Provided by the Mt. Adams Institute

Matt West is a U.S. Navy veteran in his second full-time term with VetsWork: Environment, an AmeriCorps program through the Mt. Adams Institute that supports career development for veterans seeking a civilian career in natural resource and public lands management.

Matt serves with the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA), where he engages other veterans in service opportunities that restore the natural environment of the South Puget Sound and Joint Base Lewis McCord area. Matt designed an internship program for veterans with a community partner, the Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM), that has helped over 25 veterans develop job skills in the environmental restoration sector. This program has doubled in size in its second year.

Matt is passionate about helping other veterans connect with the natural world. He believes there is a mutual benefit when veterans work on environmental restoration projects: the land benefits from attention, and – equally important for Matt – are the personal and potentially therapeutic affects of this work for Corpsmembers. Matt says, “By offering veterans a chance to heal the Earth, I have witnessed incredible transitions of incredible people doing incredible work.”

Matt’s civic engagement was also demonstrated through his personal Community Action Project. He worked closely with local organizations to secure donated materials, equipment and land, to create an edible garden for the community. The garden is situated in an urban neighborhood where children from 60 percent of the households receive free or reduced cost school lunches. Matt’s objectives were multi-dimensional: he sought to engage veterans in the project to engage their ethic for community service; he wanted to provide access to healthy food options for this low-income community; and he wanted to demonstrate to local residents the value of growing local, healthy food. The garden has been installed and the community is actively engaged in its maintenance. It was an incredible project with clear community impacts.

Through all of Matt’s experiences with VetsWork, he came to realize something: he loves service. Although he has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and thought he would continue looking for a career in that field, Matt has discovered that he finds value and purpose in helping others.

Over the course of his 18 months in the program, Matt has developed a place for himself and his family in the national service world. He was even recently asked to share his thoughts about his experience to an audience of 200 supporters, including Washington State representatives and Veterans Affairs officials.

As a result of his hard work at his site and in his community, Matt was recently offered an employment contract with his sponsoring organization to support the internship program he developed as a VetsWork AmeriCorps member. He will begin this position at the end of his term of service.