Wrap Up and Transition

Hello, folks. Sorry about not posting a blog for a while. I've got  A LOT to tell you!

 

Wrapping-up in NYC

During our last weeks in our deployment to Hurricane Sandy I continued to work at DRC #41 as an  Applicant Services Program Specialists.  With every passing day, I was growing more comfortable and able to do the job without the help of the FEMA employees.

 

National AmeriCorps Week

A few weeks ago was National AmeriCorps week.  In recognition of this, FEMA Corps went to a Service Project in the Rockaways.  Alongside more than 200 AmeriCorps members serving in NYC, we helped clean up the beach of debris and trash.  It was quite an interesting experience because it was snowing the entire time.  CNCS CEO Wendy Spencer and Director of AmeriCorps Bill Basl were there to cheer us on our accomplishments so far and to serve with us as well.  Here are some quantifiables for the 2,400 AmeriCorps members deployed to Hurrican Sandy:

· Mucked and gutted 1,270 homes,

· Mobilized 16,000 volunteers for 128,000 hours of service (valued at $2.68 million), and

· Touched the lives of nearly 30,000 New York residents.

We rock!

  

Last Chance

I spent the last weekend in NYC with a few teammates of mine in Manhattan.  We went to a very hilarious comedy show as well as visited Times Square one last time.

 

Washington DC

On the way back to campus, my team had a great opportunity to visit the nations capitol and stay at our team leaders parents' house. It was a great experience! I hadn't been to DC since the 8th grade field trip, and I got to see almost everything in one day, which means I was pretty sore, but it was worth it.  Also, almost everyone on my team got a sunburn (sorry mom), but I LIKED it, because it means I actually went outside and there was SUNSHINE for once!

 

 

the team

 

 

Transition

I am now currently at the AmeriCorps NCCC Southern region campus in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  We are here for a week to debrief our last project, get our new projects assignments and prepare for deployment, as well as work on our professional goals.  This week we had many classes on our goals and achievements, awards, and most importantly our resumes. I now have a solid resume that I can use once I graduate from AmeriCorps in June.

 

Round 3 will be...

Ocean 7's next and final SPIKE will be a split round! This means that we will be in Emmitsburg, Maryland for a month and Boston, Massachusettes for the next! I am really excited about both of these locations. As for the work we will be doing: We will not be interacting with survivors, but rather with FEMA Employees to work towards creating and editing the FEMA Corps Training Program.  Honestly, I don't know what our day will look like yet, but I'm excited to get started.  As for housing, we know that we will be staying at the Emergency Management Institute and Firefighters Academy. This is the same location my team stayed when we were staging for Hurricane Sandy. This means that while others in our Corps will be camping out in tents in the desert of New Mexico, we will be in our own snug rooms with wifi, a cafeteria, a gym and indoor pool. We are so spoiled.

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter. peeps! He is risen, indeed! I celebrated Easter with a few of my fellow corps members at a local church called Triumph. I have been going to this church (off and on of course) for the past 8 months, and I am really going to miss their worship experience. I feel like I'm at a concert every time I go there, it is so legit. 

 

Salvation Army Volunteer

Yesterday I volunteered at the Salvation Army with fellow Corps Members. We sorted through clothing and organized the merchandise in the store. It was super fun, and I even went home with a few items myelf!

 

If you want to watch something funny

There was a competition throughout FEMA Corps and this video won...it's hilarious to us, I'm not totally sure if everyone will apprectiate it. But here it is nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96O9sVSWIIU

 

Stay tuned for my next blog where I will touch on FEMA Corps, the program- for those of you who are looking to sign up and those who just want to know more.

SNL and Other Stories

Here's an update on my life!

DRC 41 We are continuing to work at Disaster Recovery Center #41 in Staten Island.  I am no longer a trainee because I completed my task booklet with a specialist.  They had us pair up with specialists and once we completed our task books we paired up within our Ocean 7 team.  Now we are working either in pairs or by ourselves. There are no lone 120-160 survivors coming in every day, but rather 60 or so.  

Housing and Team Life We have been living in an extended stay hotel in Queens which is an interesting experience because we are actually housed in the same hotel as some Sandy survivors that are still displaced from their homes.  We are seeing survivors in a new setting rather than just in the Recovery Centers. I'm really enjoying cooking for my team.  I have made some pretty awesome fried rice as well as omelettes.

Farewell, Lizz.  Today Ocean Seven said farewell to our lovely friend and former teammate, Lizz.  She decided to leave the program a week ago and is excited to get back home and start volunteering with animals as well as go to college in the fall.  Our team didn't expect this because it was so late in the game, but we realize that some environments are stressful for some and because of that stress you are not able to function properly.  As a volunteer, we must remember that it's important to take care of yourself as well as the survivors, and when you are put in a stressful environment and aren't demonstrating self-care you begin to realize that you can't take care of anyone else and the stress just grows from there. Hopefully Lizz will find her corner of the sky back home.  We wish you the best, Lizz!

Getting Ready for Transition Our time left here in NYC is coming to an end. We will be sad yo leave this place, but excited to start a new adventure.  We head back to our Mississippi campus in two weeks, and we will be stopping to explore Washington D.C. for a day!

SNL Because this weekend was virtually going to be our last weekend here other than next weekend (and we have stuff planned) my teammate Nateanna and I decided to try and get Saturday Night Live tickets.  It is tradition that for every live show of SNL that people line up outside of the studio and wait for a chance to get in.  And yes, it is not guaranteed.  We got to the line at dinner-time Friday evening, stayed out all night in the freezing and wet weather, but made it until 7 when they hand out the tickets.  There were about 100 people ahead of us, but we chose to try for the dress rehearsal.  We were numbers 61 and 62 and we made it past security and to the elevators, but they stopped letting people in when we were 8 people away.  It was a close one! But the experience was well worth it.  We got to meet cool people, find shelter (we found some cardboard boxes and packing material) and sleep on the street. The host of the show was Justin Timberlake and he bought us all pizza and soup, but there was also others handing out free food and hot beverages.   I might try again the next time I'll be in NYC.

Here's a link to a video of the standby line, but we weren't as crazy as those in the front!

http://www.today.com/video/today/51098467#51098467