Every penny matters to Bridget Zuniga, Powell Economic Partnership Grants and Giving AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. Zuniga founded the ongoing “Loose Change for Local Change” program, a long-term fundraiser that aims to collect your spare cents to make a big difference in Powell.

When you shop at local retail establishments and restaurants around town — a dozen so far — you might see a smartly designed informational flyer attached to a pint-sized jar with a few pennies, nickels, dimes and maybe even a quarter at the bottom. And you might wonder how such a small amount of money can help as you stare at the seemingly insignificant coinage donated.

However, Zuniga is thrilled with every penny brought in because she knows that it’s one cent closer to her goal of helping her city.

All funds collected during the year-long campaign will support the PEP Foundation’s community development projects in local foods access, agriculture education and outdoor recreation. For example, the Wyoming Grown Project, led by a group of community stakeholders, is designing a food hub that would coordinate food production activities between local producers and institutional buyers who feed people locally. As part of this project, PEP is piloting a food security garden model and is donating the produce to the American Legion for redistribution through its food and commodities program.

Zuniga’s goal is to collect $4,000 in the next 12 months.

“My role is to find money for the foundation, so I’m out there building relationships and telling them who we are and what we’re doing and earning their trust to help with our programs,” she said said. “The [Loose Change for Local Change donation jars] gives us visibility as well.”

Bringing youth to the workforce

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native has lived in Powell for years and is a natural for working with the public. Her confidence, determination and honesty are her strengths, topped off with an honest smile that brightens every room she enters.

“We needed somebody who was not afraid to go out and speak to people, spread awareness of the project in the community and ask for donations,” said PEP Executive Director Michela Morrissey. “You’re going around asking people for money. Not everyone’s comfortable doing that. She is very personable and outgoing. She is willing to go out and do the work and make those connections, which is very valuable.”

Zuniga is not alone in Powell: There are currently two other VISTA program service members in Park County, being among 29 members who have served through a PEP sponsorship; four of those VISTAs served multiple one-year terms.

Morrissey herself came to Powell as one of those volunteers. She went on to work at the Homesteader Museum and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West before being appointed as PEP’s director earlier this year.

She said the VISTA program is important to PEP because it helps bring a young workforce to Park County and the Powell area.

However, Zuniga is unlike many VISTA volunteers: she waited until she was in her mid 30s to go to college. While most of the volunteers are only a few years removed from secondary school, Zuniga has a 6-year-old son.

She is one of very few Powell VISTAS who started their careers late in life, but even retirees can apply for VISTA programs.

“VISTA isn’t just for the kids right out of college,” Morrissey said. She noted that Renee Robinson, who came to Powell from Chicago, was a retired school teacher in her 60s.

“She just liked community service,” Morrissey recalled. “She liked volunteering. She liked helping communities better themselves.”

Making an impact

What Zuniga lost by not attending college right after high school, she gained back with her maturity and added diligence in the classroom. And college means more now than ever. Raising a child is expensive, but the best side benefit is relating a real life situation of not giving up on your dreams to her son.

Zuniga is also only one of three volunteers who have joined the agency who are from Powell. She moved here four years ago to be near family, after previously living in Dallas.

Yet, like every single one of the 29 volunteers who have served the city through the program, Zuniga finds it important to make a positive impact through her work.

“I was looking for a career that would align with my education and my passions,” she said. “I know I needed a job, but if I’m gonna work, I’d rather do something that I’m actually gonna have some passion for.”

She wasn’t looking for an easy job. She spent the past couple summers working for area farmers while attending classes and she’s willing to get her hands in the dirt. But if everything goes as she hopes, she’ll be ready to lead after her VISTA year is over.

The VISTA program requires a one-year commitment and comes with a small monthly stipend to help with living expenses. After Zuniga completes her term of service, she can receive a Segal Education Award (valued at approximately $7,400) to pay for a range of education expenses including student loans or future education.

Zuniga and other professionals accepting the VISTA challenge also have a unique opportunity to join the federal government as an employee. Once volunteers successfully complete their service, they receive one year of noncompetitive eligibility for employment in the federal government. This special hiring status enables members to apply for federal jobs with the advantage of not having to go through the standard public competitive selection process, find employment not available to the general public and have a speedy application process.

More than 7,000 AmeriCorps members in the VISTA program serve in every state and U.S. territory annually with the goal of making positive change in communities.

“Past VISTAS have worked at a number of local organizations, including the Homesteader Museum, Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, the Northwest College Foundation,” Morrissey said. “They’ve done a lot of good for those organizations as well as the community and help build a workforce. And some of them stuck around the area and continue to add to that that workforce.”