LOVE YOU MICHEAL

"You are amazing. That's why you're in this world bran, to help teach people and open their minds. :)"

Now that I'm back...

It feels...weird to be home. They warned us about coming home and it being hard and feeling alone and feeling awkward...all of which are true and happen BUT overall I'm happy to be home. I am incredibly proud of who I am and what I've done but what kind of person would I be if I abandoned my home town?! I've done service for everyone else, now time to come home and figure things out here too.

This year has meant a lot to me. This past year I took to be both selfish and selfless. I took it to travel and I took it to learn. Learning not only about others but also about myself. In the end what I took out of it was a little muscle, a few talents, and a whole new appreciation for humanity and what communities can do when they come together.

In Indiana, I saw a camp that only had a few permanent staff but provided amazing educational services to inner city kids who would have never gotten a chance to experience the environment in that capacity without this camp.

In North Dakota, I witnessed the strength of human resilience! Families who had their entire lives literally washed away were coming together, instead of fighting or being angry they were grateful and willing to donate their time and skills to help others! The purity of these people was inspiring. What I didn't realize was that by helping them I was in fact helping myself. I was learning and growing as a person with each person I came to know. I cherish this location the most, and hope to return.

In Minnesota, I met monks! Real life monks! I went into a forest that was rated as excellent and helped maintain that quality. I built a 9 ft deer fence around 19 acres! Probably the most challenging project we had. I walked away knowing how to swing a hammer properly though! Monks taught me to hammer, that's my favorite thing about the year! Thanks Bro Walt.

In Iowa, I lived a lot..the first month..between projects...the last few weeks! But I also served here. I worked with Parks and Recreation! I was in Vinton, the smallest, Mayberry town there is....but their parks and rec were outstanding! They built the community. They did so much to get people involved, I envy their dedication and ability to call others to serve - I wish our parks and rec were like that. Here I learned to chain saw though! 4 hours of training and a cut boot later I am now a chain saw professional!

In Michigan, I was lucky enough to experience both parts! I was in lower Michigan at a YMCA camp being a counselor for a few weeks! Being a camp counselor really helped foster my leadership skills! I left feeling more confident in my ability to communicate effectively and lead a group. In upper Michigan I worked with Habitat for Humanity...there I improved my hammering abilities! Also I found out I could adapt to the cold! Snowy day?! STILL WORKING!


These places and people I've met, I'll never forget you! I am inspired by everyone I've met. I feel like I owe you all something to thank you for helping me along the way, but as my payment to you I'll take what you taught me and apply it to every day life and I'll continue to serve "this year and beyond" and I'll teach others what you've taught me..maybe we'll start a ripple effect! A few people I really enjoyed and miss incredibly are: Mary Barker, Carol, Daniel Becton, Paul Logan, Brother Walter, Brian, Tremonde, and Joe! I learned so much from you all, it's truly impossible to thank you all enough.

Favorite places I've been?

• Chicago
• Minot
• Louisville
• Minneapolis

Favorite task?

• Chainsaw
• delivering drywall
• hydroseeding

Coming back has really shown me what I gained in AmeriCorps...

• independence
• a sense of responsibility to do the right thing although not always popular
• social awareness
• diversity
• appreciation for cultural differences
• appreciation for everything in general
• leadership
• communication skills
• money management
• an idea for my future
• experience I would have never gotten other wise
• 3 college credits in diversity
• skills in conflict resolution
• 8 friendships that will never fade - Love you Oak 3
• and confidence in myself.

More info about MCHFH

For round 5 Oak 3 went to the largest county east of the Mississippi with 60,000 people living within its borders, Marquette, Michigan. Serving for two weeks with Habitat For Humanity (HFH) proved to be an enlightening project for the team.

Upon arrival the administrative director for HFH, Renee, greeted the team and gave a tour of the housing. Our first day of work started with an online safety course and quiz to ensure the team was aware of proper safety procedures and techniques. The course included ladder safety, tool recognition, proper PPE, and other safety concerns that are present on a construction worksite. A brief history of this affiliate was presented to the team by the director, Mike. He went over the operations of HFH for Marquette and discussed what we should expect for the duration of the project.

Marquette HFH is known as a self help housing operation. Self help housing is a title available to organizations that work within a rural area and have the ability to build at least 4 houses in a year. Those who participate in this housing program must also contribute what is called “sweat equity.” Sweat equity is a requirement for all HFH housing that says anyone receiving a house must put hours into building their own house. However, in Marquette the self help housing program makes it so that everyone works on everyone else’s house. For example, if five families are getting homes, all five families must work on all five homes and nobody moves into their home until the last house is done being constructed. This means that the same effort should go into all houses being built because it doesn’t matter whose house is done first, it’s more about the group as a whole opposed to an individual family.

Some other criteria used to select participants includes: housing must be not safe, too small, or too expensive, ability to pay for housing which depends on your income, and your monthly bills are not too high to afford a mortgage payment. Also a $500 down payment is needed to begin building. Families must also be willing to promote Habitat in their local community and attend workshops to learn about owning and caring for a home.

Marquette HFH has built around 90 homes since 1992 and by August 2014 hopes to have 94 built, that’s why AmeriCorps NCCC is here. All of the families receiving homes in Marquette must have an income so their volunteer hours aren’t always consistent so with the help of NCCC the homes go up faster for those in need.

Since homeowners must pay their 15 hours per week “sweat equity” the team got to work with volunteers on the regular basis. Oak 3 had plenty of time between framing walls and installing other aspects of the home to discuss the local area with the volunteers. The team got plenty of great ideas for site seeing trips such as Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Iron Ore Museum. The closed air force base was also a popular topic since it has caused a lot of issues. The city used to have a lot more jobs within the air force and when it shut down many places went out of business. This was evident when the team took a trip around to see the deserted areas where it was obvious business once thrived. Adding onto the strain of many jobs being shut down, there are a lot of new faces in town. These faces came from New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. The government searched for affordable housing for displaced families and found that within Marquette. Seeing abandoned homes are frequent around Marquette. Marquette is a beautiful community and a beautiful location that is on the up rise trying to recover from a hard setback; they’re true “yoopers” and embrace everyone that’s thrown at them. Their dedication to their land and community truly inspired Oak 3.

dun dun dun

The end of the year is coming, 17 days left! Insane. Although it's close we're still working hard...
The past week we have worked with Habitat For Humanity in Marquette in U.P. Michigan. It's been a cold process with many many nails. When we arrived there was only one standing wall and as of Friday the roof truses were up and styrofoam siding was being applied. It's amazing how fast something like a house comes together. We also had a chance to work in another home that was having plumbing and electric installed it was nice to see what the semi-final project will look like.
I'd also like to note that it has been snowing all week, literally every day! Insane..I'm from VA I'm not used to this!

Silver lining to this week:
I submitted my application to the AmeriCorps S/N program I want to do next year. I'm excited, and hopeful.
I'm excited to come home and start working in order to save for what I want to do in the future.

One more week of snow and hammering then debriefs and closure.

If I get into the AmeriCorps S/N program next summer with the state parks I'd be at False Cape State Park! They said they'd offer me housing and I'd just drive down there...that'd be so cool! Wish me luck guys! :)

All this time I was finding myself, and I didn't know I was lost.

Time is coming to an end, less than 30 days left in this program! As the close continues to creeps up on us I find myself becoming more and more stressed in regards to my life after AmeriCorps. Stressed in both a positive and negative way...if that makes sense. I'm anxious would probably be more accurate. 

This program has changed my life in ways I cannot even explain and probably not comprehend right now. Each and every single person on my team has taught me something new both about the world and about myself. We started off with approx. 260 corps members and now it's down to around 160 I believe...it's been a long "weeding out process." But I can honestly say that the people who have remained here the whole time are some of the strongest and brilliant people I've ever met. I truly admire each and every person who has stuck it out and will graduate with me in November. Upon arrival I remember being anxious and worried about being around all of these people but after about a week or so I found myself excited and looking forward to every day! Although there were some "rejects" for lack of a better word who were just trouble makers from the beginning I found myself feeling a strong sense of community amoungst members. That sense of community is still strong. I am proud to say that everyone I formed a strong bond with and consider a family both on and off of my team are still here. 

This program has really showed me a lot about diversity and what it means in the "real world." When I think about diversity now I don't think about what makes us all different, I think more about what makes us the same. Being the same isn't necessarily identical, we just have formed a community of extremely different people from different backgrounds who all came together for one purpose: to serve those who need it the most. My teammate, Michael, said it very well when he said this year is about "self(less) discovery." This year has opened my eyes to so much about myself that I didn't even know was there and it continues to amaze me even today. Although it's great I've learned so much about myself I'm still shocked at how much I learned about others. Before I came to this program I had very little experience with people different than myself - coming from a middle class, primarily white, small town in Virginia I was pretty ignorant. Throughout the year I've had to come to a lot of realizations about how I viewed the world and how my thoughts and actions could impact others. I remember at the  beginning of the year there was a discussion on my team about what we deemed inappropriate (since we come from different backgrounds obviously this answer was different for every individual) so as we went around the circle one of my team mates, Rachel, mentioned some derogatory words she felt were inappropriate to be used - I immediately was taken back by the fact that someone could feel so strongly about a word...it'd just never been an issue to me. But with further discussion I found myself seeing her point of view and understanding that my words DO have an impact on others and just because I don't intend something to be hurtful doesn't mean that it's not. I feel like that discussion was the first of many that made me question how I treated others and how I felt I should be treated. I'd like to thank Rachel for being the person brave enough to speak up those first few weeks...she honestly opened my mind to a lot of different things I just never thought about before. I could go on and on about what else I've learned about myself but to sum it up concisely I'd have to say I've learned to take myself seriously. I do have an impact on people around me and things I say can and do make a difference. Also to "hold it lightly" as my teammate Corey would say. Nothing is so important that I should get all worked up over it...it's really not a big deal in the long run. And I've learned to follow my dreams, as cliche as that sounds I feel like I've learned that I need to aim high. My definition of success and yours may be different so by holding myself to the standard of others I'm cheating myself out of happiness. If all I do is live to please others then when is it my turn to be happy and do what I want? That is probably what I'm most thankful for in this program, the courage to chase after my own dreams. 

What does the future hold? Who knows...but I do have a plan and a dream (again very cliche, sorry) so I know I'm at least heading in the right direction. 

So far here's my life after AmeriCorps ideas:

November-December: Work full time, somewhere, anywhere! I’m putting in applications literally everywhere I can think of.

January-May: Go back to school, partake in VA master naturalist program

April-September: AmeriCorps program with VA state parks doing trail maintenance, yes I realize that school and this overlap, I need to figure out if there is anyway to reschedule the dates which I doubt but I want to talk to people.

May-August: if the above plan doesn’t work hopefully I can still find work at the state parks or just keep the job I hopefully get in November.

Later on in life/long term goals…

STL for AmeriCorps NCCC Baltimore edition

WOOF in Ireland

NOLS in South West or Idaho

FEMA corps

Sherman Lake YMCA

For the latter half of round 4 Oak 3 worked with Sherman Lake YMCA (SLYMCA) as camp counselors. Upon arrival the team was immediately involved in trainings. The first day the program directors facilitated team builders to help Oak 3 become acquainted with Sherman Lake staff. The name games and team builders we were participating in also served as examples of what the team could do as counselors to help build relationships within their cabins. During training Sherman Lake staff went over a mock arrival day and explained to Oak 3 what would happen when schools arrived at camp and what should go on in the cabins. Throughout the week the office paper work portion was broken up with activities. Oak 3 participated in all of the activities offered at camp so there would be an understanding prior to the school group as to what was expected in certain areas of camp. The activities also served as a tour of camp. Some of the activities the team went through were: dodge ball, underground rail road, low ropes, high ropes, rock climbing, boating, and a game of “capture the pig.” Trough these games the staff incorporated the four core values of the YMCA: Honesty, Caring, Respect, and Responsibility (HCCR). The entire camp experience for the campers is constructed around these ideas. The reason schools send students to attend Sherman Lake YMCA is to introduce or reinforce the idea of HCCR which improves students behavior both in and out of the classroom. Each activity includes a briefing, activity period, and debrief period. The majority of the training period was learning by trail and error; however, some of it was very direct. An example, policy and procedure was reading the manual and talking about scenarios that may arise in the cabins. The team also had an opportunity to meet with the CEO Luke Austenfeld who motivated the team with inspirational stories. Another serious training was counselor safety which included: signs of bullying, proper incident report, social media etiquette, and appropriate touch. The safety was primarily to protect the counselors but also protects campers from each other. Oak 3 took the hands on approach with safety and did some environmental trimming to get rid of overgrown weeds to control the bee population. The service learning opportunities included in this project were primarily involved in working with the campers. Skills gained from this would include: communication, team work, facilitation skills, and team management. Communication is important in every project but in this project Oak 3 had to not only have solid communication between members as counselors but also communicate any issues or concerns with staff of Sherman Lake. The cabins also functioned as teams; each “team” was traveling with another cabin and participated in different activities at different times. It was important to form a team culture within a cabin to make sure the campers felt like they were part of something instead of just participants. As counselors the members of Oak 3 had to facilitate activities in the cabin to cultivate a team culture and also engage campers. Some of Oak 3 had the chance to facilitate activities outside of the cabin which included the activities that the schools signed up for as part of their curriculum. It was up to each counselor how they ran their cabin but everyone had to manage their “team” efficiently. It was a new skill to some members who had never been in a leadership position. As a leader over youth different issues arise than when working with adults so it was a new experience for many of the members. Also working with staff that has been at Sherman Lake YMCA for years was very helpful to the team to see how camp shapes those who partake in activities offered at camp. For a reflection the SLIs facilitated an activity in which the team took turns facilitating a camp song or game for the team to practice leading a group in an activity. The activities really helped the team practice before getting real campers. This project was important to the sponsor because by being their Oak 3 saved them a ton of money. Without an AmeriCorps NCCC team the camp would have had to hire more staff to take over the responsibilities the team covered. Also by having a team to work as counselors who stayed in the cabins the activity leaders got a chance to take a break and not work 24 hour days. The team was lucky and had some members with previous experience in the camp world but for majority it was new experience. For those it was new to, they really stepped up to the plate and made it a successful round. The best part of working with this sponsor was the extensive orientation and training period. For those who were uncomfortable with the duties in this project the orientation and training really answered any and all questions.

Vinton Parks and Recreation

This round Oak 3 is working with Vinton Parks and Recreation in Vinton, Iowa. Upon arriving the team met with the sponsor, Duane, and site supervisors, Brian and Alan. Duane gave a short introduction to the staff and facilities. The Vinton Parks and Recreation department (VPRD) offers the community facilities for recreation, which is in action year round. The community of Vinton supports the VPRD very strongly with volunteerism and financial assistance. One example would be members of the community donated money to VPRD to purchase the skating rink when the popular attraction almost went under financially a few years ago. The VPRD owns and maintains over 100 acres of park area in the bedroom community of Vinton. Being a bedroom community means that most people in the area commute to work and only live in Vinton. The main employers in Vinton are the hospital and the education systems. Back when Vinton was flooded a few homes were taken out and were in such condition it wasn’t feasible to repair or rebuild so VPRD has developed these lands into public areas, which the community can use at any time, one area which was badly hit was the land on which Celebration Park now stands.

The team was split into two groups assigned to various tasks most of the time, the first group worked at River Side Park where they cleared the park of undergrowth and downed or dead trees with Brian. Brian provided a walk through tour of the area and explanation of why the park needed to be cleared. The park was hit by a windstorm in 2011 that downed and damaged many trees in the area, some of which are still obstructing usage of the park. The park provides the community with areas to use for recreation activities but with the downed trees the area had become unsafe for public usage. In addition to safety concerns the park was an eye sore for the community. An almost immediate positive from the removing of debris and undergrowth is improved quality of the disk golf course. This is important because there is a disk golf tournament coming up in September.

Brian is a one man show who has little help from volunteers and a small number of employees under him. Most employees of VPRD are seasonal; there are only a few permanent employees one of which is Brian.

The other part of the team worked in Celebration Park with Alan, another permanent staff member of VPRD. This portion of the team worked on landscaping the park as well as constructing a fire pit. As aforementioned the park is built on land that homes once stood on before the flood. The park serves as a symbol of the community’s resilience after such a disaster. By partaking in the construction of this park Oak 3 had a hand in building a symbol of hope for the community of Vinton.  Interaction with the community of Vinton on a more personal level really helped in tying the team to Vinton in a more permanent way. Living in a community is one thing but working with the community members to provide services to others in the area really gave the team a personal connection to the area. This connection served as motivation to working hard to provide the best possible work to the community that has welcomed NCCC with open arms.

 For reflections the Service Learning Initiators (SLI) facilitated one reflection before turning it over to the team for a round robin. The first week the team got together and discussed safety from the first week that they thought was important to communicate to those who maybe hadn’t done the same type of work. Everyone communicated via drawings; the team was instructed to draw a “warning label” for a task they’d been doing the previous week. Some examples included: sawyer safety, personal protective equipment usage, and hydration rules. The second reflection was led by Michael and Caitlin in a red robin fashion. Their activity was a game of charades in which members of the team received names of previous supervisors/sponsors they had to act out. After the members finished acting and the name was guessed the other members named off some things they learned from said sponsor/supervisor. The next reflection was a game of Triva led by the SLI’s, the week previous to the activity SLI’s mentioned seemingly random facts about VPRD to the team which they were then tested on in the activity. The game was an incentive to learn more about the sponsor the team was serving and led to a deeper understanding on what exactly VPRD does and where they came from. As the last reflection the SLIs sent out random facts about VPRD throughout the week and at the end of the week there was a “game night” involving the facts. Some of the questions were in the form of Family Feud while others were just typical trivia.

There were some difficulties for some team members finding the meaning behind the project in which case the team took a small break from their work to discuss what exactly was going on with the project. The most important aspect that motivated the team was the fact they were in Vinton. The SLI’s reminded the team of the importance of serving the community that houses the NCCC campus, without that community support of NCCC the campus could be moved to a different location. It was decided that it was important for the team to work as hard as possible to give as much as they could to the community that is nothing but accepting and welcoming to the corps. Overall the team moral towards service learning did struggle during times but it always found its way back to the positive side of things. Keeping the team involved in the planning on activities and engaged in serving learning really helped keep the team working towards the end goal. The activity that involved sending out texts periodically with facts really helped the team, serving as a reminder of what they’re working for throughout the day. 

Just a quick update

• I've been in the woods for the past 2 weeks.
• At least I'm not in direct sun light...
• I got poison Ivy for the first time ever, it itches.
• really bad.
• I've been chainsawing...without cutting off any limbs. 
• I'm now acting TL since mine left Thursday, must admit it's a little stressful but ohwell I'm handling it.
• Only one more week here.
• Then off to Michigan.

so far during fourth round..

So for fourth round, it's not actually all in one place - it's split round. I'm in Vinton, Iowa for the first half then going to Augusta, Michigan for the last half. It's actually really nice in the way that I won't be doing ONE job for 8 weeks straight because that can get rather tiresome..not that the shorter version is any better but still. In Viton we're working with Vinton Parks and Rec. it's a really nice sponsor. I love our supivisor! The team is split in two, six working at Riverside Park clearing invasives and down/dead trees and the other half building a firepit/landscaping at Celebration park. I've been working in Riverside Park since I'm a sawyer - I've only sawed once though so doesn't make much difference. The first time I sawed, I sawed my boot a little so I pass on that job when possible. We've cleared a lot, which is really nice to see... I like seeing the difference from day to day, it's cool being able to see it go from brush/weeds to clear grass. It's really tiring work though, I'm exhausted every day after work...I've never been so tired in my life! But the days 730-4 seem short - I guess because we work so early..I don't know..not complaining just saying it's tough work and I'll be glad when we can go to Michigan. In Michigan we'll be serving as camp counselors at Lake Sherman YMCA. This is important because by having an NCCC team there the camp saves approx. 20,000 dollars in opperational dollars which allows them to continue offering the programs to schools at reduced prices they can afford. I'm really anxious to go...we get a solid week of training but still I've never really worked with kids and I'll be on my own, the team will be seperate which is also going to be hard because we're so used to being as a team. This week we did an ISP at the Sweet Corn Festivel in Cedar Rapids, it was really good. Personally I emptied trashes for four hours but surprisenly it wasn't bad at all - which gives you a hint how hard we're working during the week and how basically playing in trash is a vacation. The others also emptied trash and some cleaned up food tent areas...the people were really sweet, I loved it. So many people were interested in who we were and what we're doing..and all very appreciative of something seemingly small. It's always amazing to see people be thankful for what we're doing..because to us it's not really a huge deal..we're emptying trash, yanno? But to them it's a big deal and seeing their gratitude really makes it easier to enjoy. Tomorrow we're going to the Iowa state fair, it's the last day so it's half price! yay. Should be fun, but I'll spend the first half of the day working with my TL learning the ropes of paper work...should be...exciting? Is paper work ever fun? Oh well I don't mind it, while she's gone on vacation in a couple weeks I'm going to be responsible for the team/paper work for the team...Team Leader Brandy haha. Nothing much else going on I have two other ISP's planned with the Iowa Children's Museaum which I'm excited for..then that's all..Vinton Boomtown is next weekend which will be cool! It's a big fireworks show from what I understand. Michael and I took Monday as a personal day - we deserve it! Don't have any plans but no plans is better than working :)

Arriving at St. John’s Abby Arboretum was an exciting adventure for Oak 3. Upon arrival Tom, the sponsor, showed the team round campus and issued keys to the apartments. Rules and regulations were also briefly covered on the first night. The apartments Oak 3 lives in are Earth Homes which means they’re partially underground and require minimum heating and cooling. The following day Tom provided a thorough tour of the facilities and explained the organization to the team. The campus of St. John’s University is like a small city which is self-sustaining. The campus has on site a post office, power plant, fire station, security, pottery studio, art museum, wood shop, and much more. After the tour the team had the opportunity to give a briefing to the staff on AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. The team went over policies and procedures as well as representative roles. The staff was very accommodating and introduced the media reps to the media representative on site as well as asking how they could assist in other representative roles. During the tour Tom pointed out several points of service learning to the group. For example, the campus is home to Minnesota’s oldest planted trees. The monks on campus also serve a vital role in the preservation of not only the campus but also the arboretum. Oak 3’s site supervisor, Brother Walter, is a monk who helped the team learn the ropes of fence building and made sure the team had everything they needed. When Oak 3 was introduced to the Oak forest, Tom went over how the forest is rated as “Excellent” then went on to explain the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) rating system. There are certain qualifications that forests must meet to obtain the title of excellent so the monks work hard to maintain that quality. Oak 3’s role in the arboretum was to construct a 9 ft deer fence enclosing 19 acres of Oak forest. The training provided were: tool safety, a review of personal protective equipment, instruction on how to construct the fence, and an overview of safety procedures for the arboretum. During tool safety the Vehicle Safety and Tools officers went over the policy with Brother Walter to ensure the team was adhering to policy set forth by the sponsor. Instruction on how to build the fence was hands on with the team, first Brother Walter and his assistant Adam put up a post and showed the correct method then the team went on to do the remaining with the assistance of Brother Walter and Adam. For activities the service learning imitators went over how life after AmeriCorps is important to plan with the team and facilitated the completion of the Life After AmeriCorps worksheet for the Individual Learning Plan part 2. On the first day of work Brother Walter asked if it was okay if we did a reflection on what the team thought so far and how the team thought the project would go overall. As another one of the reflection activities the team started working on a reflection that will be year long. The team was instructed to create a “debrief” for their friends and family to use when they go home. The debrief would include knowledge, skills, and abilities gained at the worksite. To make it a little more fun the team could add in fun facts or odd quantifiables if they wanted to, an example would be “how many stir-fry meals the team cooked.” During the last week of work Tom shared a presentation on Oak regeneration to the team and explained why it was important to save such trees. Oak regeneration is difficult and must be intentional. Regeneration doesn’t just happen on its own so the arboretum took the initiative to build a fence. A 9 foot fence has shown to be 98% effective in keeping deer out of the forest. The arboretum had a “testing area” fenced in and the forest enclosed has flourished since the construction of the fence. The presentation also included the history of the forest the team was working in it’s been a tree farm since 1950 and FSC certified since 2002. FSC certification means that the forest is sustaining, wood taken from the forest isn’t causing a decrease in the forest itself. The trick is to never take more than the forest can produce and the arboretum makes it a priority that over foresting doesn’t happen. There are 700 acres of Oak on the arboretum with 4 species of Oaks most of which are 100-145 years old. It’s important to regenerate the Oak forest because acorns produced are a staple in the diet of the wild life. Also Oaks produce very desirable lumber. Nationally Oak acreage is declining because harvesting and other losses exceed growth by 30%. Oak 3 really enjoyed learning about not only the trees they were giving a chance to grow but also the namesake of their unit. The team had many points throughout the week where the importance of the project and work performed that day was discussed. The team constantly stayed very connected with the importance of the project and enthusiastic to learn more about what they were accomplishing. The sponsor really helped the team with the presentation he gave, it brought all the hard work put in back home and gave meaning to digging all the holes. During the work week the team had opportunities to work with or around the Monks who were the supervisors which gave the team a chance to learn about the culture of Monks and who exactly they were serving. Being in contact with the people the team was serving really kept the project near and dear.

The appartment I live in is partially underground so you maybe can tell from the photos. I share it with three other girls, there are 5 girls on my team (including my tl) who has her own apartment, and the four boys share an apartment. We cook/eat in our tl's room but have access to a kitchen in our own rooms incase we have our own food. The food is from our food budget though, although the sponsor does take us out to lunch once a week on wednedays which is AMAZING. The fence was done last Friday, took us two weeks. I didn't see any animals while working but I heard that some of the guys say deer inside of the fence and they were planning to go on a hunt soon? Should be interesting. Now that we're done with the fence we started and finished painting within the last week so now we're on to splitting and stacking wood! They need a lot of wood to power the pottery warehouse as well as other things around campus. I'm only in Minnesota for 3 weeks so we're departing this coming Friday to head back to campus.
My next project is exciting though! It's actually two smaller projects. The first will be in Vinton, IA with Parks and Rec my main task will include falling and cutting up trees damaged in the 2011 windstorm. The rest of the team (those who aren't sawyers) will be working on other tasks to beautify the park! After that we're doing to Michigan to be camp counselors at Lake Sherman YMCA! I'm a little nervous about that since I've never worked around kids much but it should be fine! I'll just be participating and leading them to activities! Should be interesting, hopefully I'll learn new things about how to lead groups (even if it is children)!
I came up with a really cool reflection for the team in which they create a "debrief" for their family/friends. I figured since I know I'm having a party when I get back and will probably be bombared with questions about what I've done a million times why not just create a presentation to share with people who are curious. It should be fun, although it does have to maintain some professionalism since it's for an activity so it may be a little dry but ohwell I'll try to be as interesting as possible.

My apartment

St cloud gardens

MINNEAPOLIS PICTURES (more on facebook)

Hello St. Johns!

This place is amazing! We got here yesterday midday after a six hour drive, it was by far the shortest travel we've had which was nice. On the first day we met Tom who is our sponsor, he surprisingly looks like my uncle Tommy :p He's a really nice and eager to learn EVERYTHING about NCCC; we gave him a thorough debrief on who we are and what we do. It's nice to serve someone who is genuinely interested in your background and what you're hoping to gain from this experience.
Today was our first day - we had a tour of the grounds which are lovely (I suggest googleing the campus, it's beautiful) and met a lot of people we'll be interacting with the next couple of weeks. This place is literally a self sustaining little town, it has more people than most towns in Minnesota. It has a power plant, fire station, police, post office, pottery studio, art gallery, library, church, restaurants, and more...there are like at least 100 monks living here at any time, they live here all their lives and many of the students (at this all men's school) come and live here for four years without leaving so they offer a lot of things! I don't know much about sports but they're a title 3 school and their coach won so many games (more than ANYONE else) they basically let him do whatever he wants..it was really cool. It was nice learning so much about where we are. Best of all there is a lake! I've been swimming each day :) it's going to be a daily activity I can feel it. I love it. The rooms we live in are dorms, they're earth homes though so it's semi-underground. It's a little warm but not too bad. I love the living arrangements and the grounds! This is going to be a fantastic project...
okay onto the work......
We're installing a 9 ft deer fence around 19 acres of oak forest which was rated as excellent condition. It's important because the deer population is out numbering the oak trees which isn't allowed the forest to replenish. The forest isn't only beautiful, it's functional! Everything on campus made of wood came from that forest! It's amazing to see. The work included in putting in the fence is pretty intense. Today we put in poles for the fence, they have to be 3 ft in the ground so the hole are already drilled for us but we have to do the final edits to it and make sure the pole will go in smoothly and evenly..then once the pole is in we have to level it and add tons of sand. Lots and lots of shoveling, honestly the worst part is the bugs! We have tons of bug spray and tick block and what not. They're intense though, never have I ever been so attacked by flies.
I love the site, I love the sponsors, and I love the work :)

so far so good.

LAA Reflection

We had to do a reflection today based on our life after americorps..I feel like it was pretty good so ill just post my responses here so you guys can see whats going on in my head:
1) demonstration and mastery of change: the entire time I've been in americorps I've been out of my "comfort zone" but I've accepted it and learned to embrace the discomfort and try to grow from it. I feel like my greatest contribution to the communities weve been serving has been my openness to learn as much as possible both through hands on work and service learning opportunities. The skills I've gained throughout my time have primarily been focused on team work ie compromise, communication, and coflict resolution. Flexibility is now a very strong trait of mine, not everything you do is "desirable" but it has to be done and sometimes you have to be willing to take the bad job or do extra work when you don't want to for the overall being of the team.
2) build and sustain effective teams: although my team is solid we still have issues when it comes to communication, often it takes someone being pushed too far for us to even acknowledge a problem. I've learned a lot from being on a team, mostly about myself. I learned im not always right but that doesn't mean im necessarily wrong, I also realize everyone should partake in group decisions thst effect us all because when that fails to happen it's impossible to work as cohesive group, it then becomes individuals. Living with so many different people has introduced me to ideas I've never even considered so im thankful for the diversity even if its not apparent when you look at us how different we truly are. I bring flexibility to the team as well as a sense of organization. I try to contribute these attributes in team meetings. I've learned I need to communicate my feelings to the team better, even if it is difficult.

Where's Waldo?

I feel like Americorps is just one big "Where's Waldo" search book, they give you a region you're in but then after that good luck finding WHERE you are in that region. Family back at home only knows where I am if I update them, and on campus it's a big "have you seen so-and-so...oh well how about so-and-so" it's a big hide-and-seek game.
Well to update you all...
I'm in Iowa, yet again. Will be here for a couple weeks, I'm technically on vacation right now then when everyone else comes back there will be a week of transition/midyear trainings. During break I have three days I'm working, tonight, Monday, and Tuesday. Today I'll be working at a parade to make sure traffic doesn't interfere with the parade. Monday and Tuesday I'll be working at an animal shelter. During midyear we'll brief on our next project and I'll get chain saw trained! I'm really excited to go through chain saw training, but underneath the excitement is a bunch of nervousness and doubt...but it'll be okay! I am looking forward to getting every new opprotunity out of Americorps that I can :) I don't want to pass up a chance to do something potentially life changing just because I'm nervous...what's the fun in that?!

Break is so relieving, people are still on campus but there's a lot less people since many people went home..it's really nice. I am also a Van POC so I have keys to a van on campus so if I can gather enough people (which hasn't been an issue thus far) we can go travel a little bit..while staying in our 25 mile radius area :p

My next project is in Collegeville, Minnesota. We'll be working at a college helping to build deer fence around acres of Oak trees! Apparently the deer population has outgrown that of the oaks and they're hindering the growth of the forest! So we're just going to fence in the trees to give them a chance to grow! Also removing some invasive species? I haven't had the chance to do that really yet..should be a new adventure! Also there's a chance we'll be bottling some syrup? They have the best syrup in Minnesota apparently but it's not sold...you only get it if you work with it somehow SO MAYBE I'LL GET SOME SYRUP yay :) the perks of community service! We all know how I love pancakes soooooo yeah.

That's about it...I miss Minot but I'm sure to have a break.

Last week in Minot!

My time here is coming to an end, and honestly im excited to move on. Minot is an awesome city with awesome people, and the work here has been super fun - however there's just not enough work to go around sometimes. The times we have work its always fun and interesting, but sometimes we're doing a lot of busy work which is very defeating. Personally I rather be doing hard labor amd helping than doing easy busy work. It's not our sponsors fault its just slowing down around here a little, but the sponsors positivity helps the team to stay focused on the task at hand no matter how trivial it may seem. For example, we've sorted and wrapped a ton of siding for homes..the task itself is tedious and annoying but in the bigger picture wrapping/sorting the siding has helped the warehouse make more siding deliveries...so althoughits annoying in the long run it still is helping home owners get closer to normality.
BUT this past week some of us have been doing restorative lawn care! That has genuinely been fun, we worked with a few older men from another church hydroseeding yards. I love  the work, sometimes raking a tilled yard can be tedious and annoying but you get instant gratification from home owners, and seeing who you're personally helping is a good feeling! They're all so thankful its very rewarding. The old men we work with are fantastic too, Vern, Marlan, Dennis, and Blaine have all taken us under their wing and been very nice. Blaine is probably the one I like the most he was special ops Army, actually helped rescue Marcus Lutteral who wrote Lone Survivor...he is an all around amazing person who has given so much to his country and continues even though he's retired.
Im very thankful for the people and places I've met/gone with A,Americorps but I think Minot will be one of my best memories..you cant quite explain the feeling of giving back to a community who needs help,  it feels good to do good

And its not over yet, this coming week we'll continue yards and warehouse deliveries (hopefully there are deliveries) and next weekend we're doing a community day in which we'll paint 1,000 stars of hope for Moore, OK. Its going to be fun! I hope to leave Minot a little better off than when we got here, I know im already better off because of Minot....but it will be nice to have cell phone service again :p

Relay for life!

Let me start off by saying it was one of the best nights of my life, one of the most touching and inspirational events I've ever been apart of.
After working 8 hours at the warehouse, we came back to Hope Village for a hour then headed back out to Minot State University to help with the relay which went from 6pm-6am! It was quite the event...

We got there and helped set up a few things, then it was really slow (work wise) for a while. My team was there along with Ceder 6; we helped moved chairs/tabels where/when needed, take down inflateables, and keep an eye on the candels.

The event started with the introduction of the event to the relay teams, some speakers, then the initial lap was done solely by survivors...it was a beautiful sight. Truly inspiring. The next lap was done by the caretakers, the love and compassion was almost tangible in the atmosphere. The relay start and throughout the night there was music and side things such as zumba, hip hop dancing, bingo, raffles, silent auctions, and other various games.

It was really nice to be there, but I must admit being up for 24 hours a totally new thing to me, I went INSANE! We didn't have constant work, just minor things between sit up and break down..so we were able to partake in activities and walking, I had several phases of sleepy-awake-borderline death-extremely hype-calm...it was interesting..one example was when zumba started we all were sitting at our table annoyed by the dancing people and how we couldn't dance (we're all very uncordinated) then a half hour later we're all up dancing with each other and running around like psychos...pretty sure we were all delierious. Another portion of the night was me laying on the bleachers face down, falling off the first seat onto the sub-bleacher which is meant to be a foot rest, then onto the asphalt, only to do the YMCA dance when the song came on while laying on the ground...I was a pitiful sight! haha  When we were working it wasn't bad though, it was really fun. I got to light the luminaries that spelled out HOPE. It was really nice. The woman working with us was so thankful and gave us goodies! I got a key chain, a draw string bag, and a lot of free food :)

I was truly inspired by the event and happy I was able to partake in it! I also got 12 hours of ISP work which boosted me up to 64.5 hours! Getting closer and closer to my 100 hour goal :)

being up 24 hours really allowed the team to show how insane we really are haha...it was one of the most memorable nights thus far! Loved every minute of it though!

Only two more weeks left here in Minot until I go back to Vinton...looking forward to a break but I will truely miss Minot. It's such a nice city with lovely people...it may be in the middle of no where but it's worth a visit. The people here are magnificent - one guy here helped us when we moved a lady out of her house, he was volunteering after school; then we saw him at a cook out we went to, then we saw him somewhere else, then at relay for life! He's just one example of how involved the the people of the community are and how hard they truely work around here...it's really encouraging to see someone put so much of their time into the larger picture.

It's June and still a chilly 40 degrees here in the mornings...during the day you break a sweat in the 50 degree weather...haha oh and tons of rain!

Quickly to answer the questions I've been getting from several people:

• In regards to Oklahoma, my team will not be going there. Here's how the program works: there are 5 campus' that serve different parts of the country and although a team CAN leave their region it's only for natural disasters...which may make you ask "well Brandy it's a natural disaster..aren't you going?"...No I'm not, the order of responders in this case is as follows: South Central Region campus in Denver, CO; secondly FEMA CORPS would respond is need be; thirdly, teams from out side of the region. FEMA corps is wrapping up their service year now, so they're outta here for the most part (from what I understand) and there are probably teams there was the south central region campus..and there has been rumors of teams from NCR going out there however my team cannot be pulled to go there. We're already on a disaster project which is a high priority - there's a heirarchy of projects that range from important to less important, for example, working at the YMCA camp was probably a little less important than flood repair...not saying the work wasn't needed but just in a disaster instance that's how it's viewed. So yes a team or two may be sent down there, highly unlikely though, and no I will not be going there in the future
• Graduation, What I know for sure is that graduation is 3pm November 13. On November 14, we all go home. It will be in Vinton at a local high school, if you want to come out feel free :) rent a care and a hotel room and explore Vinton...it'll take you all of 5 minutes to get around town!

We have been really slow with work - like really slow...last week we learned how to sanitize a house by observing another team do it...then we organized the warehouse...now we're putting up drywall. HOWEVER THERE'S A BRIGHT HORIZON...we'll probably be doing work with a different organization out here from now on just because LDR is having a hard time finding enough work for us, so we'll still be doing warehouse stuff but in adition to that we'll be working with the Minonites. Tomorrow we're doing deliveries then hopefully working with the Minonites after that.

Vacation is coming up which is exciting..although I'll be working probably the entire time but oh well. I will be staying on campus in Vinton, again if anyone has funds and wants to visit you're more than welcome to the little town and me! But I'll probably just hangout around town, relax at the pool (if it's not freezing) and work. I want to get some of my ISP  hours out of the way and I plan to just do a few hours (maybe 3-4) a day at the library or animal shelter...other than working and sleeping I have no plans...it's super exciting I know...


that's about all...speaking of ISPs I have a 12 hour one coming up soon, it'll be a 24 hour day for me...haha wish me luck! It's with the relay for life and apparently around 2am we can start walking with people to serve as motivation...should be interesting. I'm all about getting the hours out of the way..I need 100 and I already have a little over 50 :)


I'll be heading back to Vinton on June 24th so any mail people send please send accordingly :)


LOVES

I'M IN THE NEWS

KX News


Minot Daily

Project Ubuntu

This week we've had a visitor, Daniel. He's been traveling around the country to every state plus D.C. doing a week of volunteer service in each community, his project is named "Project Ubuntu." He has a website with more information about his travels/mission www.projectubuntu.info
It's really inspiring to talk to someone like that who has decided to dedicate their life to service without any tangible reward. You could say I am doing the same thing now but it's just really nice to see someone else who isn't affiliated to any specific group just going out and trying to make the world a better place. One man at a time things will get better. He plans on writing a book at the end of his journey and I definitely plan on buying it. While he's out in different communities working though he's asking different questions to people about: what it takes to make America great as well as what a community is made of?  Another concept he talks about is the "us" v. "them" idea.
While I was working I was listening in on one of his interviews which was really interesting to listen to...so I just wanted to blog about some of my ideas to a few of his questions...

• What makes America great? Although I'm super patriotic and love my country I don't know if I can say America necessarily has anything that's really POWERFUL and far more advanced than other countries...I think his question about communities is a lot easier to talk about but also applies on the larger scale. A community according to the biological definition would be different species living in the same area. I can appreciate this definition but if you're thinking about the communities in America there is a definite us v. them concept amongst people. The question he asks is how can we transcend the barrier between the Us's and Them's.
• Us v. Them! Obviously people separate into groups but the idea that one is less than than the other is ridiculous. It's important to challenge the "us" group to help and work with the "them" group. His whole trip is about seeing how people across the country transcend that barrier as well as encouraging more and more people to work outside of their "group."  
• Mobilize kindness. Mibilizing kindness is one of Daniel's mantras - it's about getting people out and sharing their love with other people. Love can and will break down all barriers. 

I feel like this blog is a little distracted because a lot has been going on around me but I tried haha I highly recommend reading his site and keeping up with his travels it's so inspirational.

Okay but onto the note about the work I'm doing lately -
 We finished the house we were in for the past two weeks today, but only after leaving our new house early. We had to evacuate the house we were demo-ing because we found vermiculite! It was crazy, and scary. We were just taking down stuff in the porch and nobody had on a mask so it was a little concerning but I think it's okay...it was still solid and wasn't really in the air..unless you count us beating the hell out of some boards and possibly pulverizing it into a dust. I'm sure it'll be fine though, just it was our second moment of panic lately.

Sunday we were evacuated out of our housing to move to Hope Village. There was a leak in my room at the foot of my bed..which didn't get worse but also didn't improve any so the housing coordinator ordered us out. I woke up from a nap to be gone within a hour, my bags had to be packed and in the van within the hour basically...it was very hectic.  Our housing at Hope Village is pretty solid, although it did have a leak..it's been fixed (I think). We were gonna move here anyway in a couple weeks but it was just a little sooner than expected and we're living with the other team that's here - which is really nice...I love my team to death but it's nice to see other faces.

I still love the work here, although tedious at times it's still A+. I still like Minot, cute city with fantastic people. And I am especially thankful that Daniel showed up - he's boosting our team's moral a lot just with his stories about philosophy and his travels.

I am really appreciating this project, I hope it continues to go well!


PS thanks to everyone sending me mail and what not :) love you guys so much! feel free to e-mail me or anything whenever i don't always have wifi but I do pretty regularly..so yeah

Just an update

I got the question the other day about "do people in minot flood often? did they expect the flood?" or something to that extent and I honestly didn't know the answer - I assumed they didn't expect it just from the little knowledge I had of approx. 300 homes had flood insurance out of the 4000+ that got damaged. Today I got a chance to talk with a FEMA worker and another local volunteer both who have lived here for their whole lives and they both said it was a complete shock..it's what's known as a 100 year flood. They have flooded in the past but never to the devastating affect it had back in 2011. Also someone else asked if the work we're doing here was for the 2011 flood or for recent flooding, there has been no significant recent flooding all the work I'm doing is from 2011...it takes a long time to recover from a flood.

The work we're doing is challenging to say the least, there are good days and some questionable days but over all I'm really enjoying the work here...even if the work isn't necessarily pleasant we're still helping those who cannot help themselves and there's no question about that being the right thing to do. Today for example we had some rather dirty work that had to be done and I ended up coughing and sneezing all day and being physically miserable but what kept me going was how helpless some of these people are...they're perfectly fine people but just the circumstances keep piling up against them to the point where nobody could tackle it alone. The woman today had to be moved from one FEMA trailer to another - the deadline for her to get out was today at 5pm but she JUST got out of the hospital for having two knee surgeries...so obviously she needed assistance.
The deliveries are my favorite part of the work - the warehouse does deliveries to those who qualify for assistance and the gratitude you receieve while unloading their matierals is amazing. I understand why people pursue work in disaster relief, although stressful and unpredictable it's so fulfilling.

I'm getting use to the fact I don't have cell phone service, it's very annoying but it's okay. So far the internet is sufficing well enough. It's given me a lot of time to think about things and plan stuff - I'm WAY ahead of the ball on my portfolio..I'm almost done with it and I've gotten 41.5 hours of ISP hours out of the 100 I need. But just as far as my future goes here's a bulleted list (I make LOTS of lists...)

• return home in November
• Spring 2014 semester @ JTCC
• I have some classes picked out
• Summer 2014 semester
• also planned courses
• Fall 2014 semester
• you guessed it...more planning
• STL in Vinton, Iowa
• I am applying for this position in Vinton, USTL to be more specific. I'll basically be the assistant to the Unit leader.
• return home in November, return to school, transfer for VCU, major in BIO or ENV, find a career, travel the world.

That's the next two years planned out right there. When I come home this November I plan on also applying to state/national Americorps programs as well as traditional jobs back at home so I can work while giong to school...I couldn't imagine not working now..since I work basically 7 days in a row! haha 16 days without a break after next weekend :p

But during this summer break I also plan to go to Des Moine, IA...some of my teammates want to go up there for a little day trip so I've been looking up stuff about it :) maybe we'll find a train and go somewhere also..who knows.

I definitely apprecaite traveling more..I used to be scared to really go new places or try new things but I've discovered that the world (well America, but I'm going to assume the world also) is a beautiful place. It's absurd to tie yourself down to one place, if given the chance you should travel all over...take advantage of everything around you. I definitely plan to do more traveling in the future and try many new things. I hope I can encourage others to do the same, I was missing out on so much while I let my fears hold me back...I don't want others to feel that way too.


okay I guess that's enough you know everything that's been going on in my head now. E-mail me with any questions :)