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Maddie is a native of Louisville growing up in the Buechel area and our AmeriCorps Vista. This is her third year as an Americorps Member but her first year in the VISTA program. 

Maddie joined New Roots August 3, 2021, and will remain involved in New Roots’ 2022 Fresh Stop Markets! Here are a few words from Ms. Clements:

Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky I watched my parents struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Health wasn’t a huge priority. Mcdonalds was a cheap and easy dinner service for my parents to get food on the table especially with my father working two fulltime jobs. I was a Girl Scout for 13 years growing up as well and participated in many service projects including volunteering for the Volunteers Of America women’s and children’s shelter. Giving service to my local community has always been a passion of mine. I attended Northern Kentucky University for a year and a half but because of financial reasons had to stop attending. This led me to working for Americorps to pay off my student debt as well as allowing me to do something good for my community. I started as an Americorps Member working in the REACH mentor program at Marion C. Moore middle school in the FRYSC office. I mentored 30 students each year, working with them to raise their grades and increase attendance. This is one of the earliest dropout prevention programs. I learned a lot about social emotional learning. Students with other issues at home, poverty being a big one are less likely to be able to focus and learn. I saw first hand there are many other needs within our community and fresh food access is a big one. Unfortunately, most students do not want to take home food items from school in front of their friends and we could only give non-perishable items. One day I was scrolling through social media and found New Roots and then saw on the website that they had an opening for an Americorps VISTA. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to be more hands on in the community working specifically with this food access issue. I was also going through my own healthy eating journey, trying to unlearn the habits I grew up with. I hope to continue to learn and grow with all the shareholders this season. 

Maddies favorite vegetables are zucchini and radishes!