for comment but he is not allowed to make any public statements.
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I do not understand how so many on the Left can't get their heads around the fact that our Federal Government is broke! With trillions of dollars in debt, steps have to be taken now to save our entire system. Cutting the fraudulent and wasteful spending in Social Security is what will save Social Security. We as a nation cannot continue on the path of throwing money at every single Social program. Cuts have to be made. There has been so much waste, fraud and abuse and diverting billions of tax payer dollars to support illegals is like shooting ourselves in the foot and then complaining about it.
Biden did nothing to fix these problems and one could easily claim he made the problem a hell of a lot worse.
President Trump is doing exactly what he needs to be doing. I do wish he would bite his tongue at times and allow his actions to speak for themselves but he is doing exactly what needs to be done and he or his family members are not taking bribes from China either, unlike the Biden Crime Family did for years..
Your response illustrates my point. All you wrote about was the money. No where did you mention the ramifications of Musk chain-sawing programs and services that are vital to many citizens and has and will cause a lot of pain.
I can pretty much guarantee you that every Democrat believe that spending is out of control. The difference is that while Republicans talk of tax cuts for the very rich, Democrats care about our fellow citizens who may need help with programs and services. There has been waste from both political parties and there are ways to cut them without causing immense pain. They could start with the ever-bloated defense budget.
I will also add that under Trump 1 the U.S. Debt rose 40.43% adding 8.18 trillion dollars to the debt. Mostly from tax cuts to the very rich. You always complain that I never say anything negative about Biden but at the same time where has been concern over the debt that Trump created?
In comparison President Biden added 6.17 trillion to the debt which is 21.7%. I will state this that was wrong as well if you will admit that Trump added more than Biden did.
I could include a very long list to show how Trump lacks empathy. Trump only looks to things as how they are a positive for him, a zero/sum game where if you get something, I lose nad vice-a-versa.
How can a cabinet full of billionaires have any clue how the rest of us live. Example: Commerce Secretary Lutnik made the claim that no one would be upset or even miss if their social security check would not arrive that month. Maybe it would not bother you but it sure would cause mayhem in my life if I missed that check.
Did you see Trump “Easter” message? He cannot let a holiday go by without sending a message of grievance and self-pity instead of just wishing everyone a Happy Easter.
You also have complained about how much money President Biden spent out of the White House but nothing from you that Trump will spend more for golf trips to and from Florida than Biden ever did. And that is the empathy again. While is cutting and hurting even those who voted for him, Trump thinks nothing of spend millions on golf trips. Trump expects everyone to sacrifice why does not doing a little sacrificing himself.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/us-debt-by-president.html
Rosemary Schwartz
I did enjoy the interview with Elon and crew when they were talking about how they are trying to go at the cuts with a scalpel and not just randomly cutting things.
And no, Social Security, Veterans, Medicaid isn't on the chopping block...for those in Rio Linda IYKYK
Now find something else.
The Democrats and some gutless Republicans love to spend money. The problem with this logic is that eventually you run out of other people's money! Where were the rants from you about the wasteful and stupid idiotic ideas to push DEI in other countries wasting billions of US tax dollars? Or the hundreds of millions in dollars to benefit transgender farmers in San Francisco? I doubt they even exist.. Why were you silent when a big part of Biden's aid to Ukraine was to finance their retirement system for public workers and prop up their economy? You said nothing! When arms and ammunition we gave to Ukraine showed up in the hands of the Mexican Cartels, still you remained silent. When Biden opened the Southern and Northern boarders, even flying in chartered flights full of un-vetted migrants to overwhelm our social services, public schools and hospitals you said nothing. Even when the lie of Russian Collusion was proven to have been started by the Clinton campaign you remained silent. Now it is your party of clowns who are pushing for due process for illegal aliens and terrorists and yet the J6ers where held with no due process for over 18 months and your party remained silent. Clearly a lot of Americans were guilty of no more that taking a tour of the Capital and were led by Capital Police. Yet you and your party screamed bloody murder and yet again remained silent over the thousands of businesses burned and destroyed in countless US Cities during the BLM protests. We won't even talk about the murders that occured. Yes, you remained silent during all of it. Just that Trump is bad.. you have zero credibility. You hate everything that has made this country great and love everything that divides us and threatens this country. You make that abundantly clear.
In the words of General Ulysses S Grant at the start of the Civil War.. "there are but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots." It would appear that the Left's move to being the party of Socialists makes Grant's words ring true again today.
You don’t get it. Part of the fun is watching some of you go nuts when hearing the truth. By the way, how’s your portfolio? I thought getting Trump in would provide you with riches, what is it? “like you have never seen before”. So far not happening. You can’t even blame Biden for this financial mayhem.
Rosemary Schwartz
Rosemary Schwartz
Like I have told others. You don't like what a write DON'T READ IT. No one is forcing you to read the column. Someone needs to keep tabs on this lawless President.
It doesn't appear to me that you are driving anyone nuts, as you say except yourself. You make my point by the weekly posts expressing the unhealthy obsession you have for one man. You make a great argument for greater funding for mental health. Clearly, you slipped through the crack somewhere. You display a vindictive attitude towards one single man comparable to that of a female stalker who was turned down at prom by a guy who did not know she existed. For you to make it you're personal mission to educate everyone how you feel about President Trump appears to be wasted energy on your part when you had nothing to say about all of the blunders made by the previous President. At this point the weekly rants are comparable to the mess made by a racoon getting into the garbage can once a week and you just know you are going to have to clean up the trash and put it back in the can. The next week, it's the same story, another rant and more trash to pick up.