In the VISTA film, "A Year Towards Tomorrow," Volunteer Laurie Schimoeller is shown working with residents of Lukachukai on the Navajo reservation in Northeast Arizona. The documentary film shows VISTAs on the Indian reservation and in a Negro slum in Atlanta, Ga. A new VISTA film, "While I Run This Race," focuses on two migrant communities in Arizona. Both films were produced by Sun Dial Films, Inc. "A Year Towards Tomorrow" is available now in 16 mm print running 16 minutes and in 16 mm and 35 mm prints running $28\frac{1}{2}$ minutes. "While I Run This Race" will be available this spring in 16 mm. Inquiries should be directed to Community Relations Division, VISTA, Office of Economic Opportunity, Washington, D.C., 20506.
A Look At VISTA By Nation's Leaders
When President Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act to finance the national effort against poverty for this year, he praised "the 3,500 VISTA Volunteers living and working among the poor in the finest spirit of American sharing and helping."
Other national figures have taken note of the work of the Volunteers. The comments collected here indicate that if the Volunteers' wages are low, VIS-TAs receive high praise.
"The easiest thing for this rich country is to dole out cash. What is more difficult is to be able to extend a hand of fellowship, the hand of assistance, the hand of training, to help people slowly but surely lift themselves . . . I submit that the VISTA Volunteers have done much to open up the dialogue between people, to break down false barriers, to get people to talk about human concerns, rather than these false standards of race,
or color, or geography or social origins." Vice President Humphrey.
"I know that when you go into ghetto communities, especially in the urban center, most of you are going to have real problems, or have had real problems . . . I'm glad you're there, however, and hope many of you will go back . . . What you are doing there is something constructive." James Farmer, former national director of CORE.
Volunteers Describe VISTA Experience
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develop their own.
Theodore Weisgal, San Jose State College, California; assigned to the Department of Education in Baltimore, Maryland, and working at Garrison Jr. High School: "I live in a section called Harlem Park with two other VISTAs. It's a completely Negro neighborhood. Our house is really bad. We have rats and it takes half an hour to fill the tub—that is, if someone doesn't do the dishes downstairs. Then we just don't get water. Since I can move out at the end of the year, it's not unbearable. But for the people in the neighborhood who have nowhere else to go, it's plenty rough."
George Paganini, College of San Mateo, California; assigned to Hull House's Uptown center in Chicago: "A lot of my friends think I'm nuts, but most of my age group think that what I'm doing is great. We've formed a couple of tenant unions. Four days a week I work with kids at the Center. It's very strange. All the kids love you. With a lot of them—the guys especially—the VISTAs are father figures. We try to avoid it, but it's hard."
Steven Shufro, Reed College, Oregon; assigned to the New York City Housing and Redevelopment Board: "It's frustrating to have it in your power to do something and meet such resistance. But at least I've made a dent."
I am interested in joining VISTA. Please send me an application and information.
Return to:
Director of Recruitment VISTA
1111 18th St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20506
"They go about their work with dedication and devotion, but little publicity . . . their efforts should be better known to all Americans—not only so that they may receive the esteem they deserve, but so that they may be joined by other Americans to help them with their important jobs. There is so much to be done." Senator Robert Kennedy, New York.
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"They don't talk about poverty they are right out there in the front ranks doing something about it. They live and work with the poor of our nation . . . Their reward is the satisfaction of helping less fortunate Americans help themselves." Senator Thomas H. Kuchel, California.
"VISTA Volunteers have proven themselves one of the most effective weapons of the entire War on Poverty. We think they have done a tremendous job." Governor Edward T. Breathitt, Kentucky.
"VISTA Volunteers in Alaska are called upon to perform their duties under circumstances few of them could have visualized before their service began. They have performed them well . . . I have been impressed with all of them, for each demonstrated a concern for and an understanding of the needs and aspirations of the native people." Senator E. L. Bartlett, Alaska.
VISTA In Alaska - 'Are You Kidding?'
"I am requesting that several hundred more VISTA Volunteers like you be assigned to New York City . . . New York needs more people with this kind of commitment to service . . . New York needs each and every one of you and hundreds more besides." Mayor John Lindsay, New York City, addressing a group of Volunteers.
There are now well over 100 VISTA Volunteers in Alaska and most of them seem to think it's the greatest place in the world, to serve and to learn.
Charles Hofheimer, who attended the University of Virginia and Old Dominion College, might be classified as the most enthusiastic. Not only has he spent an entire year in Alaska in an effort to improve the economic and social lot of the residents of New Stuyahok, but he recruited his fiancee to serve there too. After they were married June 5th in Virginia, the couple returned to Alaska to serve as VISTA Volunteers together.
There are about 35,000 native Alaskans and most of them live in remote villages where the majority of the VISTA Volunteers make their homes. The unemployment rate in the villages is sky-high—between 25 and 75 percent. In winter it sometimes soars to 90 percent.
The infant mortality rate among native Alaskans is $ 33 \frac{1}{2} $ percent compared to 6 percent for the rest of the nation. And 9 out of 10 village families live in homes that fall far below acceptable standards.
After six weeks of intensive training at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the VISTA Volunteers fan out across the largest state by bush plane to their year-long assignments in some of the most isolated communities in North America.
Hofheimer remembers that he was accepted for the Coast Guard and VISTA on the same day. "I chose VISTA because it presented more of a challenge," he said.
However, when he first set eyes on his village of New Stuyahok from a bush plane, he asked the pilot: "Are you kidding?"
Called one of the lost villages, few have ever heard of New Stuyahok which nestles on the side of a hill on the Nushigak River which flows into Bristol Bay. But in a few weeks, Hofheimer was not only knee-deep in snow, but also in village activities. He's more than just a welcome
visitor; he's now a respected and valued member of the community that boasts 192 citizens. Hofheimer should know. He took the census when he first arrived.
Hofheimer started a Head Start program for pre-schoolers, which he teaches in the morning. In the evening, he conducts adult education classes. Two other projects: build a shelter house for plane passengers and provide electricity for the village.
With Hofheimer's help, the village has applied to the Community Action Program for funds to finance the generator which will supply electricity. Members of his adult education class wrote individual letters to accompany the formal request. The housewives were especially enthusiastic. "We need electricity so the children will have lights to study by," many of them wrote. Almost every letter also spoke wistfully of washing machines.
Bush planes are the villages only link with the outside. In winter the planes land on skis on the frozen river. In summer, they use floats. During the spring thaw the ice breaks up and no plane can land. The village is then completely isolated.
When his second year in VISTA is over, Hofheimer plans to return to college and switch his major from literature to sociology. He is thinking about doing it at the University of Alaska.
Commenting on VISTA's program in Alaska, Senator E. L. Bartlett recently said, "conditions in some villages are worse than conditions in the worst big city slums without taking into consideration the sub-zero winter climate.
"Despite these hardships, VISTA Volunteers are carrying on programs of health, education and community development. They are helping to build sawmills, to develop water supplies, and to educate village residents. Most encouraging of all, the Volunteers are being accepted by the villagers, who are anxious to improve their lot."
VISTAs working in health clinics in all areas of the country may follow up on cases seen by doctors or ferret out new ones.