Rural Action is currently building a VISTA Alumni Network and would love to hear from all former VISTA members. Whether you were one of the first Rural Action VISTAs who renovated the Trimble office or you’ve just served with us in the past few years, we hope you will use the VISTA Network to stay involved.

On this page, we will be compiling alumni profiles to help our VISTA members stay in touch with one another and share resources for employment, organizing, and more.

To join the Rural Action VISTA Alumni Network, post a profile, or share ideas for getting the network started, contact Tori Patterson at tori@ruralaction.org

Liz Bonny (July 2006 – September 2007)
I served with the Youth Act program for a little over a year and truly value the work I did there and the amazing people I met through the organization. I have since moved to Lawrence, Kansas where I am working with developmentally disabled people at Community Living Opportunities. I am getting residency here so that I can go to the University of Kansas next fall to begin a Masters of Social Welfare program. Partially due to my time at Rural Action, I am interested in working with children and families, possibly as a school social worker. I continue my creative pursuits, and have a website where I sell smaller items that I have made: harvestrybyhand.etsy.com. I continue to weave and hope to show more pieces in Lawrence in the future. Contact me at lizbonny@gmail.com.

Katie Durham (August 2007 – 2008)
I worked with Rural Action as the Rural Renewal VISTA, helping to facilitate the learning circles that came out of the second Rural Renewal Strategy process. Today, I am a full-time student at University of Texas at Austin working towards my Masters of Social Work, with a specialization in female empowerment and pregnancy prevention. The knowledge gained and relationships formed during my year at Rural Action will always continue to inform whatever work I am doing – this is a fact. VISTA served as a fun-filled, lifelong learning tool that I’ll continue to recommend to anyone looking to make a change in their world. Anyone wanting to get in touch can reach me at katie.durham@gmail.com.

Kelsey McCoy (July 2007 – 2008)
At Rural Action, I served as VISTA for Media and Communication Development. Currently, I am working on my Masters in Communication at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where I research new media and teach undergraduate courses in writing and public speaking. I look forward to keeping in touch with the amazing folks at Rural Action and hope to be involved with their future work in southeast Ohio. You can contact me here: mccoy4@illinois.edu.

Sara Peach (2005 - 2007)
In my first year at Rural Action I was the Media VISTA, so I worked to share stories about our organization's work with supporters, journalists and the public. I also co-founded the Rural Rambler, an online multimedia newsletter. In my second year, I became the Rural Renewal Strategy VISTA. In that role, I helped our members to craft a strategic vision for our work for the next decade. I am currently a Roy H. Park Fellow and master's student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill, where I specialize in environmental reporting. Since entering the program, I have interned at The (Raleigh) News & Observer and received awards for my documentary work from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.