AmeriCorps NCCC

Bringing AmeriCorps NCCC to Oregon

2012-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

The AmeriCorps NCCC blog continues with its guest bloggers during the month of January.

Today's post comes from Amy, an AmeriCorps NCCC Alum, who currently serves as the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for the Johnson Creek Watershed Council.

Amy is pictured here during a Veteran's Day Parade (second from left)

As a NCCC Class XII Alum (Charleston, SC campus), I understand the incredible impact and quality of work an AmeriCorps NCCC team can bring to an organization. I currently run the volunteer program at a small place-based environmental nonprofit called the Johnson Creek Watershed Council in Portland. Thoughts of bringing a team to Oregon had stayed with me since I graduated from the program in 2006. I said to myself, “Well go for it then!”

After building a new partnership with the Salvation Army’s Camp Kuratli, I had all the pieces in place for a successful host application and NCCC team Green 2 arrived on January 10, 2012.

Looking back at how rewarding and educational my NCCC experience was, I knew that bringing a team here to help my organization’s mission would also enable me to help facilitate this learning process for Green 2.

AmeriCorps NCCC helped shape my career – it affirmed my intense interest in community service and exposed me to the kinds of professions I could do to continue working with other volunteers. The AmeriCorps NCCC experience is a rich training ground for Volunteer Coordinators. It gave me many of the insights and skills I use in my career today, communicating and working with volunteers.

Invasive species removal and native tree and shrub planting (over 20,000) is the name of the game for Green 2 while they’re in Oregon. I hope I can help them reflect internally on this project and the job we’ve given them. It might inspire them to pursue professions in Natural Resource Management or Volunteer Coordination – like me.

Thank you Green 2 and AmeriCorps NCCC!

~Amy

Raising the Bar: Not only to serve but to lead

2012-01-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

The NCCC Blog continues its month of guest bloggers. Today's guest blogger is Taft, 25, from Atlanta, GA, who is a new team leader at the Atlantic Region campus.

Imagine that a NCCC team has helped your community during a natural disaster. You then join NCCC and, within the first two weeks of NCCC training, you meet and serve alongside the President of the United States.

I have eagerly anticipated the day I could serve as a Member in the AmeriCorps NCCC. I feel a deep debt of gratitude to NCCC for helping my fire department find the strength and capability to complete the daunting task of creating a fire buffer around Crown King, Arizona in 2007.

On Monday January 16, the national Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, I found myself standing behind President Obama wearing an NCCC uniform. Only a week and a half into NCCC training, and I’ve already raised the bar for the proudest day of my life!

Monday morning was a whirlwind of waiting, being moved around, being shuffled in and out of crowds and going through security checkpoints. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but I found myself standing in front of a crowd of volunteers with fellow NCCC Members Casey and Toby.

We stood along a wall while speakers took turns addressing the crowd. I had been told that the President was going to speak, and I knew that a photo opportunity was planned, but nothing could have prepared me for the moment he stepped into the room with his family and shook our hands one by one. He then stood ten feet directly in front of me and delivered a speech that I will never forget.

“There isn’t anyone who can’t serve … nobody who can’t help somebody else,” said President Obama.

Those words will follow me for as long as I live.

There is a phrase that I have heard repeatedly from several facilitators during the NCCC training. The facilitators keep saying, “I can’t do what you (NCCC Members) do.”

Nonsense.

It is my new ambition to spend my life helping people find that strength just like NCCC helped me find it in the Bradshaw Mountains of Arizona. I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond. Each of us is engaged in a struggle for life. All of us are strong. Everyone has the capacity not only to serve, but to lead.

~Taft

NCCC Atlantic Region Class 18 Team Leaders (L to R: Patrick, Casey, Brooke, Tiffancy, Taft, Toby)

You too can serve and lead. NCCC is currently accepting Team Leader applications until March 1, 2012 for the fall 2012. Consider applying as a Team Leader. For more information about applying for a Team Leader position go here

Top Ten Things I Miss From AmeriCorps NCCC

2012-01-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

The NCCC Blog will be hosting guest bloggers during the month of January, 2012. We will be back with a brand new team blog in February.

Today’s guest blogger is Heather, who was a corps member of AmeriCorps Class XVI at the Southwest Region Campus in Denver, CO. She currently resides in Maine where she spends most of her time skiing and baking.

Top Ten Things I Miss From AmeriCorps NCCC

1. Buying food in bulk from Sam’s Club and Costco

2. Transition week antics

3. Living in Denver

4. Hearing ‘Who Dat’ everywhere in New Orleans

5. Operating heavy machinery like a pro

6. Hiking giant mountains

7. Unusual and interesting daily projects

8. Being able to say, “oh yeah, I’ve been there!”

9. ISP at the New Orlean’s Zoo

10. My family

~Heather

Heather serves as a member of the AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Leadership Council. The AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Leadership Council was recently established to increase NCCC's alumni engagement. The council currently consists of 11 members including 2 alums representing each region and 1 Chair. Alums are currently spear-heading committees related to new member recruitment, building relationships with project sponsors, fundraising, national days of service days, and 20th Anniversary planning. For more information or to become involved as a regional rep, please contact ncccalums@gmail.com.

2012-01-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

The NCCC Blog will be hosting guest bloggers during the month of January, 2012. We will be back with a brand new team blog in February.

Today’s guest blogger is Joe, an AmeriCorps NCCC Alum. He served as a Corps Members in Class XVI and a Team Leader in Class XVII, both at the Southwest Region campus in Denver, Colorado. Joe currently serves as the Development Officer-Annual Giving for the Edmundite Missions, headquartered in Selma, Alabama and serving rural Alabama and New Orleans, LA (http://www.edmunditemissions.org/).

Selma Water tower

Working at a non-profit in rural Alabama creates a Christmas season that even Santa himself would find stressful. Our direct mail campaign is going at full force, our non-stop food kitchen is serving upwards of 500 meals every single day, parties are being thrown for our senior adults and kids, and, all the while, our meals on wheels program is still going and growing and, as the head of the Donor Relations Department, plans must be made for the New Year and meetings must be kept with my boss.

Mass delivery of groceries to rural poor families

It’s easy to begin fearing for the hair that’s left on my head when this stress combines with the stress we all find when preparing for the holidays. However, I never wonder if I CAN accomplish all the tasks in front of me every day. I know I can get all these things done because of the skills I learned during two years of service with AmeriCorps*NCCC.

More important than the skills I learned that I use every day to help the Edmundite Missions, AmeriCorps*NCCC taught me to become part of a community in order to learn how to help.

People usually don't believe that this kind of poverty is in the U.S. I work with it everyday

The fact that 56% of the children in Selma, Alabama live in poverty is startling enough for anyone to want to help, but NCCC prepared me to learn names and faces and search for answers in the community.

The fact that more than 65% of all residents in Dallas County are food insecure (not sure where their next meal is coming from) could easily overwhelm anyone looking to help a community from the outside.

This is a picture of me with an elderly lady that receives our assistance in every way we offer it, including our Bosco meals on wheels. We also provide her with utility assistance and clothing. I got out of the office one day to help with the delivery and her gratitude nearly brought me to tears. She wouldn't stop hugging me and telling me that without us, she wouldn't make it. This picture means a lot to me.

But when you view a community the way the NCCC experience allows, it becomes in a big way your community. It’s not about feeding these poor people; it’s about feeding my neighbors. I love my job and I love helping the people of rural Alabama through fundraising and the dozen other tasks I do every day. And when I’m seeing the results of all that “paper pushing”, I feel like that "A" should still be proudly displayed on my sleeve.

I owe AmeriCorps NCCC so much. I am proud to have been selected to serve as a Southern Region representative to the AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Leadership Council. Through the next few months, I look forward to working hard with the rest of the LC to connect the fantastic alumni across the nation to the program we all love and the communities that program serves. As a proud alumnus, I must say it is truly a great time to be a member of the NCCC family!

~Joe

Joe serves as a member of the AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Leadership Council. The AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Leadership Council was recently established to increase NCCC's alumni engagement. The council currently consists of 11 members including 2 alums representing each region and 1 Chair. Alums are currently spear-heading committees related to new member recruitment, building relationships with project sponsors, fundraising, national days of service days, and 20th Anniversary planning. For more information or to become involved as a regional rep, please contact ncccalums@gmail.com.

An Open Letter to our Readers

2011-11-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

The time has come. Maple 4 is graduating November 17, 2011. This means no more projects, no more briefings, no more van rides and especially no more PT.

The team has completed over 16,000 hours of community service work in Infrastructure Improvement, Environmental Stewardship and Conservation, Urban and Rural Development, Energy Conservation, and Natural and Other Disaster Relief. The team created a quarter mile and maintained three miles of trail in Cincinnati, OH. They provided park maintenance to four parks in Vinton, IA. When the team went to Marquette, MI they worked with over 100 children under 17 and improved a day care in order to be state accredited. In Minot, ND they helped 31 homeowners recover some part of their homes that were flooded in June 2011.

This is just from one team. There are 18 other teams in the North Central Region that served at the same time in Class 17 and many more across the country.

We really enjoyed working on the blog. We hope that you enjoyed reading it. We hope that it gave an intimate insight into an AmeriCorps NCCC team.

With Love,

Maple 4

This is it

2011-11-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

So we have served our time in Minot. It was a long two-day journey, but we made it. Since driving from Minot to Vinton is more than 10 hours, NCCC rules say that we must stop somewhere for the night. For this project, we were given a single budget for a hotel on the way to Minot and for one on the way back. Since we stayed in a less than spectacular hotel in Fargo on the way there, we had a little more to spend on the way back, allowing us to stay in Bloomingdale, MN, just minutes from Mall of America and Minneapolis (they even had a shuttle!).

Now we are back on campus doing closure activities. Many of these are similar to what we do during project transitions, like community meetings, project debriefs, team check-ins with unit leaders, rep role meetings and tool/equipment check-ins.

At the end of our round 4 debrief, Greg does a rap closure.

This is closure, though; it’s the end of the year of service! That means that we have to make it special. At the beginning of the year, we did physical fitness baselines, so of course we have to do baselines again to see how we’ve improved (hopefully!). We’re having a few meetings to learn about our opportunities after AmeriCorps. Some college credit test practice and testing is going on. We’re having another Cultural Coffeehouse session (talent show) and an AmeriProm.

One thing I am majorly excited about is the Unit-Palooza. Previously, it’s been referred to the AmeriLympics. No one has released very many details about it yet, but it’s supposed to be the ultimate team vs. team competition. At the beginning of the year, every team received “Legacy words of wisdom” from their respective teams from Class 16. Old Maple 4 said they “never lost anything, ever,” so we’re going to work hard to live up to that expectation.

Speaking of “Legacy,” we get to make a team flag and get to paint a team wall mural.

Our “wall” mural is actually on a pillar in middle of the room. We are very happy about this as it allows us to work a little more creatively. I’m not going to give anything away, so if you want to see our mural, you’ll just have to stop by the Vinton NCCC campus. :) But if you want a sneak peek.

The two nights before graduation is an awards banquet to recognize certain accomplishments in the Corps, specifically how Gaby and I broke the campus record for most media hits this year (50!).

Every day is coming up faster than the one before it. It’s fun and scary at the same time. Just as fast as we were all put in the same team, we’ll be thrust apart. I’m really going to miss my team, but I’m happy to have all of my memories.

~Phil

Blockin the Mold

2011-11-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, as it's called, is the stuff campus issues NCCC members to protect us on the worksite. That includes gloves, a helmet, and safety glasses, earplugs, coveralls, steel toed boots, and rain gear. During our last few projects, we've used some of these items off and on, but Minot's been the first time that I've seen all of this Personal Protective Equipment used in concert. Wearing nearly all of that stuff at once, on top of your normal uniform looks something like this:

Diana and Hillary ready to go in the basement

Why is Diana (on the left) wearing so much gear, you ask? Because this is what it looks like in a basement, power washer on blast behind you, contaminated water splashing off walls that were once covered in sewage, pieces of drywall shooting out of hidden cracks in the wall. It's foggy, dark, and difficult to see, even with a string of lights plugged into our generator.

Power washing a basement ceiling

Our sanitizing process involves carefully spraying every piece of wood in the house from about 6 inches away, then hitting it again with a soapy Simple Green solution and finally rinsing. Lastly we mix bleach and water together in a sprayer and go over all of the wood again to kill any remaining mold. Rain gear is a must when bleaching or your clothes underneath can get ruined. I learned this the hard way. (sad face) Then you've got the muck & gut houses where we shovel out basements full of debris that have not been touched since the flood.

Those jobs require us to wear P100 masks that filter out junk in the air and keep us from getting sick due to mold and possible asbestos.

Mucking out a house

Some jobs are demo houses, where we demolish flooring, rip out drywall and nails; remove hot water heaters, duct work, and that sort of thing, to prep them for future power washing. When working in those types of houses, we'll wear an N95 dust mask.

Removing floorboards to expose wet interior floor to dry

Sometimes it can be a pain to put on all the gear. With enough PPE for 9 people thrown into the back of our van, it's confusing to sort through in the morning. And because of contaminants, we have to wash our 2 sets of coveralls every other night so that we have a clean one each morning. It's worth it though, to keep the team safe. I certainly don't want a nail in the foot or mold in my lungs. And I usually try to keep the amount of poo water I'm covered in to a minimum, so the rain gear is my friend.

~Darcy

My First Root Canal

2011-11-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

During project round three, I chipped my tooth while swinging a hammer. It really didn’t hurt that bad when it happened, but I knew later the pain would come. At the end of the round, my tooth was in crazy pain, but I was too afraid to go to the dentist.

When fourth round came, the pain was so bad I had to start using Ora-gel. The Ora-gel helped a little bit, but the pain was unbelievable. It was so bad I almost took some sick days off of work, but I kept working like always. Everyone on our team kept telling me to go to the dentist but I was seriously scared. So one day I got tired of the pain and made an appointment at Greer and Greer Dentist Office.

Greg and Dr. Tom

When I went to the dentist, Dr. Tom told me I needed a root canal and he wanted to fix it for me. He set up another appointment and told me to get ready.

I went back a couple days later and was scared for my life. Everyone kept telling me that it “wouldn’t be so bad” and “don’t worry.” When I was waiting in the lobby, there were kids in there making fun of me. They were trying to make me even more scared, but they were actually kind of funny and made me laugh a little bit.

Greg getting drilled

Dr. Tom called me to the back and started on my root canal. Darcy was in there with me to provide me a little bit of company. I also watched a little bit of The Price is Right on TV.

Long story short, I had fun with Dr. Tom and Darcy, my tooth doesn’t hurt anymore, and the dentist isn’t bad after all.

~Greg

Generosity

2011-11-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

Generosity is a major part of being in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. You join to help people, plain and simple. Maybe you do it for the education award as well, but you can make four times that in a minimum wage job over the same time period. Anyway, the point is that AmeriCorps NCCC Corps members are generous in giving of themselves and their time and effort, and this isn't a one-way street.

The people we're working alongside with at Lutheran Disaster Response are amazingly generous. The volunteers here pay their own way to get here, and are provided with housing (usually in a church like we are), breakfast, lunch and dinner and shower passes to the local YMCA. There's a steady flow of volunteers for October, but as it gets colder there are fewer volunteers lined up. There's still a great need for volunteers as there are still a lot of people and homes in need. One volunteer we're working with in particular will be here until Thanksgiving, continuing his volunteering weeks after we've left and even after we've graduated and left AmeriCorps NCCC. His name is Jeff and he's our site supervisor. We work alongside him and get things done for those in need in the Minot area.

Some of the team with volunteer Jeff

He's had previous experience power washing, which is what we're mainly doing right now, and brought with him the knowledge of an oscillating ceramic super genius power washing attachment of awesomeness. With this new attachment it's possible to start and finish power washing, soaping, rinsing, and bleaching a house in a day (depending on the size). That's pretty darn nifty, as it was taking two days before. We're now able to help more people, at a faster pace because this one person decided to come help out. If you have the time and the ability to come out here just think of how many people you could positively affect, through your knowledge, physical labor and generosity.

~Diana

Maple 4-A Series of Events

2011-11-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Gaby, Hillary and Christina with Fred who volunteered with us from Seattle

The girls on Maple 4 mucked and gutted a house with a volunteer named Fred a couple weeks ago. We took out a bathroom, shelves, flooring, drywall, and walls. We also had a chance to try using a sledgehammer and a saws-all. This house was also the first house we got the chance to return to and sanitize it as well. It is now ready to be buttoned up for winter.

Taking a break to enjoy some Gatorade that Fred made us

Lutheran Disaster Response, our sponsor, received a donation of 4 osculating heads for the power washers. This head for the power washer is a beast; it takes the dirt and mold off the studs much easier than the normal head. It cuts down the time it takes us to finish a house to about a third of what it was before. We can now sanitize 2-3 houses a day if we split into two teams of four.

The town we live in, Granville, had four town cats, probably strays that roam the streets. There is a black and white cat, a grey and white cat and a grey tiger cat. I have tried getting all three cats to come over and let me pet them, one hid under a car, another in the alley way and the last stayed by a tree and stared at me. I usually am standing in the street or on the sidewalk cooing and calling for them; they ignore me completely and seem a little nervous. They don’t let me get too close. They are all so cute though, I wish I could take them home. The grey and white one looks exactly like Henry, my cat at home.

Cat down the street

We finally found a herd of buffalo. They live over the train tracks in town and down the street a couple miles into the country. We pulled the van over and walked up the fence of their enclosure. At first they all stood about 20-30 feet away from us and stood there staring us down suspiciously. Finally after about 10 minutes the lead buffalo started to walk closer to get a better look at us. We took some pictures but made sure not to get too close. The last time I saw a herd of buffalo was when I was 7 in my hometown, a local man had some. We used to go and feed them grass through the fence, until one day one of the buffalo horned me in the eyebrow through the fence.

Maple 4 also received our first support vehicle, so now in addition to our big red van; we have another dark blue one. It’s lucky we got it, because Sam ended up breaking his ankle, so we have to use it to get him to work every day, without it we wouldn’t have enough room because he has to use a whole row of seats to put his leg up.

Lucille, our contact at the church where we live, had the team over to her house for dinner. She made us an amazing meal; there was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, two different salads, apple pie and much more. It was like a Thanksgiving dinner and delicious. We also played a game called “Things”, we had a ton of fun! Lucille is wicked nice, we all love having her around!

Team with Lucille

One day the Maple 4 girls got sent to a house about 30 minutes outside of town. Our site supervisor Jeff was leading us out there, the road to the house ended up being closed because the bridge going over the river had to large sink holes in either side. We ended up having to take a 45 minutes detour all the way back out and around on dirt roads in the middle of fields and farm land. The roads were pretty muddy and slippery because it had been drizzling all day. We got the van pretty dirty from all the mud. When we made it to the house we found a few large families of frogs living both inside and outside the house. They were hopping around all over the place. When we went into the basement to find a water source to hook up the power washers too, we found a drainage hole full of water that had about 30-40 more frogs in there swimming around and sitting on the bottom. It was crazy; I have never seen so many frogs in my life!

Frogs in a bucket

~Christina

Fighting Water with Water

2011-11-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Maple 4 arrived in Minot, ND for our last project of the year. We are doing disaster relief for a flood that happened in June 2011. One of the biggest jobs we have had to do is power wash homeowners’ houses to get all of the dirty water and mold off of their walls and ceilings.

Sam power washing one of the first homes Maple 4 worked on

We were trained how to power wash by AmeriCorps NCCC alum Nick. He works for Nechama now, so he was in charge of power washing in Minot. We did a good job power washing all those homes and the homeowners really love what we’ve done.

Nick told us about a four-step process to sanitize these homes: 

1. You power wash everything. When you do this step, you go top to bottom and you need to stay 3 to 5 inches away from the wood. If you are too close, you are going to chip wood off, and too far not clean enough. This step is supposed to remove 99% of the mold in the house.
2. You wash the wood with Simple Green. It’s a mild detergent. We use this to get rid of the 1% the first power wash misses.
3. You rinse off the Simple Green.
4. You bleach the wood. The bleach is used just to make sure that the mold doesn’t come back.

Drew power washing a basement ceiling

Power washing is a lot of fun to do. You really get things done with the power washer. When our newest site supervisor came to Minot, he described a new nozzle. It’s stronger than the ones we were using and is helpful to our team. We were doing one house in two days with the old nozzle, but now we can do two houses in one day.

~Drew

Samuel in Pain

2011-10-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

"Moments before"

It was a peaceful day when I broke my right ankle. I was working very hard and I slipped. All my team members were very helpful. The foot I broke was my soccer and good foot. I miss my right foot a lot. I am sometimes mad when I see other people walking with their two feet or playing soccer. I was in so much pain on that day.

This month was not my month and I will never forget this project in Minot. I will be so I happy when I heal. Some days I am okay but some days it feels like I am in a different world of pain. I have had a great AmeriCorps year with my awesome team Maple 4.

~Sam

Land of the Vikings

2011-10-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

A surprising fact about Minot is that it is home to the largest annual Scandinavian festival in North America: Norsk Høstfest. Although the flooding may have led to the cancellation of the state fair (which also occurs in Minot), those dang Vikings could not be robbed of their annual pilgrimage. Our sponsor organization, Lutheran Disaster Response, hooked us up with complimentary tickets and the day off to indulge in the festivities. First we drove over to the local Scandinavian park to tour some traditional buildings.

Full wodden church in Scandinavian Park

Upon arriving at the fest, we were greeted by a giant troll man.

Team poses with funny troll

Then there was the Swedish Dala horse, a Scandinavian mascot of sorts.

Not to mention traditional foods all over the place. Gaby and I went on a quest to eat them all. I had some Swedish meatballs, and we tried this dessert called Rommegrot, which is incredibly caloric and delicious treat made with cream, butter, and copious amounts of cinnamon sugar. Here is Gaby, initially deciding whether she likes it or not:

Rommegrot posing with Gaby

There were also a ton of vendors and people showcasing their arts and crafts. There were Lots of wood-workers, and performances including an accordion player's rendition of "Sweet Caroline," a Boston favorite, Vikings fighting with real swords, and girls dancing on skis. I can't make this stuff up, people. I didn't take a very good video, but there's one online if you want to see what it's all about. Which, of course you do.

Ski Dancers dancing to Chi Mai by Escala

Our second day at the festival was spent working with some volunteers from LDR to serve food cooked on site by Scandinavian chefs. Spiffy outfits, right?

All in all it was a fun time, and like I said, a surprising turn of events. Minot, the Viking capital of North America? Go figure.

~ Darcy

The challenging challenges that challenge Maple 4

2011-10-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

View of Granville

There are many things that come with each project that are challenges. In the past we have had the challenges of sleeping in the same room or cold work days. I am finding that with our last project in Minot, ND there are many hard parts.

One of the hard things is living 22 miles outside of Minot. With construction and roadwork this can be anywhere form 30-40 minutes. Every project we have had prior has been less then 2 miles away to travel to each morning. So a typical day now we have to leave at least 45 minutes before we start to arrive at work on time. On top of this Minot is the closest city to us that we can shower, do laundry and grocery shop at. Most days we leave at 7:15am and arrive back home anywhere from 8-9:30pm.

Studs in a home that was flooded

Another challenge for us has been power washing homes. This is done after houses have been mucked and gut. The next step is to clean the wood of any mold or dirt from the sewage that has been left from the flood water. The process is long and often involves getting completely soaked by the powerwasher. Many members of our team have finished the work day covered with mold and dirt.

After a few hours of power washing

Although the team has found these things challenging - there is nothing more rewarding then meeting the homeowners and hearing their gratitude. What 9 people can do in just a few days would take many of these homeowners with families months to accomplish.

~Gaby

Why not, Minot?

2011-09-30T12:12:00.001-07:00

Team prepared to powerwash a home.

For our final project, our team is working in Minot, ND on houses that were flooded in June. We have been mucking and gutting the houses and sanitizing the houses so far. Later we will be buttoning them up for winter. The organization we’re working with is called Lutheran Disaster Response. They are currently focusing on homes first that are in the most need; families that are low income and disabled or elderly people who can’t afford or are unable to clean up their houses on their own. The families and people we have had the privilege of meeting so far are welcoming and have nothing but gratitude. It has been amazing to work with such generous people even after they have lost so much.

Hillary & Gaby at Granville town sign.

Because of the conditions in Minot we are staying in a town called Granville 22 miles away at a church that is connected to LDR. Our housing situation this round is very interesting, we are in a basement in a room with an oasis palm tree theme, in a town with 250 people and the only two establishments that haven’t closed down or been burnt down are the local bars right across the street from each other.

~ Hillary

Day of Service – September 11, 2011

2011-09-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

I only have two memories of a specific hallway of my middle school. The first is from seventh grade (2000) when a classmate of mine joked that Gore was going to win the presidency. The second is in eighth grade (2001) when a close friend of mine told me with the most stone-cold look, “The Twin Towers have been attacked.” I had no idea what the Twin Towers were or why anyone would want to attack them. Over the next 24 hours, I learned quite a bit.

For the tenth anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, AmeriCorps NCCC members from the North Central Region provided service to the communities surrounding Vinton, IA. Our team was selected to help the Cedar Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity (HFH). When we were first told of this project, we were extremely excited to pay our respect to those that lost their lives by helping build up the community and that we would be working with other NCCC teams from our campus. Specifically for September 10th, our selected service day, HFH was working beautify the exterior of Esther’s home. Esther does not have the financial or physical means to keep the outside of her home in the most pristine condition, so along with HFH, we were glad to help.

Team Leader Darcy painting back of house on scaffolding.

Our first goal was to paint the garage and her siding. Previous volunteers had already painted a first coat on much of both buildings, so our job was mostly to make them look nice. Our second goal was to replace her crooked, broken gutters in order to move rainwater away from her foundation (which was flooding her basement) and into the storm sewers in the road. At first, it just felt like what we had done on a mini project during our training with Block by Block back in March. I was literally doing the same thing, too: painting an old garage in Cedar Rapids.

Phil and Hillary painting Esther's House

Then I started to think about why I was actually there. It wasn’t to fix up a house damaged by the flood of 2008 in hopes that someone would move in. It wasn’t to practice working with my team so that we can correct any big problems before we drive 600 miles away and live together for six weeks.

We came to this elderly woman’s house on September 10, 2011 in order to put positive energy into the world. We came to show that after ten years, we still remember a terrible tragedy that took place but we will rise above it. We came on this sunny summer day to, as HFH puts it, give a hand-up, not a hand-out. I did not come for myself, I came for someone else.

Drew and Gaby repairing siding for house.

The most rewarding part of the entire day? When Esther came outside, about an hour before we had finished, and commented on how lovely her house looked. She had been living there since 1974 and never once knew that something like this could happen.

~Phil

It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA

2011-09-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

How would you like to have a slumber party with 5 to 9 of your classmates or co-workers?Your bed: a foot away from your supervisor's, who drools and rambles in her sleep? (that's me)Sharing 1 or 2 bathrooms and walking a mile to shower at the YMCA?Then spending the whole day at work and meals with those same people, who BTW, you just met 7months ago?Every night for 8 weeks?

Sounds like an NCCC rite of passage to me! During our first 2 rounds, Maple 4 had it pretty easyhousing-wise. It's true that in Cincinnati, people shared rooms with up to 3 other people, we had 1bathroom without a shower, and there were mice–mice with gall. But on the flip side, we lived in abeautiful 176-year-old farm house, and had roosters, cows, horses and other farm buddies to hang outwith. In Vinton, we slept on campus. And since our roommates were away on projects with their teams,each person had a bedroom and bathroom to his or herself. SPOILED! 'Tis not the case now, friends.

Currently our humble abode is one room in the YMCA-run Lake Superior Village Youth and FamilyCenter. We snooze on 1-inch thick floor mats with sleeping bags, which we have to move into aseparate room in the morning because our home is also one of our work sites. And all of the what-ifs listed above apply as well. But, you know, it's actually not that bad. In fact, I consider it a badgeof honor to have this type of AmeriPad. The lack of privacy can be frustrating at times, but it'sa character-building experience; and in the end we only have to live like this for a short time. Inexchange for the cramped quarters, we travel the country and get paid to help people, so it's a fair deal.

Here's a couple photos of our set-up. This one shows the mattress pads that Gaby, Hillary and I sleepon. Mine is the one next to the foosball table.

Sleeping mats on the floor!

This one shows where Drew and I store our our personal belongings in the community center'scomputer lab. His stuff is on the left under the desk. Mine is on the right. As you can see, I basicallylive out of the red AmeriCorps bag assigned to me at the beginning of the year. Above the desk areteam items such as a huge box of donated noodles and a bag filled with games like Banannagrams andJenga that we never play, except for one time when we didn't have power.

So much stuff and so little space.

~Darcy

Maple 4 Receives TV Coverage

2011-09-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Each member on our team carries a different role and one of the roles on our team is Media Representatives. Phil and I are in charge of contacting local newspapers, television and radio stations of the different places that we are sent to try to generate media attention. This is a good way for people to be able to hear more about AmeriCorps NCCC and for our team to get give our sponsors some good recognition of their organization as well. For the past few months, Phil and I have set a goal to try to get interviewed by a local TV station and get on TV! We finally obtained this goal during our time in Marquette. A few weeks back a reporter from ABC channel 10 of Marquette County came out to interview the both of us.

~Gaby

Greg and the Shorties

2011-08-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Half of my time with the YMCA of Marquette County has been at the YMCA with the day camp kids and the other half has been at Vandenboom, which is the daycare center run by the Y. Marquette Area Public Schools (MAPS) still owns the building, so they use two of the rooms for kindergarten during the school year.

At the YMCA I worked with the day camp kids and I also worked with them at Vandenboom on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Day camp kids are much older than the daycare kids. They are 6-11 years old. Day camp kids are really fun to hang around. We play lots of games with the kids like basketball, card games and we also make lots of arts/crafts.

Greg with George and Noah in the blue room

The younger kids at Vandenboom are very funny and very entertaining. They run around the classroom like animals in a jungle, but you got to love them. I especially like the blue room which is up to a year old or when the parents chose to move them up to the purple room. That room is peaceful except when the babies are crying.

I do a lot of maintenance work at Vandenboom when I am not with the kids. I've helped paint almost every door to the classrooms. I've washed walls, painted kiddie chairs and spray painted hopscotch on the ground outside. All of the staff loves our fantastic work.

I have never worked with kids this young so this is all new to me. The staff has been really helpful to get us used to the kids.

~Greg

What I’ve done in Marquette MI:

2011-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

I climbed to the top of Sugarloaf Mt. to see one of the most spectacular views of Lake Superior. It was one of the most breath taking view I’ve ever seen.

I went swimming in Lake Superior which is just like an ocean except there are no sharks or scary sea creatures to attack me and it doesn’t taste awful. It’s some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen you can see straight down to the rocks at the bottom more than 40 feet below you.

Hillary climbing over rocks to Marquette Lighthouse

This brings me to the next thing I’ve done, Darcy and I located one of the lighthouses Marquette has on Presque isle, and climbed a quarter mile out over huge boulders to climb up to it. When we started climbing we weren’t sure if what we were doing is allowed. That is until we met our first Yooper (a nickname given to people that live in the U.P. of MI) that told us “we’re in America, we can do whatever we want, eh.” When we climb up to the lighthouse and looked over the edge the water looked no more than ten feet deep, when it was actually more like 44 ft. deep and you could see ever rock on the bottom.

The fact that you can see the bottom is probably what makes jumping off of an 18 ft. cliff into the water so terrifying. I could walk up to the edge of the rocks, look straight down and see a hair scrunchy someone had lost. It took two trips to Black Rocks to finally get me to jump, but once I did I loved it, and jumped three times. Phil, Christina and I also found a jump site off the back on Little Presque Isle, a small island you can walk out to. We climbed and hiked over the difficult side of the island and jumped off the backside. It was awesome adventures that lead to us going back another time with the whole team. That time it was windy and only Phil and I ended up jumping off, because the water was wavy and made it difficult to get out.

Phil, Hillary and Christina at Little Presque Isle

These are all my favorite adventures I’ve had in Marquette so far, but tomorrow we are off to find another.

~Hillary

Christina in the Red Room

2011-08-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

For the past few weeks Maple 4 has been working with the YMCA in Marquette, Michigan. I have been working mostly at Vandenboom, a school for little kids. I have worked mostly in the Red Room which is the 4 year olds classroom. These kids are really rambunctious. Ray has been asking me since the first day I came into the class if I was their “new teacher", even though each time I respond I will only be here for 8 weeks. Jake loves Spiderman, he even has Spiderman light up shoes that I am slightly jealous of. I used to love light up shoes. Emma always shows me her flower hat towel and butterfly water bottle. Lachlan is always excited to have me sit next to him at lunch time or walk next to him in line.

“ Drew and Christina do the dinosaur dance.”

The first day I came into their classroom they were choosing pirate names; some of my favorites were Fackson Hook, Crockson Hook, and Captain Carrot. They all wanted to either be a Hook or a Captain, and later that week we even went on a treasure hunt. This week is healthy food week; they’ve been making healthy snacks in class such as trail mix with coconut (my favorite), chocolate chips, Cheerios, Chex, raisins, and pretzels. It was really good. They next day they made soy butter (no peanut butter because kids are allergic) and banana sandwiches. Today they tested strawberry, chocolate and normal milk. Strawberry milk won their vote for best flavor of milk.

Our housing is within walking distance of Lake Superior, which is amazing. I am from New Hampshire, so I miss the coast. The biggest of Great Lakes almost makes up for the lack of coastline. Especially when you go into the lake swimming and realize it is just as cold as the Atlantic Ocean.

~Christina

Do YMCA with NCCC

2011-08-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

“Hillary, Christina, Gaby, Phil, Sam, Greg, Drew of Maple 4”

After our summer break, transition and the events that followed Vinton's storm, our team began the 11 hour journey to the home of our third round project. We are currently serving in Marquette, MI for the next eight weeks working with the YMCA of Marquette County. We are primarily working with children in ranges from infants – 17 years of age and assisting with the summer programs and day care. One of the schools that we are working with is also in the process of trying to get accredited and has many maintenance projects for us to do during our stay.

“On top of Sugarloaf Mountain”

Being that I am from Florida, there is nothing quite like the landscape of Marquette. For example, Florida has no mountains, but maybe small hills in more northern areas like Tallahassee. So you can imagine the surprise for me to drive into Marquette and see tall trees and mountains on one side of the road with Lake Superior on the other side. Needless to say, it was beautiful.

Currently, our team has been broken up into separate groups working with three different areas within the YMCA. For my current schedule for the next week, I am working with the YMCA day camp which is for ages 5-12 year olds. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the YMCA day camp goes to the YMCA Rec Center and gets to swim in an indoor pool, play in a mat room, visit a local park next to Lake Superior or play different board games. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the YMCA day camp goes to Vandenboom a local school that does a YMCA day care program where they play in a gym, play on a playground, and do many arts and crafts projects. Every Wednesday, the day camp also goes on fields trips which can be things like kayaking, ice cream trips or the movies.

“Lake Superior”

Every minute I am here, I am continually thankful that I have got the experience to meet all these people and travel to all these places that I probably would have never seen before. For example, in the past week I got to meet adorable children of all ages, swim in Lake Superior, climb my first mountain and visit on the best bakeries in town. For anyone who is even remotely hesitant about whether or not AmeriCorps NCCC would be a good fit for them, I beg you to try it. You will go a million places that you never thought and learn more about yourself everyday. I am continually finding more things I love about Marquette, MI and could seriously see myself spending many more years living here.

~Gaby

The New "Whip"

2011-07-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

Whip: “Slang for an expensive vehicle, car, automobile. Typically used in the hip hop culture.” – Urban Dictionary

Like the look of this baby? Me too. It’s Maple 4’s new 15-passenger (15P) van and it’s pretty sweet. All vinyl interior, auxiliary cable input to play your iPod, power locking doors and windows with alarm-enabled keychain, double-angle side view mirrors, electronic tire pressure gauge, and a cherry red paint job. Greg says he even wants to hook it up with some used 26” rims off Craigslist. (Is there a policy against this?) I’ve got to tell you I’m pretty excited, as I have been rallying to get our team a new vehicle since we reached 71,400 miles on the odometer of our previous 15P. This bad boy has just over 100 miles and is a 2011 model! I feel spoiled. However, getting this new van is definitely justifiable, as we’re about to drive 10 hours to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the next few days and need to make sure we don’t break down on the side of the road along the way.

The only dilemma is deciding on a good nickname. Suggestions so far include Red Lightning, Steve McQueen’s Speed Machine, and Cliff the Big Red Van (Big Red for short). What do you guys think? Any suggestions? We couldn’t really get a nickname to stick to our old van, so this is a chance to start afresh and show this government vehicle that it’s loved and appreciated. Post your ideas in the comments section. As for this guy, well, R.I.P. man.

Old Van. RIP

We had a good run. Your paint-covered upholstery, uncomfortable seatbelts, lack of shocks, and mind-boggling blind spots will become a thing of legend. May you be sent to the happy place where vans go to die…or be sold for use at airport hotel. Godspeed.

~Darcy

The gust that broke the building’s back

2011-07-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Courtesy Associated Press

There is something about storms that wakes me up the in middle of the night. I’m not sure if it’s the lightning, the thunder, or the water gushing through my open window, but I wake up every time. I didn’t think anything strange about the storm Monday morning. I was getting ready to go back to sleep until I noticed that my alarm was set to go off in five minutes: 5am PT.

View from Darcy’s window

Monday, July 11 is our first day back from summer break. Today, Maple 4 was supposed to debrief about our project with the Vinton Parks and Recreation Department and then have a briefing about our new project. All of that would be delayed.

In a matter of minutes, the storm picked up intensity. Luckily, all corps members made it to the tunnels under the Braille School, leading to no serious injuries. For two and half hours, we sat in humid darkness, listening to the rumbles and roars of the wind and thunder. For two and half hours we wondered what had become of our lives on the surface.

Everyone has their own first impression of what they saw. My first thought? Katamari Damacy. Tornadoes spin everything around and make a mess. This had to be the work of the tornadoes nefarious younger, yet just as destructive, brother: straight line winds.

This tree is two feet in diameter

Everything had been rolled flat. Some trees snapped in half like twigs, other trees shoved straight out of the ground. Some roofs lost a few shingles, others had been picked up and tossed onto the front lawn.

Water gushes from every room in Cottage after the water main is broken

Cottage, the dorm of 30 corps members, four from Maple 4, and the location of our kitchen, took a hard hit. One tree was lobbed straight at it, fracturing the wall, impacting the ceiling, and cracking open a water main. Not a single room was safe from flooding.

Much of Main’s roof was removed in the storm

Main, where many sight-impaired summer campers and Braille School offices are located, had its roof involuntarily removed. The entire roof. Copper, wood, shingles. All of it. Picked up, flipped over, and set down on the front lawn.

Kish and Rosie from Maple Unit clear off the inverted roof so it can be removed

Do you know what we did? We were given the “All Clear” and we started working.

NCCC members clean up debris from storm

Bow saws, hand saws, pulaskis, axes, sledgehammers, hammers, crowbars, pry bars, rakes, chainsaws. We cleaned up trees, branches, twigs, boards, planks, nails, glass, copper, aluminum, bicycle helmets, Frisbees, garage doors, shingles, Styrofoam, and insulation. And that’s just on Monday.

Cedar unit assembles to clean up around Palmer Dormitory

On Tuesday, July 12, our team worked with our friends at the Vinton Parks and Recreation Department to clean up five acres of one of their parks. Five acres that had been covered in trees and roofing from buildings of several hundred yards away. The rest of Vinton was helped by the other 13 teams on campus (5 having left to help with prior obligations to disaster relief in Joplin and Saint Louis, MO).

Maple Unit Leader Jimmy chops with the Pulaski as M4 member Phil saws

One-hundred strapping young folks pushing their way into the town of 5100 to help clean up debris. If only every town were so lucky.

Kappa of Sunshine needs no explanation: “If you wake up one morning and notice it's a particularly beautiful day, you'll know we made it.”

~Phil

10 Things To Do In (and around) Vinton, Iowa

2011-07-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

10 Cedar Rapids

Nicknamed “The City of 5 Smells” due to the aroma from the local Quaker Oats and dog food factories, Cedar Rapids is the closest major city to Vinton—a 45 minute drive. We do most of our grocery shopping here at good old Walmart. There are also some chain restaurants in the area like Olive Garden – if never-ending salad and breadsticks is your thing. Maple 4 worked in Cedar Rapids for a few days earlier this year, renovating flood-damaged homes with an organization called Block By Block. Though the city was hit hard by flooding of 2008, it's gradually re-building itself. Here we are with our site supervisor, Bob, from that project:

9 Amana Colonies

A cluster of communities settled by German Pietists in 1855, this area is now a tourism hot-spot. You can try schnitzel at the Ronneberg Restaurant, sip on a bottle of the local Millstream Brewing Company's root bear, or pop into the shops around town to buy knickknacks and fudge. For you 21+ readers, there are also some wineries where you can take tours and get free samples. Don't forget to stop by “Iowa's Biggest Rocking Chair” on your way out of town!

8 Party in the Park

This annual Vinton festival just celebrated its 20th anniversary last weekend. The 3-day event was marked by games, parades, food, music, a 5K race, and fireworks. Some highlights for me were a capella group Tonic Sol Fa, funnel cake, and a pulled beef BBQ sandwich I got from an elusive traveling smokehouse trailer, Smokin' On The Cedar, which makes its way around Vinton during the summer.

7 Mini Golf

How can you go wrong with a rousing game of mini golf at the Skate and Activity Center? Each hole tells you about a different tourist destination in Iowa, like the capitol building in Des Moines, the location where “Field of Dreams” was filmed, and the peculiar prehistoric Iowa effigy mounds.

6 Community Swimming Pool

On a hot summer day in Vinton, Iowa, everybody heads over to the community pool. It gets pretty crowded as you can see in the photo to the left. Part of our project this round was to repaint the pool, so it's neat to see so many people enjoying it.

5 Leon's Malt Shop

It is here that I recently located the ice cream of my childhood. Yes, the fabled FLAVOR BURST of my yesteryear. A Flavor Burst is basically a vanilla soft serve ice cream cone encircled by your flavor of choice. Genius. They used to have this at the local ice cream store in New Egypt, NJ when I was growing up, and I was pretty excited to see it in Vinton.

4 Berry's Lanes

Get your bowl on. This place is pretty much just an old-school 10-pin bowling alley. You can get a soda and burger while you throw a few rounds. Be sure to check out the wall of fame, which features some pretty hilarious shots of top-notch local bowlers from the last century.

3 American Legion Fish Fries

Let me paint a picture for you. Piled high on your plate are 3 or 4 delicious pieces of fried white fish. Then you've got your baked potato AND potato salad (double the starchy-goodness, folks), a slice of Betty Crocker cake (choose from 5 or 6 flavors), and baked beans. All that for only 6 bucks, 5 with the AmeriCorps hook-up. These happen the second Friday of every month, and I've been to 3 already because they're just that amazing.

2 Roller Skating

Not just a middle school hangout anymore, roller skating at the Vinton Skate and Activity Center is a must. Rockin' tunes and a disco ball really put this place over the top on the awesomeness scale. Plus it's under $5 to get in, and you can work off those fish fry pounds. I've also heard that roller skating was invented in Iowa, though I have not been able to verify this via Google.

1 Palace Theater

Definitely numero uno in my book of Things to Do in Vinton, the Palace Theater is where it's at. Though they only show 1 film per week, it's always a recent hit, and it only costs $2. For a dollar more you can see the recent 3D flicks. That's only 1 dollar per D! The theater is beautiful and staffed mostly by volunteers. I would definitely recommend checking this place out if you make it to Vinton.

Social Butterfly

2011-06-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

I won’t lie to you: AmeriCorps NCCC is hard. I mean, like, really hard. Waking up at the crack of dawn – tough. Physically working nonstop (save a 30 minute lunch break) for eight hours straight – tougher. Doing an hour of physical training, cooking for a team of eight, an hour long team meeting, kitchen clean-up, then room inspections – really tough. Doing all of these in one day – you’re joking, right?

Team Dressed in Ameri-Tux for Memorial Day

Needless to say, our days are full… to the brim. On any given day, Maple 4 spends at least nine hours together. Nine hours. For the past five months, at least one third of my time has been spent with a group of eight people I just met five months ago. Kind of a short time, considering I had gone to school with 140 of my high school graduating class of 150 since first grade.

I am going to deviate for a second. When we first entered the corps, we took an assessment called the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. Theoretically, this “test” is supposed to tell you what kind of person you are so that you have a better idea of how you react to a given situation, leading you to think more about how you interact with your team. I am labeled as an Introverted Judge, meaning I recharge spiritually alone and I like everything to be organized and orderly.

So, spending nine hours a day with a group of people I basically just met and doing a job that changes every day doesn’t exactly sound like fun, right?

WRONG

The Team with Site Supervisor, Brian, at Vinton’s ‘Party in the Park’

I love my team. The two to three hours of down time I have before I go to sleep or the free weekends I have are the most boring hours of my life. When I’m not doing something with my team, I am thinking of different PT ideas or things to talk about or fun stuff we could do together. On weekends that we’re not out and about or doing ISPs, my skin crawls, I get cabin fever, I get restless. It doesn’t matter what you call it, I just know that the next time I see a teammate, I am going to have fun.

I love the nature of NCCC work. The rapid changes in jobs keeps me from getting bored. I don’t just paint walls. I scrape, paint, chainsaw, handsaw, dig, chop, pull, shovel, fill, dump, drive, lift, drop, cut, bury, plant, and climb.

“In our world, every storm has an end. Every night brings a new day. What's important is to trust those you love, and never give up. We must never give up hope!”

A priestess from Chrono Trigger tells us that with our team, there is only a brighter tomorrow.

~Phil

Greg’s Secret Fried Chicken Recipe

2011-06-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

Greg tastes victory.

Once a week a cooking team of two members from Maple 4 has to cook dinner for the team. I love to cook fried chicken, it’s one of my favorite dishes. Our team eats it a lot when I cook. Our team leader, Darcy, goes grocery shopping for the team once every week. She asks for our recipes to be in by Saturday night, since she goes grocery shopping on Sundays. When I cook Fried Chicken the ingredients I ask for are: Flour, Chicken Breast, Vegetable Oil, and Accent Seasoning. My cooking partner Christina is a vegetarian so she handles the vegetarian part of the meals; we usually have veggie burgers or mac and cheese and a vegetable for the vegetarians. The meat eaters love my chicken and usually want more than one chicken breast. Once I get done cooking the chicken I have to clean up my mess since vegetable oil pops and splatters everywhere.

To cook my Fried chicken:
1. Clean the chicken
2. Season the chicken with accent seasoning and seasoning salt
3. Put chicken in flour
4. Fill a frying pan with vegetable oil
5. Throw the chicken in the frying pan on medium heat
6. Cook chicken for 45 minutes, flipping occasionally
7. Take chicken out of the pan and you have a delicious meal

~Gregory

Freshly Painted Hummel Shelter

2011-06-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

The team finished with the Vinton community pool in time for its Memorial weekend opening. After this we moved to working at the Hummel shelter. The Hummel shelter was named after a veteran in Iowa that had passed away in the 60s. The Hummel shelter has different kinds of stuff going on there; people are able to rent it out for different events like weddings, parties, or school activities. There is a fake snake in the ceiling on the inside of the shelter to keep out birds.

Greg & Sam

We started on the shelter by pulling out all the tables on the inside near the windows. Before painting it we power-washed it inside and out and scraped paint. The Hummel shelter was all black but we painted it white. While some people were painting the walls on the inside others were pulling out weeds in flower beds around the shelter. Inside the shelter, there were eight picnic tables that we also painted.

After we painted the inside, everyone on the team painted the outside. It looks real nice. There was a birthday party there this past weekend. The people really liked the way the Hummel shelter looks.

Take risks
~Drew

Serving Around the Community: ISPs

2011-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Independent Service Projects (ISPs) are a way for all AmeriCorps NCCC members to find outside non-profit organizations to volunteer with. This has been a good way for our team to get more involved with other things going on in the community we are serving in. It gives us a chance to take a break from our main project that we are doing, forty hours a week, to do something a bit different.

Each AmeriCorps NCCC member must complete 80 ISP hours to graduate. This means that some weeks as an NCCC member you could be working up to 50-60 hours just with your direct project and ISPs hours combined.

These are some examples of ISPs we have done so far since being in AmeriCorps NCCC:
*March for Dimes (http://www.marchofdimes.com/) -All of our team worked at this event as race monitors. This required us to stand in various sections of the race and direct participants on where to go.

Drew, Diana and Gaby at Run for Shelter

*Run for Shelter (http://runforsheltercincy.org/)- This event was a 5k race and carnival. Our team was broken up into different groups and placed at different areas of the race. We helped pass out water to runners throughout the race in these different locations. After the race was over, our team got to help with a massive Easter egg hunt.

Adam from another AmeriCorps NCCC team and Phil as mascots for Tanager Place Summer Fest

*Tanager Place Summer Fest (http://www.tanagerplace.org/)-This was a event put on by Tanager Place to help raise funds for their program. It was a huge children’s festival filled games, blow up floats, hot air balloons and mascots. Team members got to volunteer with this by helping dress up as mascots and walking around the park passing out fruit snacks. We also got to help at the children's cereal tent give all guests free boxes for them to make their own cereal from various ingredients all donated by the General Mills factory located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

*Relay for Life (http://www.relayforlife.org/)- During this event, we were able to help set up various decorations around the Relay track field. Luminaries were displayed by our team around the field in memory of cancer patients. After these were set up, it was also our job to light each candle. We then helped with face painting, root beer floats and general clean up after the event ended.

*Cedar Valley Humane Society (http://www.cvhumane.org/)- This is a local organization that our team got to volunteer with this round. After a brief training of the facility, our team got to take out many of the dogs and run around with them outside. This was a great team morale booster.

These are just some of the ISPs our team has gotten to volunteer with so far. We have many more planned for the coming months and are well on our way to completing our 80 needed to graduate. As of the end of May, our team has done a total of 282 ISP hours. We will be sure to keep you updated as this number gets higher and higher.

~Gaby

Riding on Campus With Sam

2011-06-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

Maple 4 is in Vinton for their second round project which means we are staying on the North Central Region campus at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School. We were happy to hear we were getting a chance to stay in Vinton. Since there are only three teams on campus, each member of our team gets our own room and some personal space.

There are three main buildings on campus that serve as dormitories now for all AmeriCorps NCCC members throughout the term. The buildings are called Cottage, Palmer and Rice. The campus also has a very large gym that we can use for PT, an indoor pool, a track field and a playground.

Map of North Central Region Campus

Each building has two or three public lounges that people can hang out in and watch TV. The TVs are very nice flat screens. Palmer has wireless internet. Rice is closest to the gym, and Cottage has small rooms for quiet reading. In front of Palmer, there are also bicycles that are free for members to use. I like to bike between buildings and to places in Vinton.

Each team shares a kitchen with other teams. Maple teams 2, 3, and 4 share a kitchen on the first floor of Cottage. Maple teams 5, 6, and 7 share the kitchen on the second floor. The kitchens are very large with two stoves, three microwaves, three fridges and lots of cabinets. Maple 2 and 3 are not on campus so we get to use their kitchen space. It is very nice.

Every building has free laundry. You have to use your own soap, but we don't need any quarters.

The big building in the middle of campus is called Main. That is where the braille school staff works and where some blind or sight-impaired kids live. Sometimes we use their auditorium for our community meetings.

That is all.

~Sam

Uniforms Fit like a Glove

2011-06-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy everybody! This is Diana. I'm here to talk about UNIFORMS!

Phil, Christina, Hillary and Diana model their uniforms (above)

I figure a couple of you out there are thinking “Uniforms? I want to know the exciting and interesting bits about AmeriCorps.” Truth is, one of the things I most anticipated when I got accepted was the uniform. I've never had to wear one, other than in high school choir and during a summer job, so I don't see it as a chore, but as something more exciting.

To me a uniform is tangible evidence that I have somewhere to belong. It shows that I am a part of something larger then myself, that this organization is proud to have me be a part of it and wants people to know that I'm representing them. The clothing is well made, and shows me that AmeriCorps NCCC cares that I'm protected in any situations they can foresee me getting into.

Greg posing on his throne wearing coveralls (above)

Here's a quick rundown of what we get, the majority of which we get to keep when we finish serving.
· 2 pairs of Khaki BDU slacks 1 pair of black BDU slacks
· 2 pairs of Khaki BDU shorts 2 gray long sleeve shirts
· 4 gray short sleeve shirts 1 gray sweatshirt
· 1 white polo 1 gray rugby
· 1 black adjustable belt 1 black fleece vest
· 1 gator 1 black beanie
· 1 tan fisherman's cap 1 pair steel-toed boots
· 1 pair of leather work gloves 1 reflector belt
· 1 set of safety goggles 1 set of earplugs
· The things we are issued, and have to return at the end of our term are:
· 1 winter coat 1 set of coveralls
· 1 hardhat 1 red pack for traveling
· A couple things we can get if we need them are things like rain gear and rain boots. We're issued PPE, which stands for Personal Protective Equipment that includes things like gloves, safety goggles, our helmet, earplugs, a reflector belt, and our steel-toed boots.

On a normal work day I wear one of the t-shirts and a pair of khaki pants or shorts, along with my black belt and steel-toed boots. This is our basic work uniform, which we wear everyday at work.

We also have something we call the AmeriTux which consists of the black BDUs, white polo, belt and steel-toed boots. We wear it to debriefings and special occasions, like during our Induction. I think our AmeriTux will be the last AmeriCorps NCCC uniform we'll wear, during graduation. It'll be an adventure getting there, that's for sure.

~Diana

Our Skate On

2011-06-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

A perk of working for the Parks and Rec. Department are the free tickets to the Skate and Activity Center. Of course we had to pay our dues by cleaning off some roller skates and buffing the rink first.

Greg, Drew, Phil and Sam

Drew cleaning the floor

Later that night it was on like Donkey Kong. I have to give it up to Maple 4 for going out of their comfort zone. Most of the team hadn't been skating in years... or ever. So it was a big deal for the team to get out there and give it their all.

Then of course there is the M4 Dance Crew breaking it down—even during the threat of an imminent fall. That's dedication, people.

Team bonding just warms my heart.

~Darcy

Swimming with the VPRD

2011-05-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Christina and Greg pose for a fancy photo

Our team returned to Vinton, Iowa after 6 long and hard weeks of living life on a farm and trail building in Evendale, Ohio. Vinton is the location for the North Central Region Campus and was where we began our term in NCCC, back in February. For our second round, we were assigned to work with the Vinton Parks and Recreation Department (VPRD). The project will give us a variety of different experiences as each week we will have different goals and locations. The first goal we had was to prepare the community swimming pools to be opened on Memorial weekend. This required scraping of the old paint from three large pools and painting using two-part paint. The pool is painted every one to three years. With a team of 9, we were successfully able to have it painted in a week.

There is also a large slide that is being painted as well. This requires lots of scaffolding and no fear of heights. We are slowly realizing that heights is a common fear on our team which means the two to three people who aren’t afraid have a lot of things to paint and assist with. We are hoping to work on these fears together as much of this project so far has required ladders and scaffolding.

Site Supervisor, Brian, puts finishing touches on pool

We are excited for the experience with working with this organization and meeting the locals in Vinton. This organization is actually one of the first non-profits that asked for an AmeriCorps NCCC team when the campus in Vinton, Iowa was first established in 2008. The VPRD has received teams ever since and it is a blessing to be the team assigned to work with them.

~Hilary

Dr. Trailbuilder or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pulaski

2011-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

So the blog rotation has finally come to me. So far my team has touched on everything under the sky, it seems. I want to reflect on the project as a whole.

When Darcy first told us that we would be spending six weeks at Gorman Heritage Farm doing trail-building, my jaw dropped. Six weeks. Trail building. Eight hours a day. For someone who spent the past four years at college majoring in movie-watching, spending (at least) 240 hours outside doing manual labor wasn’t at the top of my list of desired projects.

Before we even left campus in Vinton, I felt defeated. Six weeks. Forty-two days. 1008 hours. I tried to rationalize:

“It’s enough time to quit three jobs (Two Weeks Notice).”

“It’s not too much longer than it takes for infected to starve (28 Days).”

“It’s only enough time for James Franco to saw through his arm seven times (127 Hours).”

That didn’t really help, so I decided I would do exactly as Bob from the movie What About Bob?, “One step at a time.”

The first step was getting to the house. If you’ve never packed a fifteen passenger full of what ten people think they need for six weeks and then packed the said people in, then you have never lived. A 5:30 a.m. departure quickly turns into 7a.m. if you’re not careful (we weren’t careful). The next ten hours traveling were a major blur, but all I remember is that we made it to the farmhouse alive and in one piece.

Moving into the farmhouse was the next step. My initial thought? “It’s all so familiar, yet I know I’ve never been here before. I feel so at home,” as Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, so eloquently put it. Ten people and one bathroom could have been a problem, but somehow that was never a reason for conflict on our team.

Thankfully, our work wasn’t just trail building; we also did some invasive species removal. The main culprit was this nasty plant called Lonicera maackii, or Amur Honeysuckle. What kept driving me forward was a powerful line I remember, clear as a bell, from Karate Kid (the original, of course), “Sweep the root.” I’m pretty sure that was the Cobra-Kai Sensei, Kreese, encouraging his students to beat the honeysuckle in some sort of karate duel. If I remember correctly, the honeysuckle whipped the boy in the face, landing a victory.

Anyway, those six weeks zipped by. Whoooosh! Even as I’m writing this, I still can’t believe it went by so fast. I am so thankful even if I don’t fully remember every day. Zeniba from Spirited Away reminds me that “once you do something, you never forget, even if you don’t remember.”

It’s strange to think that I may never see any of those people ever again… ever. For a brief six weeks I stayed in a farm house in southern Ohio and helped carve a trail in the side of a hill so that people may reach the top easier. For a fleeting moment I was a part of their lives and they were a part of mine.

If I could leave one thought to the people of Evendale and anyone who sees the work of volunteers and AmeriCorps NCCC members, it would be that of Capa in Sunshine, “If you wake up one morning and notice it’s a particularly beautiful day, you’ll know we made it.”

~Phil

Day Living in the 1800s

2011-05-09T13:53:00.001-07:00

Electronics that were kept in Darcy's room during the reflection

One of the reflection activities our team thought of prior to beginning our work at Gorman Heritage Farm was to spend a “Day Living in the 1800s”. The purpose of this reflection was for our team to see what it may have been like to live at Gorman Heritage Farm during the time when it was first started.

The rules were simple – you had to give up all electronics, have no water besides an outside pump, no showers, no kitchen electronics, all light switches were taped, no camera usage (hence why this post has one photo), and no use of vehicles. We simply had to find a way to get through the day and night. The event started at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday April 27 lasted until Thursday, April 28, 12:00 p.m.

It was interesting to see how our team interacted with no electronics or lights present. There were people singing songs in the dark, playing Jenga (dangerous) and dribbling balls indoors or counting dollar bills. The following day we spent some time reflecting on how much our culture is use to and relies on electronics for communication as well as security. We could only imagine how it was for Jim and Dorothy Gorman, who were those who last lived in the farmhouse. And even before them I can't imagine how it was to create the house with the use of no power tools. This reflection is something that we plan on doing again in the future and see how our interpretations change on that which we think is important and give value too.

~Gaby

Top 10 Must-Sees in Cincy!

2011-05-03T11:11:00.001-07:00

10. Wal-Mart
Just kidding! Sort of. I hate to admit it, but much of our free time in the Queen’s City was spent at Wally World. I mostly blame this on our 10pm Sunday night grocery runs when it seems Super Wal-Mart was the only grocery store open.

9. Cincinnati Nature Center
Maple 4 spent one of our workdays at the CNC. It was great to visit another location that, like Gorman, that is working to conserve nature in the Greater Cincinnati area. Here we learned a new way to remove honeysuckle with loppers and herbicide. Thanks to Kurt at the CNC for giving us a tour of the beautiful trails and foliage.

8. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
A sobering visit to this museum taught our team more about the history of slavery in the United States and the current state of slavery in the world today. It was interesting to learn the role the Ohio River played during the Civil War as slaves from Kentucky crossed over the water into Ohio where Underground Railroad conductors helped guide them on their way to freedom in Canada.

7. Reds Game
To be honest, baseball is not my fave, but this was a good time nonetheless. Since the Cincinnati Reds were the first professional baseball team in America, it seemed a must-see. I spent close to a day’s pay on nachos, but the stadium overlooking the Ohio River was great and you can’t put a price on bonding with your teammates!

6. The Bridges
There are few neato bridges connecting Cincy to Kentucky. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is nicknamed the “Big Mac” because of its yellow paint. The pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge connects to Kentucky’s Newport on the Levee, a cool place to shop around or have lunch on the waterfront. And last but not least is the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Built back in the 1860’s when Lincoln was president, this is a nice piece of history. My advice on this last one is: DON’T RUN ACROSS! I made this mistake and had a terrible fall, tearing up my knee pretty bad. At least it made for a good story.

5. Cincinnati Zoo
At the second oldest-zoo in the U.S. you can see polar bears, lions, manatees, bonobos, and so much more. We spent 3 hours here and I never even realized there was a botanical garden attached!

4. Skyline & Gold Star Chili
Who’d a thunk chili was a staple in the Cincinnati diet? Being an East Coast gal I had no idea, but was happy to taste-test. I’ll give them both props for presentation since you can get heaping loads of chili on your choice of hot dog or spaghetti at either location, but Gold Star definitely blew skyline out of the water for me.

3. Jungle Jim’s
Waterfalls, an animatronics lion dressed up like Elvis singing “Jailhouse Rock,” a myriad of hot sauces displayed on an antique fire truck, and a 765lb sleeve of provolone cheese. This is what you can find at the most amazing grocery store I have ever visited. If you’re in the area, stop by and support this family-owned business that’s worked its way up from selling produce on abandoned gas station lots.

2. Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
Converted from a working train station opened in the 1930’s, Union Terminal is now home to the Cincinnati History Museum, Omnimax Theater, and Museum of Natural History and Science. You can still catch the Amtrak here as well. The highlight for me was this miniature model of the city.

1. Gorman Heritage Farm
How can I make a Top 10 list and not include our home for the last 6 weeks?! Gorman Heritage Farm is a great place if you’re looking to learn about a working farm. Bring your kids and introduce them to a mule, volunteer to work in the gardens with John, or better yet take a jog through the amazing trails–constructed in part by yours truly Maple 4.

~Darcy

Excellent Adventures with Ted

2011-04-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

For this project, Ted was our team's site supervisor. He is an awesome person to be around. He has been very helpful to the team on and off the trail. Ted knows a lot about nature and animals and can tell you anything about any plant that is seen along the trail. A few years ago, Ted suffered a stroke and has problems climbing up and down the trail. Daily, our team leader Darcy or Brad (our assistant team leader for this round) would give Ted rides in the golf cart up and down the trail. Even though Ted had suffered from this stroke it doesn't stop him. He is always on time for work at eight o'clock in the morning happy and ready. Ted is only 57 but he acts like he's 35. He loves to have fun with us on the trail and make jokes. He will be greatly missed by the team when we leave Cincinnati. (Site Supervisor, Ted, and me, Greg, pictured left)

~Greg

Community Day at Gorman Heritage Farm

2011-04-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

<----AmeriCorps NCCC Table

For the past three weeks, Christina and I have been planning a Community Day, where we bring in people from the community to the non-profit we are working with. We planned our day as an addition to Gorman Heritage Farm's already planned event called Farm Babies.

We set up a booth to talk to the community about AmeriCorps NCCC. We had pictures of our team and the trails we have been working on. We also showed off some of the tools we have been using. After talking about NCCC, we got to show those that came how to transplant grapevines. We had the younger kids dig the holes at the new location for the grapevines. Then we had them destroy some honey suckle, since grapevine roots are too sensitive for some younger children to dig up.

<-----From Left - Greg, Christina, Hillary

Unfortunately, the weather was extremely windy and rainy. We still had the event and set up our tent, but the only brave souls that made it were cub scouts. Most ranged from the age of 3 to 9. The parents all seemed very interested in learning about AmeriCorps NCCC. Most people did not want to stay out in the cold to help with the grapevines, but we did have a few energetic kids that removed some honeysuckle. After the eighty or some cub scouts came and left we waited another 45 minutes in the cold and when no one else showed up, we called it a day.

~Hilary

PT -aka- Physical Training

2011-04-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our team does physical training three times a week. We do it to get in shape for our jobs. Physical training helps our team a lot because a long day of hard labor we can relax and put our minds on something else. For our first round, we got passes to a local gym for free from a staff member of Gorman Heritage Farm. That helps our team a lot because we do not have to do the same thing over and over. We are able to go to the gym and do different things on our own. There are all kinds of weight machines, cardio machines, and gyms available to us.

From L to R: Hillary, Christina, Darcy, Gaby, Diana

We use the fitness center as a team on Monday where everyone can choose to do individual activities. On Wednesday, we play team sports like soccer, football or capture the flag. Friday is our “free” day where we are free to do whatever activities we want for PT. Some people run the trails at the farm. Some people use work out videos. I like to go to the soccer fields that surround the gym and play pick up games.

From L to R: Drew, Phil, Sam, Greg, Brad

I have met many new people at the fitness center. Many have become my friends. We play soccer together. Most of them are the same age as me. It has been a lot of fun getting to know so many locals outside of the farm.

A Reflection on Trail Building

2011-04-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

Darcy cutting invasive honeysuckle

T ense with each other because we’re in each other’s faces all the time and we’re all very different.

R ewarding seeing an immediate result and realizing how much we’re helping the sponsor.

A ltruistic feeling like I’m doing something good for my country without expecting a lot in return.

I mpressed with my teammates and myself.

L imited in my own knowledge and skills, humbled.

B ananas we eat a lot of them. ‘nuff said.

U nprepared was excited to do this project, but didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

I nterested in the mission of Gorman Heritage Farm, the project as a whole, and the NCCC program.

L earning about myself, my teammates, and conservation.

D emanding the physical labor itself!

I ndependent all of Maple 4, coming out here on our own without knowledge about each other or the tasks.

N ew skills learning how to trail build, feed animals, do manual labor, work in our rep roles etc.

G rowing as individuals and as a team (insert group hug here)

~Darcy (Team Leader)

Trail Building: The Tools and Techniques

2011-04-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Brad, here. In Americorps NCCC, each team member has a given role on the team. My role on Maple 4 is the VST, which means I am responsible for our team Vehicle, the overall Safety of the team, and the Tools we use on our project. On our current trailbuilding project, we use a variety of tools. Some are very common, and some are specialty tools for our project. The tools we are using on any given day depend on which phase of work the new trail is on: Clearing, Uprooting, and Benching.

Clearing: When we first start a trail, the route is often impassible due to vegetation in the forest. We must first clear out this vegetation to even begin to see the route of the trail.

Tools for Clearing

Loppers: We use both large and small loppers to cut vines, branches and honeysuckle up to about 2” in diameter. Loppers cut through small stems quick and are easy to operate.

Bowsaw: A bowsaw is a type of saw used specifically for outdoor sawing of vegetation. We use it for anything that is too big for the loppers to cut through.

Uprooting: After clearing out a path, we are left with many stumps, both small and large, that need to be removed in order to create a flat surface for the trail.

Tools for Uprooting

Shovels: We use basic shovels to dig out some stumps. They not only move and loosen the soil, but they also cut through smaller roots that impede stump removal.

Pulaskis: The Pulaski is a tool that was designed for forest fire-fighting. It has both an axehead and a hoe. For clearing, we use the axehead for roots that are too large to be cut with a shovel.

Honeysuckle Popper: The honeysuckle plant makes up the majority of our stump removals. Because the plant’s roots are shallow, the honeysuckle popper can be used by securing the tool around the base of the plant and simply using leverage to “pop” the plant out of the ground.

Benching: After we have a clear trail, we then begin the task of leveling the grade of it through a process called benching. Benching involves cutting out dirt from the hillside of the trail and using that soil to level out the lower side of the trail.

Tools for Benching

Rhinos: The Rhino, like the Pulaski, was developed as a wildfire-fighting tool. It is a heavy duty hoe that has a sharp edge. We use it to cut into the hillside and pull the dirt out. We also use the hoe end of the Pulaski for this same purpose.

Bow (or Garden) Rake: After ripping the dirt up, we use these rakes to break up dirt clumps and level out the trail so that it is easy to walk on.

~Brad

Horses, Pigs and a Donkey…Oh my!

2011-04-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hillary and I learned how to walk the two mini horses and the donkey on Sunday. Shorty is a miniature dwarf horse, Huckleberry is a miniature horse and Stormy is the donkey. To walk the horses you must first know that Stormy and Shorty cannot be separated because Shorty will get very upset. They all have different sized heads and it takes a while to figure out which Halter fits on which horse. Also the donkey walks very slowly and Huckleberry tips his head down every five minutes to eat grass. Huckleberry also tries to walk sideways into you so he can get over to the grass. Shorty just enjoys the view. Kelsey, one of the workers at the farm helped us out to learn about the mini horses. For the walk we took them out and around the alfalfa, corn and wheat fields. They seem to really enjoy it especially when we stopped and let them have a snack for a bit.

We also got to be the first on our team to meet the new baby pigs and lambs that arrived on the farm. The pigs are pretty shy and tend to huddle in the corner when you open the door, but they are the cutest especially when they oink. The lambs are also really cute; there are five boys and one girl. Kelsey informed us that the girl seems to be the leader and protector of the group, she is pretty tough. Then a volunteer at the farm took us on a horse drawn wagon ride with the farm pony, Ringo, pulling us around. This was fun, but bumpy and since the back of the wagon had no cushion, it got a bit uncomfortable sitting down. It was a cool way to view the farm, almost like it was the 1800’s again.

~Christina

Life at the Farmhouse

2011-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

View of Farmhouse from Trail

March 18, 2011, that’s when we departed Vinton, Iowa and headed to Cincinnati, Ohio for our first project. We drove 10 long hours to get to Cincinnati. When we arrived at Gorman Heritage Farm in Evendale we were introduced to everyone. Staff welcomed us to their farm and their farmhouse, where we would be living for the next 6 weeks. They showed us around the house then afterwards we had dinner with them. They are some nice people. German Heritage Farm staff gave us an orientation of what we are going to be working on. During the orientation Maple 4 introduced ourselves to the staff and told them where we are from. After the orientation, they showed us around the farm to see the different animals.

One of the many roosters on the farm.

Our first week here at the farmhouse, everybody seemed to get along even though we had little personal space. Everybody is taking good care of the farmhouse. It is a real nice place. The house is 175 years old. It has four bedrooms and one bathroom for the 10 people on our team. They have rain barrels outside to catch the rain as well. The types of animals they have are horses, chickens, roosters, ducks, and cows. Soon they will be getting more animals like pigs and stuff like that.

Cow named 'Salt'

We are going on two weeks staying at the farmhouse and it is going great!

~Andrew

Mud, Sweat and Accomplishment

2011-03-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Diana and if you've seen the previous posts you'll know that I'm a member or AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps' Team Maple 4. First things first, if you haven't been in a fifteen passenger van with nine other people and all the things that they and you need for the next six weeks, you really DON'T know what it’s like, and if your 18-24 I'd suggest joining to find out.

Okay, on to the real news: I got covered in mud. I'm writing this less than an hour after finishing work for the day, and I got covered in mud. I wasn't even to the worksite this morning before it happened either. We had tools that we needed to get to the part of the trail that we were going to work on, and were using a golf cart to get them up the trail when it happened. The golf cart got stuck. We being the awesome people we are helped push it out, then it happened again and we pushed it out again, and that's when it happened. The wheels of the golf cart were spinning so fast that mud splattered up and I was covered.

Like I said earlier, I'm writing this less then one hour after finishing our first day of work, and I feel tired and exhilarated at the same time, as odd as that may sound. Tired because we were building trails, which is a very physical activity full of pulling stumps, cutting down invasive species (die honeysuckle, die), benching (making trails level enough to actually walk on) and in general making trails more accessible to the general public. I feel exhilarated in part because I helped make a difference for Gorman Heritage Farm in its mission to help educate people about nature, and also because the work I did had very visible results. It's rather amazing how seeing the results of the hard work you've done makes you feel.

That trail I worked on? It feels like it's my trail, like every person who will walk it will be affected by me on a personal level, in a positive way, and that makes me feel amazing.

~Diana

Maple 4 Dinosaurs!

2011-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hello World from Maple 4!

From back left: Gaby, Darcy, Sam, Greg, Phil; From front left: Drew, Brad, Christina, Hillary, Diana

We all arrived in Vinton, Iowa, headquarters for the North Central Region of AmeriCorps NCCC, on February 15 and were placed in temporary teams. For the first few days it was all logistical. We were sized for uniforms, boots, and other safety equipment that would be needed for future projects. Our training over the next few days were slow starts as many of us came here knowing no one and being surrounded by strangers from several different states and cities. On February 21, every NCCC member followed a clue based scavenger hunt to find our permanent teams.

That's when we met our team leader Darcy and our lives changed forever. Maple 4 is a team composed of a largely diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds (you read about us in the last post!). It was challenging when joining with a whole new group of people. This team cooks, cleans, and attends all trainings together. We are with each other for ten hours straight some days. As a result of this, we have been a team for only 3 weeks, yet we have bonded deeply.

Darcy has been very enthusiastic from the beginning. She has consistently encouraged us to be excited about everything, even trainings. Her pep has boosted team morale and has everyone looking forward to being together for nine months. As a team, we've created many chants and cheers, and we even have a mascot and a logo.

Maurice and his Dinosaur children

Now that you know a little about us, here is what we will be doing for the next six weeks:

This Thursday, March 17 – St. Patrick's Day we will be heading to Evendale, Ohio to begin our first project. Evendale is a suburb of Cincinnati. We are all excited to be near such a large city where we can experience many different entertainment options and independent service opportunities. We will be working at Gorman Heritage Farm which is a 120-acre working and educational farm. We will be building and fixing trails that surround the property. There are all sorts of animals and fun activities to do there (http://www.gormanfarm.org/).

We are excited to have this blog for the next 9 months!! If you love reading about us, please subscribe or host our blog widget on your website.

We hope you will keep reading and if you have any questions about what we are doing feel free to comment.

Maple 4 Team Introduction

2011-03-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Maple 4’s Team Blog!

We are an AmeriCorps NCCC team based out of the North Region Campus in Vinton, Iowa. We are 10 members from all over the United States who are serving together for the next 10 months. We have provided brief introductions of each of us in this posting so you can get to know Maple 4 members. We hope you enjoy our adventures this year as we travel and serve throughout the North Central United States.

Team Leader
Name: Darcy
Hometown: New Egypt, NJ
Fun fact: I like to tap dance for fun and my favorite movie is 'Spaceballs.'
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC because I saw it as a great way to give back to the country and develop leadership skills. I also look forward to the experience of traveling to different states within our region and meeting new people.

Name: Greg
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Fun fact: One of my favorite things to do is cut hair. I plan on going to school after AmeriCorps to become a barber.
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC because I wanted to help people. I want to use the Eli Segal Educational Award that we receive upon completion of the program to pay for college. I love to travel.

Name: Diana
Hometown: Sunnyvale, CA
Fun fact: I have never broken a bone. Ever.
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC after attending some college. I wanted to find a way to grow in character and leadership skills outside of a classroom

Name: Brad
Hometown: Hudsonville, MI
Fun fact: In my one semester of college, a friend of mine and I filmed several trick shots on a basketball court and posted the cut video on YouTube. The video has over 230,000 views. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utHYn0XU1-Y)
Why: I decided to join AmeriCorps NCCC for a chance to break free from my comfort zone. I also saw it as a great opportunity to travel and embark on new adventures.

Name: Hillary
Hometown: Sisters, OR
Fun fact: I climbed Middle Sisters Mountain (10, 047 ft, the fifth highest peak in Oregon). I can make a 4 leaf clover with my tongue.
Why: I decided to join AmeriCorps NCCC after working with Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps and heard wonderful things about NCCC. It sounded liked a good time to meet people, continue volunteering and traveling.

Name: Andrew
Hometown: Miami, FL
Fun fact: I can bench press 330 pounds. I also want to go to the University of Miami in order to join the NFL.
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC to help out the community and have more interaction with people form different races and religions. I see it as a good chance to help out those in low income situations.

Name: Gaby
Hometown: Miami, FL
Fun fact: I spent two months in Zambia, Africa and bungee jumped 350 feet of Victoria Falls.
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC right after graduating with a degree in Anthropology and not being sure what to next. My sister told me about AmeriCorps NCCC from her experience in 2009.

Name: Sam
Hometown: Sheboygan, WI
Fun fact: I changed my last name when I arrived to the states from Liberia. I also like playing soccer and traveling.
Why: I decided to join AmeriCorps NCCC to reach out to people. I also saw it as a good chance to learn new skills like construction or trail building.

Name: Christina
Hometown: Merrimack, NH
Fun fact: When I was in high school, I interned for 'Obama for America.' I got to meet Barack & Michelle Obama and shook Oprah Winfrey's hand. I also love West Virginia University.
Why: I decided to join AmeriCorps NCCC because I wasn’t sure what to study in college and decided to take a year off to help others.

Name: Phil
Hometown: St Louis, MO
Fun fact: I dented my ribcage just two weeks before coming to AmeriCorps sledding on ice.
Why: I joined AmeriCorps NCCC in order to travel the country and perform my civic duty.

North Central Region's Maple 4 Team Blog Teaser Trailer

2011-03-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Water 4's Goodbye Video

2010-07-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Every End is a New Beginning

2010-07-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

The end of our AmeriCorps NCCC year is upon us. There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done and we are awaiting our graduation ceremony on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that just 10 months ago we were boarding planes not knowing what the year had in store for us. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The goals we shared coming in were to travel, meet new people, and help as many people as we could. Water Four accomplished that with flying colors.

Looking back at the experience, a few things come to mind. I can’t help but think about the communities that the team supported with our efforts. We built houses for Hurricane Katrina survivors, we were mentors for children, we built trails for people to enjoy, and we helped others get $1,000s from tax returns. We learned many valuable skills, but what we will take away most are the smiles we put on those we served. The experiences were different for each project but the most important thing was that we had a blast making a lasting impact on those communities.

Our team was very lucky to be a part of this blog and the NBC documentary, which is expected to air sometime this fall. It may have changed our experience a little because of the cameras that followed us during our first spike project. However, we understand the impact that sharing our experience with the public in that way will have on AmeriCorps NCCC and on others interested in serving. Service to our country is on the rise and it comes at a crucial time. The need for people to step up and lend a hand is urgent. AmeriCorps is a prime example of that need. Because of the Serve America Act, the amount of people able to serve through NCCC may increase in the coming years. Also, other AmeriCorps programs have already added thousands of new opportunities to help communities in need.

We are blessed to live in this great country. What makes it great are those who have served before us. That is why everyone should serve whether it’s at home or abroad. There are many ways to serve but sometimes we find an excuse not to. Everyone has the ability, so it is not a question of 'can I,' but 'will I?' Our team is a great example of that, since we didn’t have all the specific skills we needed going into each of our projects. However, we were able to succeed and overcome that with our strong determination to learn the skills we needed to help others.

In the end we are all separate: our stories, no matter how similar, come to a fork and diverge. We were drawn to each other because of similarities, but it was our differences that ultimately made us a great team. The greatest lesson from this year is that it doesn't matter what your age, gender, race, or political views are because we all share the common goal of Getting Things Done! We thank you for reading and stay tuned for our video goodbye.

- Jeremy and Water Four

PS: Don't forget to watch for Water Four’s documentary on NBC coming soon...

Big Bend in Pictures

2010-07-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Those who had been following the Official NCCC Blog this past winter and spring may have noticed Team Water 4 has been largely silent the summer months. That's because the team has been serving in Big Bend National Park in Texas since May 17th. Water 4 has been doing great trail and conservation work. Unfortunately, since the team has also been camping during this project there hasn't much opportunity to use a computer or the internet. As a result, they blog has been pretty skimpy lately but hopefully these captioned photos can help tell part of the story you've missed. Enjoy!

The team when we first got to Big Bend

Leia working on picking out some grasses that were growing in the trail at Santa Elena's Canyon

The team working on gathering rocks to dump onto the turnpike being built to help the trail from continuing eroding

Ian working on the turnpike

The ending product of the turnpike on the Pinnacles trail

Derek, Christina, Sarah, Jo, Jeremy, Leia, Ashley, Jenna and Ian up on The Lost Mine Trail at sunset

Ashley, Sarah, Jeremy, Shiny, Derek, Ian, and Jenna climbed Casa Grande

Christina, Jenna, and Jo removed a giant rock, named Lucifer, while installing a check on the Window Trail. (a "check" is a log that sits right below tread level on the trail to help keep the trail from eroding as hikers walk by.)

On our first hitch to Emory Peak, our campsite was infested with thousands of little flies. We had to move to another campsite on the mountain.

This is a part of the new Emory Peak trail that we built from scratch.

We had to fill 5 gallon buckets full of dirt for a couple of retaining walls we built on the trail.

Joseph, our mule guy, brought the mules up to transport the dirt further up the trail. Jenna and Jeremy load the buckets into the panyard on the right side of the mule while Colin, our supervisor, loads another bucket on the left. The mules have to be loaded in this fashion to keep the weight evenly distributed on the mules, making it easier for them to walk.

The team's kindergarten picture at our campsite on Emory Peak

On our first shopping trip at Porter's in Alpine

Our base campsite at the Remuda Bunkhouse

We've picked up a new hobby in Big Bend...Hula Hoop!

The mules carrying all our equipment to our campsite on Emory Peak.

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Water Four is just wrapping up a nice six days off before we go back up on hitch to enjoy the work and views at 8,000 feet on Emory Peak. Work is nearing an end and we will be out of Big Bend on the 16th. Even though this experience has been amazing, I think everyone is excited to get back to civilization and wrap up the AmeriCorps year. Highlights for me so far have been many of the hikes that we have done on our own time. The views from the peaks in the park are just absolutely amazing. We also saw a bear while we were up on Emory Mountain and it was just 10 yards from where we were camping. The last highlight has been hanging out with the team. Our time together has almost run out and we all realize that we need to enjoy it while we can.

Last weekend we were able to celebrate the Fourth of July together which was a lot of fun. We went to Alpine, Texas for two nights. We went to a flea market and saw a parade. It’s also legal to buy fireworks in Texas so we were able to set off our own. The Fourth of July is probably one of my favorite holidays right next to St. Patrick’s Day. I really enjoy seeing fireworks and the celebrations that go along with it. We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. So thanks to all of you who have served our country in the past and who do so presently. I support you!

Lastly, we have lost a member of Water Four. Shawn has gone back to Denver to take care of some things but will rejoin us in two weeks when we are back in Denver. We miss him already. But we do have more food to go around :). That’s all for now.

~Jeremy

Howdy from the Southwest

2010-06-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

We have been in Big Bend National Park working for the trail maintenance crew for almost two months now and I am having the time of my life. I had never heard of Big Bend before getting assigned to this project and after seeing all the endless beauty, I am shocked that it is not as famous as some of the more well-known National Parks like Yosemite or Glacier.

We have a little under two weeks left here working for the trail crew and then we head back to Denver for the final week and a half participating in AmeriCorps NCCC. At the end of July, I will have completed my 10-month commitment and will return to the DC area. I am having a tough time wrapping my head around how fast this experience has gone by.

We are living in tents and only get an Internet connection or cell phone reception every week and a half. Nature and hiking have always been a major interest to me, but that cannot be said for everyone on the team. Some people are definitely struggling with the daily 100+ degree temperatures, lack of sleep from windy nights, and complete disconnect from the rest of the world. It has made for some tense moments, but overall, the team is doing really well and doing some great work.

We have been working with the National Park Service trail crew here in Big Bend. Although trails help millions of people get a closer look at nature, they also prevent water from being easily spread evenly throughout the park. The sparse rainwater that falls in the desert here will just coast down the trails instead of nourishing the plants of Big Bend equally. We have been digging drainage ditches and installing water bars on the trails that help disperse the rainfall and also prevent erosion. It is incredibly strenuous but awesome work, especially since we are doing it in the heat of the desert.

The park is our playground. Everyday off we go on hikes all throughout the park. I have already hiked almost 100 miles worth of trails and reached the peak of 4+ mountains. We also have free access to any campsite in the park. I camped out on the ‘South Rim’ a couple days ago.

Well… as you can read… life here is awesome! If you ever get the chance, you need visit BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK!

~Ian

Life in Big Bend National Park

2010-06-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! It has been ages since I have had a chance to write anything to you. But I will update to the best of my abilities. Right now we are on our fourth and final project in AmeriCorps NCCC and I must admit I am a little saddened by it. It's nice to be back together with Water 4, though! I have missed them tons! Since being in Big Bend we have been doing many different projects, most of which is trail maintenance. We have been using lots of different tools and such to get the work done. I have become an expert at using a pick-matic which is pretty cool. We went on our first hitch (multi-day camping excursion in the mountains) where we hiked up to Emory Peak which is over 7,000 feet. We have been repairing the new trail and getting it all nice and smooth for the hikers. We camp in tents and we cook our food on camping stoves. I feel like a real wilderness camper. I haven't showered in DAYS!!! I haven't seen a mirror in ages and I am betting that I have a face full of hair and can't wait to shave it off. HAHA! Time is dwindling pretty fast here and it will soon be time for graduation. I can't wait to see my family and friends; I haven't seen anyone from home since I joined in October. I have been very focused on my life after AmeriCorps and I have been accepted to serve with City Year New York as a Corps Member. They also called me back to interview me for a Senior Corps Team Leader! I am glad that I have something to transition to after the program is over. I can't wait! For now, later!!!

~ Shawn

Shuffling out of Ferncliff

2010-05-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

We have wrapped things up here and it was hard to say good bye. Water Seven’s third round project in Little Rock was a major success. The sponsors at Ferncliff were great to us and were very thankful for what we accomplished. It was hard to say goodbye.
Our main project was a 3-tier, 140-foot retaining wall that will help prevent landslides and one of the houses from flooding. Only one tier was finished. Overall, we poured about 175 bags of concrete into that wall. We did some math and came up with 45,000 lbs when you add on the water and sand. Oh don’t forget the 1000's of rocks that were put in the wall. Finishing that wall was an amazing feat for the team.

Overall, the sponsors had about 20 projects scheduled to be finished during the two months of work. However, Water Seven finished their tasks in advance and were able to take on more than what was expected. The biggest addition was a 120-foot slide that was assembled in time for the summer camp. The slide is a wild ride when you use a sled and I recommend that the campers do not try out the sleds. I'm glad we were able to fit that project in at the end.

I will never forget Ferncliff. It is such a beautiful place and they do some great things. Water Seven will be missed most of all. However, I am very excited to rejoin Water Four. As you know, we will be at Big Bend National Park in Texas for our final project. Two months of camping will allow for some great adventures and stories. I can’t wait to hear about the other projects as well. Although it will be extremely hot, there’s nothing like a little Water Four to cool things down and to have some fun. See ya there!

~Jeremy

"Every Day is Earth Day in Boulder"

2010-04-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again from Boulder! Can’t believe we are already almost done with the 3rd AmeriCorps NCCC project. Although I am so excited for my 4th project and to be reunited with my original teammates of Water 4, I am trying to soak in every last moment I have in Boulder.

This past weekend, we had an awesome opportunity to do some independent volunteer service. Everyone on my team helped with the Climate Smart Energy Sweep in Longmont, Colorado. We partnered up with Boulder County and went door-to-door giving away free energy efficient products. We swapped incandescent light bulbs (old-school) for compact fluorescent lights (exciting and energy saving!), gave away water saving shower heads, clothes drying racks, and a $30 gift certificate to be used for more energy efficient items at the local hardware store. It was such an incredible experience to be able to help the environment and help lower-income families save money on their electric and water bills. We met some amazing people and had a memorable experience. We were able to give away hundreds of dollars of energy saving items and it was greatly appreciated.

On Sunday, there was a big festival for Earth Day in downtown Boulder. There was live music, food, and tons of booths set up advertising local, organic, green, or otherwise environmentally conscious companies. It is so mind blowing to be living in a city that cares so much about preserving the beauty of the planet.

We headed back to work on Monday. After a couple weeks of cleaning irrigation ditches, it was back to invasive species removal. While we walked along the fields at the bottom of the foothills of Boulder removing Mediterranean Sage and Myrtle Spurge, we also came across 5 rattlesnakes, 1 bull snake, and a frog. Seeing and hearing my first rattlesnake was breathtaking. I literally was only 2 feet from a 3-foot rattlesnake that had no intention of letting me get any closer. We all were wearing Kevlar snake chaps and steel toed boots, but it was still a very intense experience to be walking through a field that was littered with poisonous snakes.

After work, a couple of us went to hang out on Pearl Street. We then went to a concert next to the University of Colorado campus. It was a venue called, ‘The Fox.” Tons of well-known artists have played there before they really got big. There were pictures of Dave Matthews, The Killers, Ziggy Marley and tons more. We went to see an up and coming ‘indie’ band called ‘The Antlers.’ It was an awesome show and we got all the way up to the front row.

As you can see, life is great here. We are spending a majority of our time helping Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks with their invasive species removal and irrigation ditch maintenance and still have enough time to explore and take advantage of all the amazing opportunities in Boulder.

~Ian

Battle of the Ceiling Fans

2010-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

Water 7 had a pretty crazy weekend. Saturday was Global Youth Service Day, so all NCCC teams were required to have a "day on." Our team helped out at the Little Rock Earth Day Festival. It was supposed to be huge--over 71 booths had signed up--but unfortunately there were some pretty crazy storms and a ton of rain, so the turn out was a lot less than expected. It was still pretty cool though, we managed to have some fun. Then Sunday, we went on a team outing for service learning to the William J Clinton Presidential Library and to Heifer International. Both were informative and interesting. The Clinton Library had an AmeriCorps exhibit, which was fun to see, and Heifer had a lot of interesting displays about world hunger and what's being done and what could be done.

Back at Ferncliff, we're working on finishing up our retaining wall. The 130-foot wall was originally supposed to be three tiers, but now we're only doing one tier, due to budget and time restraints. Last week, Alex and I had a pretty epic struggle with some ceiling fans... We had to take down seven old ones, and put up seven new ones. Ceiling fans sounds like a pretty simple, innocent job, but they definitely are not. We really struggled the first two days, lifting the heavy motors, figuring out the wiring, and which screws actually needed to be unscrewed, that sort of thing. But, by the third day on the project, we finally found a system that worked, and we started feeling a lot more effective. By the end of the week, we had successfully taken down all seven fans and installed seven new ones in their place! All in all, it was a very challenging task that certainly made me feel extremely accomplished by the end. Friday afternoon we turned them all on and just stood in awe for a few seconds; it was a good moment and a good feeling.

Now I'm just trying to take in as much of Arkansas as I can before it's time to leave...it's definitely a beautiful place!

~Jo

Busy Busy!

2010-04-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Things here have been going wonderfully. Work has been the same since I last reported; we are still working on the houses on Gilman. I've finally finished my ISP (Independent Service Project) hours, though I intend to continue to volunteer. And my free time has been filled with fun activities! On Monday most of my teammates and I went canoeing at Lake Fausse Pointe, where we previously did an ISP. The only detriment is that it has been getting really hot and extremely humid here in Lafayette. Thankfully my team and I now have gym memberships since we gave blood. Actually, everyone donated blood except me. Apparently I lived in Europe too long to donate blood in the US, but I was able to get a membership anyway. The gym allows us to exercise in an air conditioned room and/or swim. A few of my teammates wanted to learn how to swim, so I've been regularly instructing them on basic strokes. It's nice teaching others a very useful skill; it's like sharing a hobby.

I'm looking forward to this weekend! Festival International starts today. I'm excited to hear the music. I'm not usually much of a concert goer, but I do like to listen. I will volunteer with the local AmeriCorps program on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday to help recycle. In addition on Friday afternoon a few friends that I've made here and I will go down to New Orleans to attend a DeadMau5 concert.

I apologize for this entry being so short, but I've been very busy and am extremely tired. I write this at 2:13 a.m. Eeeek! I promise my next entry will be more detailed and with pictures.

~Leia

Cuivre River and AmeriCorps ERT

2010-04-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We’ve had another busy week this week here in Missouri. Monday-Wednesday we worked at Cuivre River State Park (Pronounced like Quiver) doing Garlic Mustard removal (spraying the invasive plant), trail building, and sawyering cedars. It was a pretty neat experience and a change up in our normal activities. We stayed over night Monday and Tuesday nights with an AmeriCorps ERT team from St. Louis. The team we were working and living with were super awesome and were a lot of fun! We’re hoping to meet up with them in St. Louis next weekend.

As much fun as our little junket was, it was nice to get back home to our cozy little house. The rest of the week we worked on repairing a bridge, pulling fence, and starting to prepare some picnic tables and benches for staining. The weather has been very muggy and rainy, but we worked through it for the most part.

It’s been a good week, and I’m excited to see how the last two weeks pan out.

~Jenna

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!!

2010-04-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!! My blog title speaks for itself. I am having the most amazing time. Everything is just going perfect here in Denver! We have been pretty busy at the children's home! We have finished up the library renovation and cataloging the books and now we have been working on some new and exciting projects. The library is having a grand opening and we will have the opportunity to perform a very special presentation! What might that presentation be you may ask? Ah, it is a drum circle! Drum Circles are when people get together and coordinate different sounds and beats on multiple drums and musical instruments. For a brand new group of drummers, we sound P-R-E-T-T-Y good. It will be awesome! Barbara Lane, the Director of NCCC Southwest Region came by and stopped in for a visit to see what all the excitement was about. It felt really good to have staff come in and check out all of the hard work that we have put into this project. What makes this project special is that we love it so much. We have the opportunity to make a difference in this project that will span beyond the duration of our project.

On another note, I had my Team Leader interview this week! I was pretty nervous, but I did the best I could, and hopefully, it paid off! I am glad either way to have had the opportunity to interview and to just be apart of the NCCC program. I can't believe that our third project is over in a week and a half!!!! It is soo crazy! But the upside to that is, I GET TO SEE MY WATER 4 TEAM AGAIN!!! I am soo excited to reunite with everyone and hear all of the different stories from the different projects! ISP at the Denver Children's Museum is soo awesome! I have been the storyteller for the children and it is just way too cool. I like it so much because it makes me feel like a child again. I become so animated when I start reading those books! I will miss them when I leave Denver for my next project. Did I even mention my next project? FORGIVE ME!!! My fourth and final project in NCCC will be trail-building and maintenance at Big Bend National Park in Texas!!! What a way to go out! With a bang.

Sarah, Shiny, Ashley and I also had the chance to have lunch with Ian's parents this week. Now we know where Ian gets his charm! His family is pretty awesome. Hope to meet them again in the near future!

Last weekend we had the chance to participate in an event called Cool-fax Kids Connect with the Denver Children's Home! It was a successful first annual event, and we got together in teams and cleaned up almost 16 blocks of Colfax Avenue to celebrate Earth Day. Did you know that Colfax Avenue is the longest continuous street in America at 26 miles long!!! Tomorrow is Global Youth Service Day and we have an exciting morning at Red Rocks Amphitheater doing multiple tasks such as trail work, gardening, wall repair, trash removal, etc. It should be exciting!!! Rumor has it that there will be a Drum Circle in the afternoon there...do you know how much Ashley and I love drum circles?

Until then...

~Shawn

Burn Baby Burn!

2010-04-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! I’m just sitting down at my computer for the first time this week (It’s currently 9:15 p.m. on Thursday), which if you knew me is quite the feat! Water 6 has been super busy this week burning and pulling fencing down. We’ve had late days every day this week, but it was well worth it.

Monday a few of us went to a conservation area called Painted Rock where we burned 145 acres (relatively small area in comparison to some burns we’ve had). Although the burn was relatively small, it took up most of the day because of wind change and the steep slopes we had to climb. By the end of the day we were all exhausted. When we got home I ate, showered, and fell asleep all within an hour. I can’t remember the last time I was that tired!

Wednesday we got to do a pretty cool burn down the median on Highway 54. They had MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) out there putting cones out for us. Also, police officers were patrolling the highway to get people to slow down while we were out there. It was pretty awesome and scary at the same time! I never got used to hearing cars zoom by so close, let alone not always being able to see them right away through the smoke that was a constant cover over the highway. I kept thinking to myself about how many people we probably scared that day, with the smoke from the burn.

Today we had the great pleasure to entertain Alann, our wonderous Unit Leader. He came through to check on us and see how our project is going. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it to the burn we did this morning, but he did get to see the end result. He hung out with us for the majority of the day and evening. He even ate dinner with us at our little house on the prairie. We felt very honored to have a guest of such high esteem visit and dine with us.

Overall, the project has been wonderful. When we’re not burning we’re usually pulling fence down or removing Japanese Honeysuckle. I do have to say the best part of the project is the burning. I’ve gotten some great pictures as a result! It’s also really awesome to see how the land changes just in two weeks. Here’s a picture of the nearly 400 acres we burned a few weeks ago and how it has progressed just in the past 2 weeks. It’s pretty awesome to be able to see the results of the burn so quickly. It’s amazing how nature is just able to regenerate.

I’m enjoying my time here in Missouri, but I am excited to be heading back to Denver in a few weeks to reunite with my Water 4!

~Jenna

Breaks, Birthdays, and Getting Things Done

2010-04-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hello from Little Rock, AR. Water 7 is doing a great job here at Ferncliff Camp. We have been working on a lot of different projects and we haven’t missed a beat. Our three-tier rock wall is coming along and we are hoping we can finish it in time. We have been mixing a lot of concrete, which has been a very messy job. The team has walked the trails at Ferncliff Camp to address any maintenance issues. We have also been doing a lot of siding, painting, and interior work inside the volunteer house.

A few things have happened since the last time I wrote. Right before break Jo, Alex, and I went to an outreach event at the National Guard Military Base in Little Rock. We talked to cadets in the Youth Challenge program. We had fun talking to the cadets about what we do in AmeriCorps NCCC. They had a lot of good questions and really seemed interested. From what I have been told, there were a few that began the application process after we left.

Last weekend was Spring Break. The team went on their separate ways. Jo and I went to Ponca, Arkansas which is a very small town in the Ozark Mountains. We went to church on Easter Sunday. We were so deep in the middle of nowhere that we had to travel an hour to find a Catholic Church. This also seemed to be the nearest large town in the area. After church we hurried back and went on a canoe trip on the Buffalo National River. The trip took about five hours and was very adventurous to say the least. It was nice to just be able to relax and have some fun.

After we got back from break it was my birthday. On April 5 I turned 23. I feel so old. That’s not a bad thing though. (I don’t want to upset the older readers out there.) My AmeriCorps experience has helped me realize that I am ready for my adult life. I am very excited to see what the future holds for me.

Well, gotta run but just wanted to add that I am also very excited about our 4th round project, which will be in Big Bend National Park. I’m sure we will be writing more when the time comes so I won’t spill the details. From the looks of it, it is going to be an amazing project. I miss you Water 4...

~Jeremy

Library Time!

2010-04-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

This week our main project at the Denver Children’s Home (DCH) has been to assist with putting together their new library. We’ve spent most of the week sorting through hundreds of book donations and alphabetizing them all. After we categorized all of the books and the bookshelves were installed in the renovated space, we began moving the books onto the shelves, organizing them as best we could, and cataloging them into the computer system. The undertaking of inputting the books into the system has proven to be a long process but it’s more than worth it to know that the kids at DCH are getting a library back for the first time in years.

Yesterday was the first day that the kids were allowed to check out books. It was so great to watch them browse the shelves, ask questions, and ultimately find a book that interested them. I hope that the work that we put into the new library continues to give the kids a healthy outlet of education for years to come.

~ Sarah

Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks

2010-04-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog friends,

I am working in Boulder, Colorado for an organization named Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. There are no members of Water 4 on my 'shuffle round' team. Although I miss my former teammates, Boulder is a little slice of heaven.

Our living situation is incredible. We live in what has been referred to as the 'AmeriMansion.' It is an old farmhouse right along the foothills of the Boulder Flatirons. There is a huge living room and kitchen with beautiful views all around. In front of the house is an awesome hike and behind the house are miles of running trails. We have acres of prairie around us and are only a 10 minute drive (or Skip Bus Ride) from downtown on Pearl Street or the University of Colorado campus.

In our free time, my team has been on tons of hikes, taken a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory, been to some great restaurants on Pearl Street, and have many more excursions planned. The weather here is crazy. It can snow 10 inches and then be 70 degrees the following day. It is typically beautiful either way.

Our work is very unique. At first glance to the untrained eye, it might only seem as if we are weeding. After spending a lot of time doing service learning and becoming more educated on our project, we learned the purpose and the necessity of removing the invasive species from the Boulder area. We have been pulling Mediterranean Sage and Myrtle Spurge. Neither of these plants is native to Boulder and neither plant is eaten by any animal in the Boulder area. They both grow uncontrolled and kill off many other native plants. Myrtle Spurge also is highly dangerous because it releases a goo that can cause the blistering of skin or blindness. It was some pretty extreme weed pulling.

We have really hilarious and fun supervisors that have worked with AmeriCorps NCCC for a couple years. The best part of the project is where we get to do our work. We have the most beautiful office you can imagine. We have worked near Chautauqua, in Flagstaff, and many other stunning areas of Boulder. It is great to just be outside all the time and do some tough manual labor.

~Ian

Muddy Mixings

2010-03-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

I’ve been so covered in mud this week, I’m starting to have flashbacks to our project in Louisiana…but it’s been great. We were finally able to start mixing and pouring concrete for our retaining wall! It’s pretty slow going, since we can only mix half a bag of cement at a time, but it definitely gives me a great sense of accomplishment, seeing the wall actually come together after days and days of form building and rock hauling. On another note, last week we received 15 baby ducklings in the mail, which we have been raising for the camp. They’re fluffy and adorable and growing by the day!

This is definitely my favorite project so far. David and Steve (our sponsors) are incredibly friendly and supportive; I’ve already learned what seems like a hundred things I never thought I’d learn (e.g. how to use a transit, a backhoe, a jigsaw, and a tractor) and I’m learning and doing new things all the time. It certainly feels great to be outside working hard after being inside doing taxes for a few months. And our shuffle team is full of great people. The camp itself is beautiful…all in all I’m having a fantastic time here.

However, I am still really looking forward to Spring Break, which starts tomorrow. Although I love this program, it’s definitely exhausting, both physically and mentally, and I’m ready for a little break. Jeremy and I are going on a canoe trip on the Buffalo National River, which is supposed to be amazing, so I’m wicked excited; it should be tons of fun. A few people on our team are flying home for break, a few are taking road trips, and a few are hanging out at camp, but everyone seems pretty excited about their plans. Looks as if it’s shaping up to be an awesome weekend all around.

Safe Travels to all my fellow Water Four members! (And everyone else too, of course).

~Jo

Denver and the Children

2010-03-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! I missed you all! I am in Denver working with the Denver Children's Home (DCH) and it is by far my favorite project ever. There are so many different things to do while at work and most awesome of all, the kids that we work with are absolutely amazing. So good to a point that I have thought about being a counselor or a teaching aide in a school! It’s pretty cool. The kids have so many great qualities it is almost impossible to not become attached with them. Whenever I am in the Denver area in the future, I would love to visit the home and work with the children. The school is on spring break, actually I think the whole district is on break, since DCH is a part of the education system. Anyway, while they are gone, we have the opportunity to be a part of something at DCH that will help these kids out soo much. They have been doing renovations to the right wing of the building and we have been helping them out with tasks that would've otherwise taken them forever to complete! So far we gathered books around the building for the library and alphabetized them and put them into three categories, moved furniture, picked up trash, washed windows, and did a few other things that needed to be completed. Before the break, the kids here at DCH were taking an examination all week called the CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) and I was with 11th and 12th graders. It was pretty cool. This project makes me soo happy! I am happy to come to work everyday (even if it means waking up at 5:30) and help out doing something that I love.

I did however title this blog Denver and the Children and I must talk about Denver. Denver is amazing! I can't believe how interchanging Denver weather is! One minute the weather is 70 degrees and the next minute, we have extreme blizzards!!! I guess that's what they call spring in the Rockies!!! I have been to a couple different activities here in Denver. For example, I went to a Michael Buble Concert!!! It was the most amazing show ever! He has an AMAZING voice and he's funny too!!! I am also planning for my spring break to take a visit to Aspen, Colorado to go on some skiing excursions. I can't wait!! Our last day of work before vacation is this Thursday! I AM SO PUMPED!

Ha, one of the other things I did this week was go on a 'raw diet'. A raw diet consists of eating nothing other than raw uncooked fruits and vegetables and drinking lots of water. It is designed to boost your energy and immune system I believe. Either way, my love for culinary delights led me to leave the competition after 48 hours. I only consumed the diet foods for breakfast and lunch. So it wasn’t something that I needed to do at that moment. I needed energy! After all, the kids at DCH keep me on my toes!!! I played two hours of kickball and also played two hours of Life (they were separate days) with them!!! I signed up to be apart of a Connect Four competition after break! Isn't that awesome? I can't wait to play. As for my shuffle team!!!! I am so amazed to how great the team dynamics are with this team! Everyone is soo amazing I almost want to adopt them and add them to my original team! I do miss my team however, terribly! We are a unique group, but we love each other. That's what's important. Anyhow, I must rest up, as I must wake up early to take care if some work at DCH before the electrician arrives. Talk to you all later!!!

~Shawn

Il fait bon vivre

2010-03-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

It's wonderful to be back in Lafayette, Louisiana! It's unfortunate not being with my team, but it is a wonderful thing to be a bit selfish and do a project, or be in a place, that I completely want. :)

It has been a very eventful week and a half. I suppose being here before has empowered me to try new things and be more involved in the community, since I'm a bit familiar with it to begin with.

Firstly, the first two and a half days were dedicated to finishing-touch-up-work for the three homes Water 4 and I were working on when we originally came here in November. My shuffle team was split up to do lots of little individual tasks. I painted doors, helped install washing machines and dryers, and finish the counter tops.

On the Saturday after returning to Lafayette the three houses had their dedications and my new team, Water 3, was able to partake in the celebration. I'm not going to lie. I cried--a lot. It was a beautiful thing. It was closure for me, knowing that my work in the beginning would be finished and appreciated.

After the dedication we worked on the houses on our street that were put on hold in their construction in order to build the three houses within their funding deadline, March 30.
On Sunday most of Water 3 and a good group of University of Louisiana AmeriCorps members went to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park to do some trail building and maintenance work (ISP). The drive there was an adventure! We missed a turn without a GPS for good while and ventured on back roads through small towns. It was a treat to see the different communities around Lafayette. When we got there we were divided into two groups, trail building and maintenance. I volunteered to clean the bathrooms, which actually entailed spraying the exterior wood of the building with a pressurized water hose. It was satisfying work, solitary, and a bit wet and a bit more cold, but results were obvious. :)

Tuesday, five of my teammates and myself went to a swing dancing lesson hosted by a group of university students. We are all excited to apply our newly learned skills at Randol's on Sunday! Hopefully there will be more boys, because of the six of us, only one was a boy. :/

PT has been a joy! The weather is so lovely these days. We also discovered Girard Park, which we frequent often. I'm still terrible at Ultimate Frisbee, but am getting better at running. What's also great is that Borden's Ice Cream is on the way home from the park... mmmm praline pecan.... mmmmm.

That was the week minus the grandest highlight... Mr. Dale! He was with a group of State Farm volunteers that came out to help Habitat for Humanity. He is the sweetest man! He danced to the radio, taught me phrases in Cajun French (That I regretably cannot remember--I'm so sad), recommended a dance hall, and described me as a "real Cajun girl with olive skin and dark hair."

A happy day. A happy week. Il fait bon vivre!

~Leia

'N-Trips' in Fern Cliff

2010-03-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Lil Rock, Ar-Kansas. It's been awesome so far. Being able to work out in the sun and provide maintenance for the camp has been something I've definitely come to enjoy. We've been driving tractors and "gators" (wide four-wheelers) all around the camp and up steep terrain to the top of some of the buttes surrounding the camp.

I first started off painting the pool house with Cat, Tina, Ellen, and Alex and we worked on....

[pardon the interruption] but a little neighbors' dog (Dempsey) just ran through our cabin, started going through our garbage pail, and played tug of war with my "Live United" T-Shirt. Found that rather humorous! Ha ha! Apparently Dempsey will be the comic relief during this blog update....

So anyways, the five of us ended up finishing painting the whole pool house in about four days. It required staging (figuring out how to set up two-story scaffolding) but there definitely was a sense of accomplishment after we finished the project. I'm working with Ellen, Jeremy, Keith, and Jo on collecting rocks from the hills with tractors to build a 130-ft. retaining wall. I love physical labor and I've been feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Spring break is coming up next week and my girlfriend, Meghan, is coming from NH to see me. I've only seen her over Christmas break since I started with NCCC on October 15. I'm beyond excited!

I'm loving the new shuffle round team but I'm definitely looking forward to catching up with the old team in the 4th round. Definitely missing them! Catch you later!

~Derek

X-treme Gladiators

2010-03-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Working with the Denver Children's Home has thus far been a great experience. Last week we sat in class with some of the kids to get to know them and their schedules. Friday was a snow day, and our first taste of how... unique the weather in Denver can be. Because this week the students will be taking standardized tests, we used Friday to come up with fun activities in which they could participate and unwind after a hard morning of testing.

My weekend was moderately eventful. Saturday evening, I went with some local friends to the "X-Treme Challenge Gladiator Fusion Arena," which was as fun as its title suggests. The arena supplied a variety of inventive activities, some of which involved teamwork, others competition, and others still personal strength and will. I only knew a few of the people there, so it was a little weird trying to introduce yourself while jousting with giant padded sticks, or while racing for a foam block of cheese. I can only imagine how enjoyable the experience would be with the whole team

Monday afternoon was our chance to put the activities we had planned earlier into action. Many of them worked well, and the students were excited to participate, though a few of the games took a toll on their attention spans. From this experience we've gained insight as to what games and activities we can plan for the students in the future. So far this project is shaping up to be excellent, and as we grow to know each of the kids better, the service we provide them can only do the same.

~Shiny

Little House on the Prairie

2010-03-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

So here I am, in good ol’ Missouri living on a prairie in the middle of nowhere with not one Water 4 person in sight. It’s strange being away from my Water 4 team, but it’s been great getting to know my new team, Water 6, for shuffle round. We’re working with the Missouri Department of Conservation where we’ll be performing prescribed burns and invasive species removal. The tallgrass prairie currently occupies less than 1% of its former range in Missouri and North America, so our work is important to help preserve and restore what’s left.

This past week we started working on blowing fire lines to prepare the land we need to burn this upcoming week. It’s hard work; we have to carry these 15 lb. leaf blowers on our backs blowing these lines out through the woods, up some very steep slopes. And yes, I was the first one on the team to take a spill going up a small, yet very steep slope. =) It’s a lot of physical work, but it feels good to be outside working. We had our fire training on Friday so our entire team is level one fire trained and we’re prepared to start burning, hopefully this next week.

This weekend we went to Columbia, where the University of Missouri campus is, and did some shopping and walking around. Unfortunately, the first day of spring brought us a gross rain and snow mix, so it was rather miserable walking around. I decided to hang out with Molly and Zoey in a little frozen yogurt and tea shop and read my book.

Our housing is small, about the same size as the house in Lafayette, but it’s very cool. I like to call it the Little House on the Prairie, since we are living on the prairie. It’s cozy and I enjoy having my own little top bunk to relax in.

I’m excited to see what the next few weeks have to bring us. We’ll hopefully be able to start burning this upcoming week, but because of the weather this weekend, we’re unsure if we’ll be able to burn because the ground needs to dry up.

~Jenna

Hello from Ferncliff Camp in Little Rock, AR

2010-03-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

To start off, I would just like to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day. It is definitely one of my favorite holidays of the year and I wish I was back in Chicago to celebrate. I just arrived in Little Rock for my shuffle round project. I am sad to leave Water 4 for the next two months, but I am not alone because Jo, Christina, and Derek are also on the project with me. The four of us along with Ellen, Sam, Alex, Keith, Cat, Ben, and Savanna make up our new team known as Water 7. Our Team Leader for the round is Jess and she has been amazing so far. It is a cool experience for her because she has been working in the office for the first two rounds as a Support Team Leader and now she has an opportunity to get out and lead a team in the field. It is going to be a very fun round with her at the helm and we will be getting a lot of things done.

AmeriCorps NCCC teams have been coming to Ferncliff Camp for a few years now. The camp is one of the fastest growing Presbyterian camp and retreat facilities in the country. It offers summer camps and a year-round conference center for adults and retreat facilities for youth. It also hosts many non-Presbyterian groups and provides outreach services such as special camps for low-income children, homeless children, and disabled adults, and it has an on-site disaster relief assistance facility. Currently, they have been preparing thousands of packages for Haiti relief. So, they do a lot of great things at the camp. For the next two months we will be completing numerous jobs around the camp that will allow it to remain in tip-top shape. Our sponsor is David and he is very enthusiastic about us being here. It’s nice to know that the work of AmeriCorps NCCC is so greatly appreciated. He has made us feel very welcome and I can’t wait to talk to him more. Steve is our On Site Supervisor and he knows his stuff. He will be a great asset to our team. It seems that we will be doing a lot of construction work around the camp, including building a new “green building.” The good thing is that the majority of our team has had experience in that field during the first two rounds of projects. The first jobs that we started were painting the pool area and beginning prep work for reinforcing a wall with layers of rock, which will help prevent flooding of one of the buildings on the camp. A lot goes into a project like this and it will take us a while to complete, but the finished product is going to look great. Steve has come up with a schedule for us and we have many different projects to complete during these two months, so it will be nice to have a variety of work.

Ferncliff Camp is a beautiful place. Right now we are staying at a retreat house that has five bedrooms and a huge field. This weekend we will be moving into two cabins on the camp’s lake so we are all very excited about that. We have free use of the camp and it will be nice to be outdoors this round as the weather warms up. We will be able to do things like biking, hiking, canoeing, sand volleyball, and other sports. I am also looking forward to getting around Arkansas which is known as the Natural State.

The four of us do miss our team greatly, but, we are excited to see what Water 7 will accomplish this round. I will be keeping in touch with everyone from Water 4 and I know everyone is looking forward to meeting up again for the final round. I hope they all enjoy their current projects as much as I think we will here at Ferncliff Camp in Little Rock.

~Jeremy

Water 4.2

2010-03-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

Plus of being a local team: You don't have to pack for Spike!

I do have to admit, watching the vans leave the parking lot, knowing that I won't be seeing Derek, Christina, Jeremy, Jo, Leia, or Jenna for a couple months, was a very strange feeling. I was a little sad but mostly excited for all of them because I know they are going to have an amazing experience. I wasn’t sad to leave Ian…. I’m kidding Ian!!! Even though I already saw him yesterday since he is only in Boulder… I really am going to miss him being on my team as well. I'm so glad I still have Sarah, Shawn and Shiny on my team and the rest of my shuffle team is awesome. I think it's going to be a great two months with them. They are all really enthusiastic about the project and every day this week I have been more and more impressed with their overall attitude and work ethic.

It’s been a great week so far. Starting a new project is always fun and last night I got to see Band of Horses at the Ogden Theater in Denver with Daniel (another Team Leader). It was an amazing show! Today is Wednesday and I'm half-way through my first week at the Denver Children's Home (DCH), which supports children and families struggling with the effects of poverty, abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, and chronic mental health problems. I'm so happy with this project; I feel like I am floating on air. All day I had to keep reminding myself that this is my "job," playing basketball with kids? I know it's much more than that but I still feel so lucky to have an opportunity to work with such an amazing organization. Our sponsor, Deb, has been incredible. She is one of the most supportive and dedicated people I have ever met and she truly is the heart and soul of DCH. The rest of the staff is just as amazing and they have all been very welcoming.

After orientation and finger printing we were able to dive right in and work with the kids. What a great idea.... to give us hands on experience before going through the rules and regulation training. That way we had specific questions, and a better idea of what actually goes on at the home. DCH has residential and day treatment students, as well as kids who just attend school there without therapy. On top of their typical therapy programs they also have a lot of alternative therapy like yoga, art, pet therapy, and music therapy. Today we even got to sit in on a music class that is held in the DCH recording studio and help the students record their own song. The Flobots, who are from Denver, not only donated this space and equipment but they also volunteer at the home every week when they aren't touring. Today the kids were learning about what makes up a song…melody, harmony, tempo, beats, etc. They wrote lyrics to their own song and they also got to play all different types of instruments. I think it so incredible that the Flobots are using their celebrity in such a positive way and you can tell that it is such a useful and powerful outlet for the kids at DCH. A lot of other musicians have jumped on board and now volunteer there as well. You can tell that there is an overwhelming amount of support from the community. When we first took a tour of the home the staff pointed out many things that have been donated over the years: their playground, basketball courts, rock wall, a brand new kitchen for the culinary classes, and they are in the process of renovating an entire wing of their school for a student learning center, most of which has been donated, including the labor that we will be helping with. This student learning center will have a library, computer labs, as well as a coffee cart that the students will run themselves. By the time the students leave the home they will all have barista experience which will be so useful for finding full- or part-time work. DCH is committed to providing their students with life skills to help them become more self sufficient. I think this is a brilliant idea and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

Our team will be working with many different aspects of DCH. We will be working in the classrooms; next week we will be proctoring their CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) tests and then running teambuilding activities in the afternoons. We will also be mentoring and helping the students with job searching, learning to take public transportation, etc. Some of us will be working with their marketing and event coordinators to help plan other service projects, and a few of us will even get a chance to learn more about the behind-the-scene aspects of DCH like fundraising and grant writing. DCH has so much to offer and this is truly going to be one of the best learning experiences of my life.

I can’t wait to hear about the other projects and how everyone else is doing. I miss them all so much, but from my experience last year, shuffle round feels like it goes by the fastest, so I’m going to soak up the Denver sun while I can and look forward to the Water 4 reunion in May.

~Ashley

Transition, Sweet, Sweet, Transition!

2010-03-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!

It has been almost a week back in Denver for transition and what an amazing week it has been! This week was filled with lots of interesting things. What I liked most about this week was that even though we were always supervised and monitored, we were led by our peers this week. This was our first Life After AmeriCorps week and it is designed to help with making decisions on what our lives will be like after we graduate in July. There were many different workshops we were able to check out. For example, I went to a meeting called 'Finding Your Passion in the Non-Profit Sector' which was aimed at discussing what we want to do with a non-profit organization and how we want to make ourselves shine while doing so. There were many other workshops that ranged from resume building, finding jobs in a difficult economy, and help with college and financial aid to studying abroad.

The other half of the afternoon was meant for us to visit different non-profit organizations around Denver. I went to the Alliance Center which was so cool. It is a LEED certified building, where there are over 28 non-profit organizations that share resources, ideas, and work together for one common goal: to advance economic, environmental, and social sustainability in Colorado by building cross-sector alliances and networks. We had an opportunity to hear from different organizations in the building. One of my favorites was E-Go Car Share which is a non-profit car sharing organization that provides alternatives to individual car ownership, and you only pay for when you drive it! Isn't that amazing? That was one of many great organizations that the Denver area has to offer.

Later on in the week we had our routine baseline workout that tracks where we are health-wise. It is great to see myself in the beginning and then see myself now, statistics wise. We also had a first-aid refresher course which was peer-facilitated and was designed to remind us of procedures of CPR and first aid. Lastly, one of our sessions that was also peer-facilitated was Alcohol Awareness. It was a unique approach that enables everyone to come together and talk about alcohol issues without any judgment. The peer helpers on campus did a great job with running the discussion.

Oh yeah I forgot! We have new teams this round! Denver campus has shuffle round which allows the teams to reshuffle and get the opportunity to work with other CMs and TLs. It is exciting! Our new Shuffle Teams are leaving for third spike very soon and I can't wait to get started with the Denver Children's Home! Wow, sometimes I can't believe that we are already in our third spike! This year has had its ups and downs but overall, I think it is running rather smoothly.

Later!!!

~Shawn

Transition week

2010-03-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

The focus for transition weeks are the projects, past and upcoming. The first half is dedicated to debriefs about the projects we just finished. On Tuesday, we presented ours to our unit leader, some other AmeriCorps staff, and Water 5. It went well; we didn't keep the other team as long as we did in our last debrief. (We had a "really quick" section on food highlights this time.) To lessen the seriousness of transition week we had a few fun unit activities. On Monday, during our unit meeting, we were assigned targets for a game called "sock assassins." The intent is to “kill” your target with a pair of clean socks. When you make a kill you acquire your victim's target. The last living assassin wins.... Unfortunately I died within the first 6 hours. A girl stood outside waiting for me to leave the building for supper... :/ I hope we play again; I'll be better prepared.

After our debrief on Tuesday we had unit time. We went to a nearby roller rink. The team was super psyched! After volunteering at the roller derby, and having a mock "running derby" for PT, we were all excited to exercise our skills. Ian, Jenna and Shawn looked like pros. I fell only once! :) (Excluding when we had a roller limbo game...:( ) After skating we officially met our shuffle round teams. I'll be on Water 3, and will be heading back to Lafayette, LA. My new team is completely new to me; none of my Water 4 teammates are going with me. It will be interesting, essentially starting over.

Tuesday was pretty eventful now that I think of it. Wednesday was dedicated to Life After AmeriCorps. I attended two seminars; one on college prep and one on managing finances, both of which were very informative. In addition, we each had to sign up for a mini excursion to a nonprofit organization in Denver. I went to Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I found out that you have to be at least 20 to be a "Big." I hope while I'm in university I will be able to manage being a Big. :)

~Leia

P.S. Since we’ve been back I've had a huge craving for Czech potato dumplings.... I hope I can find a place to satisfy this!

Goodbye Tucson, We Will Miss Your Warmth

2010-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today marks the end of our second project. First,
I want to talk about our last nights here in Tucson. On Tuesday, we had a recruiting event at the University of Arizona’s Peace Corps Convention. Jo, Leia, Shawn, and I had a great time and were able to talk to a lot of interested people. It felt really good because I was talking to a contact for over a month trying to secure a table at the event, and it couldn’t have worked out any better. It was also interesting to walk around the convention and learn about the opportunities with 40 other countries that were represented at the event.

The next day Ian and I were able to spend some quality guy time together at the U of A baseball game. It was a perfect day outside and the Wildcats won in extra innings. It was a fitting way to end our time in Tucson. I love watching games at the ballpark. It makes me upset that I won’t be able to go see any White Sox games this summer. However, I am really happy that Ian and I got to spend the day together before we go our separate ways
for the third project.

Well we are getting packed and cleaning our a
partments while a few people do taxes one last time. It’s a bitter sweet moment for all of us. I really enjoyed doing taxes and I feel lucky that I was able to have a project that pertains to my degree in Finance. The experience I gained from just working in that type of business environment will really help me in the future. United Way is a type of place I can see myself working somewhere down the road. Looking back at the project as a whole, I would have to say that we were very successful. We were able to provide a much needed free service to lower income families that simply can’t afford to get their taxes done by a paid preparer. The stories and smiles we all have encountered made the project worthwhile.

As for what’s next, I will be heading to Little Rock, Arkansas with Jo, Derek and Christina to work on a summer camp and retreat center. I have heard nothing but great things about the project. I am excited to get there and see our house which is right on a lake. I will save all the details for the next time I blog. Lastly, I just wanted to say that it’s sad that the original Water 4 is splitting up for the next two months. They will all be missed and I know when we get back together for our last project it will be our best project yet.

Later Tucson!

~Jeremy

Spanglish, Ice Cats, and 500 Screaming Kids

2010-03-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

I woke up early Saturday morning and rolled out to the Quincy Douglass Library for some tax preparation with Sarah, Shiny, Leia, and Christina. We arrived to find the Internet not working and a long line of people wanting their tax returns… not an ideal combination. Things turned around quickly: the Internet kicked on and we were off. We probably filed about 20 people’s taxes in total. I actually got to do taxes for 3 Spanish-speaking couples. It is always awesome to work on my Spanish… even if, at some point during their respective returns, they all laughed at my ‘Spanglish.’ It turned out to be a great site. It was fun getting to know Ben, the site supervisor, and the other handful of volunteers there. We packed up and headed back home.

We relaxed for a little and then headed out to go downtown. Ashley, Sarah, Jeremy, Leia, Christina and I had tickets to see the University of Arizona Ice Cats take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was a cool little stadium that filled up quick to see the big rivalry game. The cheering was pretty vicious between the two Arizona team’s fans. We cheered for the Ice Cats and it was an exciting game… but… 40 seconds into the sudden death overtime, ASU squeaked a goal past the U of A goalie. It was a very anti-climatic ending, but a great night all in all.

Later, I went home and watched a replay of the Syracuse v. Villanova college basketball game with Sarah. My ‘Cuse DEMOLISHED ‘Nova in front of 34,616 fans. This absurdly large attendance set the NCAA on-campus record. Wish I could have been there!
We woke up Sunday morning to a downpour of rain. It was coming down in sheets. Jeremy whipped up an incredible breakfast for everyone and we lounged around. The rain slowed in the afternoon and we headed out to Mike and Brad’s community center. Mike and Brad are the amazing couple we met while working for Red Cross in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. They invited us and Sun 1 over for a small party. We went swimming, played shuffleboard, and had a Thanksgiving-esque smorgasbord of food… it was endless and delicious.

Monday was an extremely early wakeup. We were in the vans by 6:45 a.m. and on our way to Christina’s mom’s school, White Elementary. They recently lost funding for their music and arts programming and we came in to lead students in some fun activities. Throughout the day, we interacted with almost 500 Kindergarten through 5th graders. Derek and I had a station where we helped them write their own songs and perform them. There was an art project station and also a P.E. station. The kids had an awesome time and we loved working with them.

After working at the school, we vanned over to Christina’s house. Her family had an amazing goodbye barbeque for us. There was ribs, chicken, burgers, salmon, veggies and a ton of other great food… the company wasn’t bad either.

It was a great weekend and it’s back to taxes tomorrow. I cannot believe we only have a couple more days left in Tucson and we’re at the half way point of our AmeriCorps NCCC term... crazy stuff.

~Ian

Community Unity Day: A Success!

2010-02-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

As our days here in Tucson quickly dwindle we are still leaving our mark on the community that we’ve called home for the last two months. On Sunday all of our hard work and planning finally came together in the execution of an amazing Day of Service. The team was up at 7:30 a.m. to load all of the donations we’d collected, along with all of the cleaning and painting supplies in our vehicles. With the help of Sun 1’s team leader Jordan we were able to get everything to the park in one trip and began setting things up around 8:00. By 10:00 we’d gotten booths set up for each of the sponsoring organizations, laid out several trash bags under the railings we were painting, and organized the snacks (an awfully in-depth process taken on by Ian and I which included a full cardboard display for the array of granola bars). We also were fortunate enough to have the Sheriff’s Department let us borrow their orange Hummer with an amazing sound system to play a four-hour mix that Ian worked tirelessly on the day before.

The turnout included all of Sun 1, several community volunteers, and people from each of our partnering organization. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people came out, around 30 in total and the amount of work we got done was impressive. We spent all morning picking up trash from the wash (including six shopping carts), painting over graffiti, pulling up buffle grass (which is an invasive species in the Tucson area), and painting the railing which separates the wash and the park trail. Around noon we took a break for lunch: a huge amount of pizza donated by a local pizza place and Tucson’s Sheriff’s Department.

After everyone was fed we all gathered to hear sponsors from Open Inn and Youth On Their Own (the two organizations for which we acquired donations) speak about what their groups do for the Tucson community. We were also fortunate enough to have Michael (a student involved with Youth On Their Own) share his story with us. It was so touching to hear his story of such loss and how Youth On Their Own helped him back onto a path of promise. He shared with us that he has found his life goals through the program and now wants to be a part of the Arizona Symphony after attending college at the University of Arizona as a music major. The impact of his journey made me realize just who we were helping with all of our donations and how far our help will hopefully reach.

At the end of the day we had made 36 care packages for homeless youth in the area and managed to clean up the vast majority of the park. I left feeling the accomplishment of what we did for the community and was relived at how smoothly it had all gone.

Monday started with another early morning. We were out the door by 7 a.m. and headed to Saguaro National Park East to help out with the 2010 cactus census. We met up with three supervisors from the Parks Department, split into three groups, and spent the morning counting Saguaro cacti. The groups spread out over a predetermined plot and proceeded to flag each Saguaro we came across. We determined each cacti’s height, how many bird holes it had, it’s number of arms, and any other notable characteristics. Ian, Shiny, Chris (our awesome supervisor) and I named each one of our cacti with ridiculous names, ranging from Betty to Montezuma. Overall, even despite the overcast weather and the cold (by Tucson standards) the ISP was a lot of fun.

With only a little over a week left in Tucson things are still going well. We are proud of the work we’ve done here, from taxes to Community Unity Day, and are already starting to feel the sadness that comes with the end of each project.

~ Sarah

Wrapping it up in the AZ

2010-02-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Finally coming up on the last week in AZ... it's crazy how time flies. Half of our year is nearly complete and, to be honest, it's kinda hard to grasp. It's going to take me some time to get used to being around plant life that doesn't plan my demise on a daily basis. Prickly Pears will be the end of me. Haha! Though in reality Arizona is a beautiful state and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to explore it thoroughly. Taxes in Arizona has been trying and rewarding at the same time, but I'm definitely looking forward to my next project in Arkansas. For me, physical activity is the most personally rewarding work that I've done thus far in the Corps... even if taxes is the most beneficial project to our economy (in my perspective). So I'm thrilled to begin at Fern Cliff.

I'm also really excited to be working with and getting to know my shuffle round team. I love Water 4 to death but getting to know and work alongside some fresh new faces is definitely something I'm looking forward to. Plus my girlfriend, Meghan, is visiting me during shuffle round... I mean... what's not to like? Haha! I don't even know if she'll get the chance to read this babble but hey... there's a shout out for yah!

I also finished designing the Water 4 team t-shirt yesterday and I'm hoping that it'll be printed and ready before our return to Denver.

And last but not least, this Sunday Leia and I get the opportunity to go interview some former CCC members, potentially with the NBC crew that was following us Round 1 for a documentary. Nothing's definite of course, but either way it was still cool to have them swing by and check up on us. Oh, and CCC = Civilian Conservation Corps, the New Deal-era organization that helped with unemployment during the Great Depression. They worked on conservation projects and the development of natural resources, and their structure was actually referenced when creating our program, AmeriCorps NCCC!

Well that's all I have for now so... "I'll catch you on the flip side"... ("flip side" referring to blog update that'll I'll write probably a month from now. Haha!)

~Derek

Water Four meets the Tucson Roller Derby

2010-02-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

This past week was probably one of the craziest so far here in Tucson…but ended with what was definitely a weekend to remember. Of course we did a lot of tax preparation, and then whenever we weren’t doing taxes, we were running around trying to get everything (donations, food, equipment, volunteers) squared away for Community Unity Day.

Then the weekend began. Sun 1 had their Day of Service, working at a Girl Scout camp digging out a pond that had been filled with twenty years of sediment. We had worked a schedule around our tax sites, so that we would all be able to go and volunteer at some point but unfortunately, it got rained out after about an hour of work. Some of us were still able to go though, and we got some work done and got to hang out with Sun 1 for a little while, so that was cool. Although it was too bad for Sun 1’s Day of Service, it did give us a few extra hours to pull together some last minute things for our own Day of Service.

Then Saturday night, we went to the Tucson Roller Derby! Roller Derby is an all female full contact sport on roller skates. None of us had ever been to a Roller Derby before, but I guess it’s pretty popular…there were over 1,000 people in attendance! It was a little crazy, and a very unusual experience—we were pretty much all in awe. They handed out some pamphlets on “Roller Derby 101” which helpfully explained the basic rules. We had a ton of fun trying to learn and use all of the derby lingo, like ‘bout,’ ‘pivot,’ ‘blocker,’ and our favorite: ‘jam.’ At certain points, the lead jammer is able to ‘call off the jam,’ by touching her hands to her hips three times. This phrase/gesture is one our team has taken to using all the time as a way to end conversations, arguments, activities, or even just randomly for fun. After it ended, we even got to meet and take pictures with the Tucson team! It was a truly unique experience that I think all of Water Four will remember fondly for quite a while.

~Jo

Life After AmeriCorps

2010-02-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

I have found it very hard to even imagine what my life will be like after AmeriCorps. Part of me feels like I would be perfectly happy being a team leader forever. I have become very comfortable with this lifestyle for the past year and a half. Having all food, housing, gas money taken care of while traveling the country, helping communities, all while paying back student loans and saving money for my future. I mean…. What’s not to love?

I guess there just comes a point when your experiences lead you to new adventures and you have to jump out of your comfort zone and greet the big, wide world that’s waiting for you.

Last week I put my non-refundable deposit down for my Global Village trip to Ghana this August, and I enrolled in school for the fall to become a Holistic Health Practitioner. Since I will be attending school in San Diego I was able to go home this past weekend to take care of a few things and spend some much needed time with my family and friends. It was so nice to be home, take my dog Coby for walks, eat at my favorite vegan restaurants, and enjoy the beautiful weather. It felt good to secure my plans for after AmeriCorps and to see that home is exactly like I left it a year and a half ago.

As great as it was to be home, I really missed my team. Someone would say something that reminded me of one of them, or make me think of an inside joke we have and I would want to share it, but I realized it’s probably something only Water 4 finds funny.

It was hard for me to be away. I checked in with them everyday and Jo, my assistant team leader, did an amazing job of taking care of things while I was gone. I was sad to leave, but knowing that I’ll be living there next year made it a lot easier.

I was finally able to tell the team their third round shuffle teams and projects this morning. The Denver NCCC campus “shuffles” all teams during the third of our four rounds so that we have the opportunity to work with new people, and we get to rank our project choices individually rather than as a team. They have been patiently (that’s putting it nicely) waiting for a few days now to find out their new temporary teammates and third projects. Shawn was barely eating or sleeping. Okay, I’m lying… he was barely sleeping. He was so nervous! It will be strange for us all to split up but I think it will be good for us and help us all appreciate what we have now and when we come back together for our fourth and final project. My shuffle team will be working with The Denver Children’s Home, mentoring and tutoring children from disadvantaged circumstances in the Denver area. I could not be more excited!

I hope the team can finish out strong here and reach as many VITA clients as possible. It’s hard to believe we are more than half way done with this project. It’s going to be hard to leave Tucson. I think we have all become very comfortable here.

This Sunday is our Day of Service event and I think it’s going to be amazing. We have organized a project to clean up a park and assemble care packages for local homeless youth. The team has worked really hard, planning, making phone calls, passing out flyers, and even getting lunch donated for our volunteers. Today a group of us passed out flyers and went to hotels in the area to see if they wanted to donate toiletries for our care packages. Then we went to Youth on Their Own and Open Inn, the organizations that we are getting donations for, and got to see the client store where the care packages will go after the event. It was so nice to see our plan come to life!

As exciting as it is to know what I’m going to do after AmeriCorps, I am very excited to see what the rest of my corps year brings. I hope these next 5 months go by slow because I am enjoying every moment.

~Ashley

Dinner with Jenna’s parents!

2010-02-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy week thus far! And I couldn't be happier! We have been preparing numerous returns and it has been such a great feeling. My team, Team Tucson, which consists of Jo, Ian and myself, has been pretty busy at our sites. We make a great team. Jo is the super smart one, Ian is the funny one, and I am, well, I don't know exactly where I fit in there. Hmm, I'll call myself the silly one! The other day we had a 12-hour day going from tax site to tax site which was pretty long but worth it. One of our work sites, Ward III, had a great surprise; Carol and Anne! If you guys don't remember who they are, Carol and Anne were the two women who taught us everything we know during our IRS training courses in January. They were our site supervisors!

It's rather funny, every site I go to, I bring a wide array of things to spice up my desk. Items such as a water bottle, a few pens, a desk sign, a good book, and sometimes a picture of myself at my desk makes for great discussion during a tax interview. Next time you are preparing taxes for someone or for yourself, give it a try. You'll find that it lightens the mood and makes for a great conversation starter. One of my random conversations ended up being about my epi-pen! I put it on the desk for a moment to see what I had in my bag of goodies and I thought it was the perfect segway into asking tax questions!

Another highlight was meeting Jenna’s parents!!! We had a great time with them! Marshall and Alison took us out to dinner at a Chicago style restaurant where the team had different varieties of deep dish pizzas...(DEEP DISH!!) and of course, every time I go to a restaurant I order a variation of the same thing: Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Shrimp! It really is my favorite dish! I can't get enough of it! Ashley says "Oh wow Shawn! You got Fettuccine! I am sooo shocked!" We all know she isn't shocked. We had great conversation and referred to soda as 'pop' all night. HAHA! After dinner, Ian and I went and joined Jenna and Alison in the hot tub and we chatted for a while. It was really funny to see how Jenna's mom never wanted to leave the hot tub! I can understand, she came from Chicago and they are buried in snow!

Being the Service Learning Initiator for this team has been a lot of fun. “Service learning” is how we relate our project work to larger social issues; each team has a person who organizes these conversations and activities, and I am that person on mine! We have time to ourselves as a team to really get a chance to talk about the issues and praises of our project. Sometimes we will have discussions about some of the project issues and sometimes we will have fun activities such as writing poems and haikus to narrate our time in Tucson. All of our team submissions have been great. I want to do something really unique with the poems and activities. I have been collecting all of our service learning materials since round one! I wonder what type of activities I will do during shuffle round? Wow, that reminds me, we find out about our round three teams very soon! I am excited and nervous all at the same time!

As we already know, I am the king of all things food and I have a couple great dishes for you to try. I made Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina the other night and I also made a vegan version of it as well! They both came out AMAZING! I also have the recipe for 100% Vegan Fettucine and Peas Casserole which I also promised. Until next time, tootles!

~Shawn

Fettuccine and Peas Alfredo (recipes from “The Vegan Chef”)

1 lb. fettuccine (plain, spinach flavored, or mixed for extra color)
2 cups shallots, diced
1 T. olive oil
1 lb. frozen peas, thawed
2 T. garlic, minced
1 recipe of Non-Dairy Alfredo Sauce (see below)
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Non-Dairy Alfredo Sauce

1 - 12.3 oz. pkg. Mori-Nu silken style tofu, firm or extra firm
2 cups soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup soy parmesan cheese

In a food processor or blender, place all of the ingredients, except the soy Parmesan cheese, and blend for 2 minutes to form a smooth puree. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and cook over low heat while stirring constantly until warmed through. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the soy Parmesan cheese. Taste and adjust the seasonings, as needed. Use as a sauce for pasta, vegetables, or grains.
Yield: 4 Cups

Cook the fettuccine in a large pot of boiling water, for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain well, return the cooked fettuccine to the pot, and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet, sauté the shallots in olive oil, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the peas and garlic and sauté an additional 2 minutes. Add the pea mixture and Non-Dairy Alfredo Sauce to the cooked fettuccine and toss well to combine. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the pasta to a large bowl or platter for service.
Serves 8! Enjoy!

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina (recipe from The Food Network)

1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

(Shawn's personal vegan alternative: Leave all of the dairy elements out. Replace chicken with tofu and butter with extra-virgin olive oil. Since there are no dairy elements that need to bake, serve as is or top with bread crumbs and place in over for 10-15 minutes.)

Fun with Sun 1

2010-02-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend was amazing. Friday started off with Jenna, Shiny and me going to do taxes at our first self-run mobile site. When we showed up to Outer Limits School we were greeted by the director who was extremely helpful in getting us set up. He had also formed an appointment list for those wishing to get their taxes done, which proved to be awfully helpful in keeping the day running smoothly. We recruited Leia at some point during the day to give us a little extra help and then in total we completed 11 tax returns. It was really the first day that I felt fully comfortable with preparing the returns and I found myself really enjoying not only the work, but also the people we met throughout the day. Seeing the look in a single mother’s eyes when you tell her she’s getting $7,000 back on her return is a definite reminder of why we’re here.

After we finished up at the site we went home and packed to go camping with another NCCC team in the area. Sun 1’s Team Leader Jordan, and two other Corps Members came and picked up the majority of the team and we headed out on a long ride to their housing site. We drove all the way out of the Tucson city limits and into Saguaro National Park. The last 15 minutes of the drive was on a dirt road through the desert landscape. When we finally got to the campsite we put our stuff in tents and immediately went exploring up the wash. We spent some time walking up the wash, which was actually filled with water due to the recent rain. We then stopped and sat for a bit around a little pool in the rock. Shawn, while trying to retrieve my shoe, which he accidentally pushed into the water below, became wedged between two large boulders. He spent a good five minutes trying to wiggle himself free while both teams had a good laugh at his expense.

As the sunset and the desert around us became increasingly darker, a few Sun 1 members began chopping firewood. Of course our resident lumberjack Derek had to give it a try. After a few “warm-up swings” he was successful in his attempt. Both teams then had dinner together around the campfire. Grilled chicken and vegetables followed by more s’mores than I could count. We socialized around the fire for a few hours before bed; telling stories about our projects, playing games, and telling riddles. Then it was time for bed. We all piled into their tents and I slept surprisingly well. We woke up the next morning to rain, which foiled our plan to go hiking up the mountain trail behind them that they had been working on during their project. Instead we ate a quick breakfast and all 21 of us piled into their two vehicles.

Once we made it back to our apartments, everyone had a chance to shower and get ready for the day. Then everyone kind of did their own things for a while; some people went to the mall, to yoga, to T.G.I. Fridays to watch the Super Bowl, or out to sushi dinner. By around 7:00 we were all back together at Friday’s to watch the end of the game together. It was especially fun to watch the Saints win since our last round project was in Louisiana. We called Miss Pat (one of the homeowners in Lafayette) after the game was finished so that we could celebrate with a real New Orleans fan.

All in all the weekend was unbelievable. From camping in the desert to watching the Saints win the Super Bowl we had an amazing time, not only with our team, but especially with Sun 1.

~Sarah

Taxes and Fun in the Sun

2010-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

The past weekend was by far the most exciting since we have been here. The hike at King Canyon to Wasson Peak was an amazing experience and I was so happy to make it to the peak of a mountain. It was quite a sight that I will never forget. A few of us also went to the Arizona v. California basketball game which made me realize how much I miss playing competitive sports. It has always been a major part of my life and this is the first year that I have been without it. I have been going crazy not having to wake up and worry about going to a practice or preparing for the next game. That has really been the only thing I have had to struggle with so far in AmeriCorps.

Yesterday we went on a hike at Bear Canyon/Seven Falls. When we finally reached the climax of the hike, a seven tier water fall was waiting for us. We spent about an hour enjoying the amazing view. We were able to do some climbing and exploring in the area.

After the hike we dressed up and went out for a team dinner. Long story short, the group “consisted of” doctors, pilots, Hawaiian tourists, an 80s workout team, and a trio of business professionals wearing pinstripes. As you can imagine we received some funny looks. However, we had a really good time with it and hopefully we will do that again.

Well it has been a whole week since we have done taxes because of the tax program being down, but today we got back to it. We split into two groups: my group went back to Flowing Wells Community Center while the other group went to a nearby high school to do taxes. While we still got a lot done during the past week, I think everyone was excited to get back to the work we were trained to do. My group of four was able to do a total of 20 tax returns which was very fulfilling for us. The only negative part so far is our schedules are off a bit and are making the other things we have to do throughout the day more difficult. However, that is the typical life of an AmeriCorps NCCC member and you have to be ready for anything.

~Jeremy

Keeping VERY Busy During our Time Off

2010-01-31T09:21:00.000-08:00

Although the main purpose of AmeriCorps is to really devote yourself to helping others and serving your country, there is still some down time now and then. We are lucky enough to be placed in Tucson, Arizona; a city with near perfect weather during the winter (a shock to all of us from the Northeast), a very cool college town (The University of Arizona), and endless spectacular hikes in every direction. With a half day on Friday and Saturday and Sunday free, Water 4 took full advantage of all of these local opportunities.

Most of Friday was spent doing tax outreach in two different neighborhoods in Tucson. Most everyone we spoke with was excited to hear about the tax assistance we were offering and asked further questions. Another thing we noticed about the neighborhoods was that every house owned 2-3 dogs… lots of barking as we passed by each house.
After finishing our outreach, the entire team hopped in the van and we drove to Pusch Ridge for a hike. The mountains were stunning as we quickly ascended the steep trail towards the peak. As we got higher, the views of surrounding Tucson became huge and sprawling. After a pretty ridiculous photo shoot, we headed back down to the van. Everyone was in a giddy mood. The hike got the entire team very excited about looking for more hikes.

After doing some tax outreach in the Flowing Wells neighborhood on Saturday morning and watching the Syracuse Orange beat the DePaul Blue Demons and extend their record to 21 - 1 (Go ORANGE!!!), 5 of us embarked on a hike in the Sonora Desert. We took the Gould Mine Trail to Wasson Peak. It was an incredible hike overlooking Saguaro National Park (where another NCCC team from Denver, Sun 1, is working) and 360 degree views of the surrounding Sonoran Mountains. We hiked just under seven miles round trip and got to watch a breathtaking sunset as we descended from the peak. We rewarded ourselves afterwards with Blizzards from DQ… days don’t get much better than that.

On Sunday, about half the team went shopping on 4th Avenue and the other half went to the McKale Center to see a basketball game between the top 2 teams in the Pac-10, the University of Arizona Wildcats and the California Golden Bears. It was an awesome atmosphere and a great game. Arizona won the game in the closing minute and the student section was going crazy.

As you can see… Tucson livin’ is good livin’. I think we are definitely refreshed and ready to get back to serving our country.

~Ian

There's a Box...

2010-01-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

It has been three weeks in Tucson so far, and I love it! We are IRS certified, our housing is amazing, and the weather is beautiful! One of the coolest things I was able to take part in was the shelter simulation. Actually, it wasn't a simulation, it was a real shelter! We were deployed and had to create and staff a real shelter! How exciting was that?

Working on taxes has been pretty interesting. I never thought people would look to me to help them get their maximum return. It feels great to help people out in this way! I had no idea!

Tonight, Derek and I were in charge of making dinner and we nailed it! I decided to switch it up and make our dinner 100% vegan! We made fettuccine and pea alfredo! We used all non-dairy products in preparing the dish. I wanted to make something in ode to the vegans in the group who usually have to eat a salad. The dinner was perfect because it tasted like the real thing and everyone enjoyed it. EVEN Shiny Dave!!! I will have to give you the recipe sometime it is quite delicious!

Ha, we played this game called There's a Box, and we couldn't figure out how to play at all!!! We also had a chance to sit and get cranking on our Day of Service project that we must do this project round. I won't give any big details, but this will easily be one of the greatest experiences and accomplishments of our lives. The official name of our service project (slated for February 21st) is Community Unity Day! Rings a bell doesn't it? Until next time!

~Shawn

Flexible, From the F to the E

2010-01-26T06:38:00.000-08:00

So after the crazy end to last week, things have mostly settled back to normal. Saturday we had a pretty lazy day, since we were still recuperating from setting up the shelter on Thursday night. Sunday morning we went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, because Christina’s dad had been nice enough to get us passes. I admit that I was a bit skeptical about a desert museum, but it actually turned out to be really awesome. Our tour guide taught us all kinds of interesting things about the plant life of the desert—what different plants are called, how they’re able to survive with so little water, what they can be used for, and other fun and useful facts. And we saw lots of adorable animals. My personal favorite was the javelinas, because we don’t have those in MA. The weather was wonderful too, which is always a plus.

Today we experienced our first Mobile VITA site. We all went together to the Villa Maria Care Center, along with Cheyenne, and set up and ran the site. It was a little crazy…we forgot the back-up power cords to the computers, only five of the fifteen clients who’d signed up actually came, and space was a little cramped. But, we helped out those five people, we got to see how a mobile site works, and we learned a lot, so in the end I’d definitely call it a successful day. We had thought we would be doing mobile sites all of this week, however the tax prep software VITA uses is experiencing some sort of problem—so tax prep is on hold until they get that fixed, which ought to be next week. So, for the rest of this week, we’re keeping busy with community outreach instead, getting the word out about VITA to various neighborhoods. We’ll also have time to start planning our Day of Service which should be fun.

Way back during CTI, I remember being told several times during various meetings/trainings that one of the most essential qualities for Corps Members is “Being Flexible, from the F to E.” It’s definitely been true, throughout the program, but I think Water 4 has really had to embrace that over the past week or so. And I must say, we’ve been doing a pretty fantastic job! It definitely keeps life interesting.

~Jo

There and Back Again

2010-01-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

With the first day of taxes coming around the corner, I have to admit it was pretty nerve racking. It felt like learning how to swim; preparing for that first jump into the pool, but "the pool was made of jello and I was on fire" as Shiny Dave described. The week flew by, and before I knew it, Thursday arrived and it was my turn to begin tax preparation with ACTUAL clients. But before I had the chance to finish my first return, Ashley, our Team Leader, received a phone call that ended our day early.

We found out that we were needed to set up a shelter on an Indian reservation nearly three hours away from our spike housing. So we rushed back to the apartments, threw whatever we could in our bags, headed out the door in less than 15 minutes, and met up with the Red Cross. On our way there we ran over a fallen down highway sign that gave us a flat tire, which in turn gave us the perfect opportunity to show off our tire changing abilities. We probably wouldn't earn a job working for NASCAR, but I was proud nonetheless. Haha!

We ended up not being able to reach our shelter due to flooding and the weather, so we joined and assisted NCCC team Sun 1 at their shelter located in the town of Sells. Luckily, no one was in need of the shelter. It was still an awesome experience to spend the night on the reservation and speak to the Tohono volunteers. It was a needed reminder of why I joined AmeriCorps and how awesome it is to experience parts of the country that I never would have normally been able to visit. Now we're back in Tucson.

~Derek

AmeriCorps to the Core

2010-01-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

What a day we have had! I am currently writing this on my handy iPhone from a small room in a rec center on the Tohono Nation Indian Reservation in Sells, AZ. We were called in to help set up and run a Red Cross disaster relief shelter for the people on the reservation. There has been some crazy weather in the area; high winds and lots of rain are causing a lot of damage to people's homes and a loss of electricity.

Today started out like any normal day. We woke up, had our team meeting early in the day since we had a later start to accommodate the tax site schedule, then headed to United Way for lunch. After lunch we went to the community center in Flowing Wells to start working with people on their taxes. The community center's electricity was going in and out due to the heavy winds. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to complete any returns, but luckily the electricity came back on and we were able to fill out a few returns before we were called away.

We got back to our apartments to pack and promptly took off to meet up with our shelter manager at the Red Cross office in Tucson. As we were driving and got off at an exit both the Red Cross truck and our van hit a sign that was laying in the middle of the road and instantly gave us both flat tires. After a short hour and a half wait for the company that had to change the spare on the Red Cross truck (we changed our own tire very quickly and efficiently!) we were back on the road.

We arrived in Sells with another NCCC team from Denver, Sun 1, around 11:30 p.m. and were able to set up the shelter promptly. We haven't had any guests come in yet, so we are just waiting. Ian, Shawn, Derek and Sarah are all working the night shift with some Sun 1 members while the rest of us get some sleep so we can work during the day tomorrow.

Originally our team was supposed to go on to another shelter—the name of the place escapes me right now—after stopping to drop off supplies and cots. But, since the weather has just been nasty, the roads between here and there were flooded. We're waiting to hear whether or not our team will be continuing on to the second shelter in the morning.

We'll make sure to keep everyone posted of what's happening. Everyone seems to be in great spirits, excited to be here to help where we're needed.

~Jenna

What a weekend!

2010-01-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

It was a very exciting first weekend in Tucson. If it weren't for the cold I've been enduring this past week it would have been beyond brilliant!

Friday night most of the team went out to enjoy the 4th Avenue scene. Shiny and I were both ill and opted to stay home. We instead spent our time sleeping. It was a great night, because I thoroughly enjoy sleeping. ^^

The next day I woke up rather early. I'm usually one of the first to rise in our apartment, if not the entire team. I had a long free day ahead of me so I "Yelped" things to do. Carmen (an opera) was playing at 11:00 at Century Park Place. Things in Tucson are extremely spaced out. It took a good 35 minutes to walk there from our apartments. (I really wish I could drive). The performance was amazing! I wish it were live-live opposed to broadcasting-live, from the Metropolitan Opera. Though not a musical, the experience reminded me of when I saw Jersey Boys... because the majority of the audience was significantly older than me, but a good audience! Carmen was, fortunately, really long. I was able to spend much of the day, nearly 5 hours, enjoying great music... and not spending money.

Unfortunately Carmen eventually did end, and I quickly found myself spending quite a bit of money at World Market. I was very, very happy to see boxed Spätzle, though it did make me a tad home-sick. I bought a couple boxes and will hopefully find a recipe to make Käse Spätzle for my roommates... because they aren't too fond of the Kimchi I've been trying to share with them... I have to eat it outside... The rest of the day I did a lot of nothing. I fixed my wireless settings on my laptop so I could finally get internet, which was quickly followed by a marathon of random google/wikipedia searches.

Sunday I went to church, and then the team and I went to Christina's house to have brunch, though the timing was more like Linner, with her family. There was so much food. I probably ate the equivalent to 4 breakfasts. Yum. :) The team had an overall fun time. There were Wii-sports challenges and then a walk in the desert. Meanwhile I either lounged or slept, because I was still ill. When we got back to the apartments I slept more.

Monday, Martin Luther King (MLK) Day, we had two projects lined up. First, from 9:00-noon, we helped raise money for Haiti earthquake survivors through the Red Cross. We held signs along the main road and collected donations. Derek and I held a huge sign together, at first. After about 30 minutes we decided that it would be more noticeable to drivers to actually wave at them as well, as opposed to just acting as sign-poles. We taped one end of the sign to a light-pole and the other end to my body (well my pant leg and the poncho I was wearing). I smiled and waved while Derek preformed elaborate gestures. We saw a significant increase in audience reaction, such as: honking, waving, and/or donating. We were having fun for a good cause.

Next, after a delicious pizza lunch from a pizzeria we are anxious to find, we did some "Rain Harvesting" for the Youth Volunteer Center. It's difficult to really explain what Rain Harvesting is, because they encouraged us to define it in our own words during our brief and debrief for the project. If I had to I would define it as: the act of actively collecting/directing water so that it is used to its fullest potential to benefit the environment. How this translates into action is landscaping in such a way that rainwater can be efficiently utilized by native plant life. We dug and placed stones to create a flow path for rain water, so that it meanders over the entire area opposed to just being washed straight down into a wash. It also included spreading mulch to retain water in the soil, preventing erosion. It was a short project, 1:00-3:30, but we all learned a lot about the environment and simple steps to help preserve it.

To complete our MLK Day of Service we watched the movie Crash as a team. Afterwards we discussed issues that arose or were neglected in the movie. I usually do not enjoy such discussions, because I'm rather emotional and can get very angry...which I did, but I am happy to have had them. I was able to talk about "taboo" topics with a very diverse set of people. I'm not sure when I'll have such an opportunity in the future. Afterwards I slept.

Tuesday we headed into the office and prepared boxes for each VITA tax program. Actually, we mostly prepared boxes. Derek and Shawn also prepared the computers we'd be using, and I organized the storage room. I like organizing. After work, dinner, and a quick run to Walgreens, I slept. I like sleeping.

I probably should make the title "A Restful Weekend"...

~Leia

Come Friday…I Can Do Your Taxes!

2010-01-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

What a week! It’s hard to believe I was in Denver only 4 days ago. It feels so good to be settled in Tucson in our three cozy apartments and starting our project. Everyone at United Way has been so welcoming and it seems like the team is already very comfortable here. This project is incredibly different than the previous projects I have had with NCCC. I’m used to physically demanding work like construction and trail building, but this project takes a lot of brain power. It’s been quite a long time since I have been in a classroom so I feel a little out of practice, but I’m picking it up and starting to feel more confident with the concepts. We have been training all week, learning everything we can in four days about tax law. It might sound strange but it’s actually turned out to be a lot of fun! The two trainers, Carol and Ann, are very helpful and understanding about the fact that we are being thrown a ton of information at once. We have a test this Friday for beginner and intermediate level IRS certification so we are all a bit nervous. I never thought I would ever learn to do my own taxes let alone be able to do taxes for other people. The examples and stories the trainers use really put everything into reality and have helped me realize how much this truly is a service to many people in need.

On top of loving getting up and going to work, I feel very blessed to have such comfortable housing. Since being in AmeriCorps NCCC, I have had some interesting housing in the last year and a half. I know that the team feels very grateful to have so much space considering we had very little space or privacy last round. I even have my own room which is pretty unheard of in this program. I have tried to create my own “Zen like” atmosphere to help keep me mentally healthy. I even have a balcony to do yoga! Plus, it’s really nice to have a quiet place to do my paperwork and wind down from the day.

Class was pretty hard today, but we got through it and everyone seems to be getting the hang of it. I am very impressed with the team’s positive attitude and overall performance at work and I think they are going to do an amazing job this round. After training we played ultimate frisbee at the high school across the street, which was a lot of fun. The team is getting along great and even though we are split into three apartments, we still choose to hang out all together most of the time. Best part is…we laugh…A LOT, even about taxes! The quote board in our living room is full of hilarious Water 4-isms, and Shiny is a constant amusement for us every day.

Tucson is awesome! I can’t wait to tour around this weekend and check out 4th Ave. We drove down it the other day and there were tons of great thrift stores, cute restaurants and a Co-Op that I’m pretty excited about. Oh, and they have Trader Joe’s here which makes me very happy.

It is Ian’s birthday tomorrow so we are going to have a special dinner and his favorite cake. After our test on Friday we are going to go on a team sunset hike to celebrate both his birthday and our certification! All in all, life is pretty good here in sunny Tucson, AZ. I feel very lucky to have this project and especially lucky to have such a positive, open and supportive team. It’s going to be a good couple of months!

~Ashley

Tackling Taxes in Tucson

2010-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Tucson on Sunday around 4:30 and got to see our AMAZING digs! We’re living in three cozy apartments that are absolutely beautiful. The apartment complex has two pools, a gym, clubhouse, laundry, and supposedly a spa/whirlpool. We still have yet to find this phantom whirlpool, but I’m sure we will find it in due time. The weather here is absolutely beautiful, I could not ask for any better weather than what we had today. Everyone is very excited to have all the space and very nice accommodations. We are a little concerned that the team will start breaking off into different groups since we’re not all in one house now. I personally think that we’re all very aware of the possibility and will continue to be so close and still want to hang out and what not.

We had our orientation for United Way and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program today. Cheyenne, our project sponsor, is absolutely wonderful. She has been very helpful in getting us settled into the apartments and the organization as well. We got to meet the majority of the administration of United Way. The day was a little long with a lot of presentations about the organization, but it was all interesting and very important to know. Tomorrow we start our IRS Certification training for the VITA program, so that will be pretty neat get a move on learning about taxes! Never thought I would be helping people do their taxes, let alone being excited for it! I’m really excited for the face time we will have with the people in the communities we’ll be serving.

All in all, it seems everyone is in great spirits, I don’t think anyone has stopped smiling since we got here.

Over and out,

~Jenna

Expect the Unexpected

2010-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

So it’s our first transition week; the debrief about our Habitat for Humanity project is finished, the brief for our next project has been done, and now we are getting ready for our next project in Tucson, Arizona, or as we like to say "Taxes in Tucson." I really never thought that my group would end up with a project in my hometown. It just goes to show that you should always expect the unexpected. At first I was dreading the thought of going back to Tucson for a project, but this transition week and my teammates have really changed my mind about it all. I was afraid of how my team would react about being in such a random place like Tucson, but there is a light in their eyes that I love seeing. They are all truly excited and anxious for this project. We will be working with two amazing organizations, our housing sounds too good to be true, and to top it all off my team is going to get a chance to meet the people in my life who inspired and encouraged me to join NCCC. I’m glad to say that it was a good, but slow transition week, and I know Water 4 is ready to hit the road and head for Tucson. Taxes here we come!

-Christina

Home for the Holidays

2010-01-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

I was originally planning to fly home to Washington, DC on December 19th and didn’t actually make it home until the 21st. The blizzard that wreaked havoc all over the east coast stranded me in Denver and then in Atlanta for a day. Although it was annoying to deal with the stress of rescheduling flights and the uncertainty of when I would get home, it was fun to get to spend a day on campus chilling with Sarah and then my Uncle in Atlanta.

Home has been awesome though. My brother just returned home from a semester in London and it was great to be reconnected with him. After a couple days of hanging out at home, my family hopped in the car and we drove to western Virginia for a little vacation. We went to a resort called ‘Wintergreen’ and went snow tubing for two days. It was a lot of fun and we lucked out with perfect weather.

We ‘celebrated’ Christmas the way that most Jewish people do around the world… and had Chinese food and watched a movie. Although I missed my new ‘AmeriFriends,’ it was great to reconnect with high school friends and enjoy the amenities that come along with living in a house with only three other people instead of ten. I celebrated New Years at the University of Maryland with a bunch of friends and had a great night.

All in all, it has been a great break. I love any time I get to spend with my family. I am very excited to come back to Denver tomorrow… but I am also a little overwhelmed with the idea that we will not get another long break until the end of the program… in August… I am very excited to begin our next project in Tucson… bring on the taxes!!!

~ Ian

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

First, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Our two-week break is nearing the end and I am very excited to get back to the Denver campus tomorrow. It was great to see family and friends for the holidays. I can’t forget to mention how great it was to have Chicago deep dish pizza again. The break was really enjoyable especially after coming off of the emotional project in Louisiana. I definitely cherish what I have a lot more because of that experience. I am looking forward to getting back to my team. It’s funny because we took a two-week break from each other but we have all been talking a lot during the break. It shows how well our team is getting along.

We will be heading to Tucson, Arizona next week where it will be nice and warm unlike here in Chicago. I tried to freshen up on my math skills over break since we will be doing taxes. Sadly, I am excited to do taxes because Finance was one of my majors in college. I have been looking up information about United Way which is the organization we will be working with and I have found nothing but good things. I know our team will exceed all expectations on the project with their help.
I can’t wait! I don’t know what 2010 has in store for me. But, I do know that the AmeriCorps NCCC experience will make this next year one to remember for all of us.

~ Jeremy

Spike Travel

2009-12-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my time during Spike Travel in the truck, with only two other teammates at a time, which ended up being tons of fun. It was a fantastic opportunity to really talk about the project, and things like what we were going to miss the most (the people, and the sense of accomplishment and usefulness) and what we were going to miss the least (the rain, the mud, living on top of one another). We laughed, chatted, slept and marveled at the Rocky Mountains all over again as they came into sight.

But one of the most interesting parts of Spike travel for me was observing the differences in our team and our team dynamic since our first spike travel on our way out to Louisiana back in November. There was a similar air of excitement, of course, but of a slightly different sort. This time we were excited to be going home, to be seeing friends and family again, and to be returning to the familiar. It seemed, to me at least, to be a far less stressful and more celebratory brand of excitement. It’s amazing to me how much we changed as a team in the short month that we spent in Lafayette. During our initial spike travel, we spent the majority of our time being overly polite and extra conscious of one another’s personal space, awkwardly trying to figure out how to coexist, and constantly falling back on standard I-just-met-you conversation topics. This time, however, it was full of hugs, smiles, jokes and teasing, with some real conversation interspersed. And squishing all of us on and around one bed to watch a movie (Team America the first night, Inglorious Bastards the second) and generally invading one another’s space, eventually resulted in a very childish but extremely fun pillow fight.

Of course, it wasn’t until we got back to campus that I realized just how attached to these once-strangers I had become. Although I was thrilled to be reunited with friends I’d made during CTI, within a half hour or so of being separated from my team, I found myself missing them. Each time I passed a teammate in the hallway, I was overcome with the urge to hug them and tell them how much I loved them and missed them already, which I did. (They laughed, but complied). I knew coming into NCCC that I would end up close with my team, but I guess I hadn’t expected it to happen quite so intensely, quite so quickly. I think it’s fantastic.

So basically, in summation, Spike Travel = awesome, and I can’t wait for next round with my team.

~ Jo

One Down...

2009-12-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can’t believe that our first spike has come to an end. Like most of the people in my group, I have been through a lot and I am so happy to have made it through. My biggest accomplishment to this day is to say they I have started something in my life and followed through with it. I have been afraid of that for a long time. If it weren’t for the 10 people in my life for this bumpy ride: Derek, Shiny, Ian, Jeremy, Christina, Jo, Jenna, Sarah, Leia, and last but certainly not least, Ashley, I would’ve had a far different experience. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week was amazing! Lauren, our supervisor for the past couple weeks, put me inside to put up drywall on the ceilings. It was pretty awesome! I worked with a man named Abraham and he was pretty neat. We started in the living room, and then worked our way into the kitchen, followed by the hallways, then the bedrooms and lastly, the bathroom. It was such a confidence booster for me to have that chance to start that project in the house and be able to finish it before first round was over. GO ME! I also had a chance to work on putting up walls. I am so good; I can do dry walling in my sleep! I am a pro at using the drywall jack. It is a device used to raise big pieces of drywall up to the ceiling. I used one for three days! Today I was able to bring the jack over to Neil’s house and give the Job Corps group a demonstration on how to use it! That would easily have to be one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Working in construction was certainly a test for me because I normally wouldn’t be caught on a construction site. I had the chance to be involved in all stages of building a house, such as putting up frames of the house, assisting with numerous tasks such as blocking and cross-bracing, siding the house, and many other duties.

OH! I can’t forget about Miss Pat, Miss Courtney, and Miss Bertha. These three women deserved all of the gifts they receive in life. They have hearts of those that are so familiar in my heart. I felt very comfortable working along side these women and their families, and other numerous homeowners and volunteers this round. If Habitat for Humanity asked me to come again, I would most certainly do it again.

Tonight, Leia and Derek are cooking dinner and then we will be heading to the Job Corps appreciation ceremony. We worked with a great group of people from different Job Corps campuses this week and I loved the fact that we could all work together. We even got some of them interested in joining AmeriCorps NCCC! After that, I don’t know. Most likely some much needed sleep because tomorrow we have our trip to New Orleans to visit the levees and see Miss Pat’s former housing location. I say former because if I am not mistaken, she mentioned that it’s not there anymore. We are leaving back to Denver on Tuesday morning to arrive on Thursday. So long Lafayette, Louisiana, Happy Holidays, and see you in Tucson, Arizona for round two!

~ Shawn