FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (WOAY) – Two AmeriCorps members at New Roots Community Farm were terminated last week with no notice, part of a national wave of federal cuts that eliminated more than 30,000 positions.
While the termination came without official warning, an internal leak had already put the team on edge.
“There was a leak online of what AmeriCorps services they were going to cut, and we were on that leak. So already my hopes were low,” AmeriCorps service member Grayson Cooper said.
Abby Trombley and Cooper had served in their roles for just under two months when the news arrived.
It came at an unexpected moment, just after finishing a field trip with Fayette County schools that brought more than 100 students to the farm.
“We had just done a field trip. There were like 120 kids,” Cooper said. “We were working, and one of my managers asked me to pull something up on my phone, and that’s when I saw the email saying ‘cease service immediately.’”
“It felt like we just started scratching the surface, and now it seems like it’s over, you know? It’s very sad to the whole team, we’re all bummed out,” Trombley said.
New Roots Community Farm has employed AmeriCorps members for years, and they often serve essential roles in the community.
“We have had AmeriCorps service members since late 2019,” said Susie Wheeler, executive director at New Roots. “They’ve participated in our farm-to-school and community program development.”
A Bridge Between the Farm and the Community
Trombley and Cooper were responsible for the farm’s community outreach efforts.
“I do a lot of the community outreach side of things,” said Cooper. “So I do field trips, 4-H, community work as well as days with the farm team, plus I’m out here planting, harvesting, doing all kinds of hands-in-the-dirt work as well.”
Day to day, they worked both in the fields and with the public.
“It varies,” Trombley said. “We’re doing pop-up farmers markets, hosting school kids for field trips, and leading programs to teach kids about community and local farming, where their food comes from.”
Cooper echoed the impact of those experiences, especially in a state where access to fresh food and environmental education is often limited.
“We take produce to schools that give kids better free access to local produce,” he said. “It improves health… and gives them more power over themselves, to be like, ‘You don’t have to go to the store and buy this every single week. You have the power to do this for yourself and for your community.’”
Though they’d only been in their roles a short time, both had already woven themselves into the lives of those in the community.
Trombley relocated to Fayetteville from Tucker County in April. Cooper had just moved back to his home, West Virginia, after finishing school out of state.
“I planned my life around this,” Cooper said. “I care about this farm. I care about this work.”
AmeriCorps Response
While local AmeriCorps partners have remained in constant contact, service members say the national office has been largely silent.
“The national office has been absolutely crickets. I’ve heard nothing from them,” Cooper said.
AmeriCorps programs are structured in tiers, with funding flowing from the national office to state and regional partners. In West Virginia, New Roots receives its AmeriCorps placements through an intermediary organization called High Rocks.
“The West Virginia AmeriCorps, absolutely fantastic, they’ve been doing meetings every single day, emailing every single day with new updates. They’ve been fighting to get us all educational awards back,” Cooper said. “They’re currently filing suits, trying to get West Virginia to also file a suit—because there’s currently over two dozen states that are suing against this.”
Although the local office has been extremely helpful, Wheeler echoed confusion with the decision coming from the top.
“It is hard to understand why a program that, from my personal and professional perspective, has been hugely impactful, has brought many people to West Virginia and helped them start new career pathways, would be cut,” she said.
As state officials and service organizations worked behind the scenes, the New Roots team turned its attention to what it could control, how to keep growing.
Shifting Plans, Staying Grounded
For New Roots Community Farm, the termination came with no roadmap. There was no transition period, no phase-out plan—just a sudden loss of support.
“Our first response to something that felt like a pretty sudden and unexpected change is to say, how do we continue operating in that plan?” said Wheeler. “And so that’s what we want to do.”
Wheeler said their absence didn’t disrupt the farm’s mission, but it meant redistributing responsibilities at a time when programming was already underway.
“We’re in the middle of garden development in schools,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got the 4-H club up and running, summer internships on deck, and fresh produce markets starting.”
Cooper said the staff response was immediate. In the absence of clear guidance from AmeriCorps, the farm didn’t pause to wait for answers, it improvised and adapted.
“I expected them to say, we cannot get that money. I’m so sorry you have to go. But they were like, no, we are going to make this happen, you sacrificed a lot for this, so we’re going to make sure that this works for you,” Cooper said.
“So we’ve launched a small fundraising campaign to figure out how to keep them on,” Wheeler explained.
A Community Shows Up
The team at New Roots launched the campaign quietly on Monday, with a $12,000 goal to keep both Abby and Grayson on staff through the summer.
“I was thinking, maybe we’ll get $1,000,” Cooper said.
Within the first 24 hours, the fund was over $10,000.
“For us to be over halfway to our goal within 12 hours was absolutely insane. It just kind of gave me hope again in my community, just seeing how much people care about the farm, care about service members, and just care about people trying to do good work in Appalachia,” Cooper continued.
“Seeing the community come together is really all you can ask for. And that’s the whole point of what we’re trying to do, bring the community together,” Trombley said.
For those behind the scenes at New Roots, it is about taking care of those who have done the same.
“These are individuals that have, signed up to and committed to this program and have been holding up their end of the deal and have been cut loose for something that is not related to their performance,” said Wheeler. “We want to help figure out how to how to take care of them as they have pledged to us.”
More Than Two People
In a time already marked by uncertainty, the sudden termination of these service roles has unsettled the foundation many people rely on, the belief that hard work and commitment are met with stability.
“I think it creates a lot of insecurity for people to think, why? What is my guarantee if I work hard, if I do a good job? It undermines that sense of security that people want when choosing to engage in service,” Wheeler said.
For Abby Trombley, the experience raised a question that hasn’t left her mind since the moment she saw the email.
“I think it’s important to pay attention to it because if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere, right? So impacting our community could also impact your community.”
Grayson Cooper echoed that tension. He left his job and moved back to West Virginia for this role, hoping to contribute to the state that raised him.
“I had to quit my job, move completely out of my last area, back here, just for everything to be cut.”
But even in the aftermath, he said, the support from the community helped steady that doubt.
“I care about this farm. I care about this work, so I’m still going to put my all in it, no matter what the outcome is and what these cuts are doing, and seeing community support has kind of helped me feel like I made the right decision coming back to West Virginia.”
The fundraiser is still active, with a goal of raising $12,000 by the end of May. The money will help fund Trombley and Cooper’s positions through the growing season and support ongoing education and food access programs across the county.
“That money is going to go towards paying Abby and Grayson to continue to perform their role. They would not be designated as an AmeriCorps service member, but they will either be transitioned into employees of New Roots or operating under an internship program being supported by some of our partner organizations,” Wheeler said.
Donations can be made at newrootscommunityfarm.com or in person at the farm’s market events.
