Gap Year Volunteer Builds Houses in Louisiana, Works on Youth Service Project in Denver

Submitted by Margaret on Thu, 09/11/2008 - 01:03

We are about a week into our fourth round projects… I can’t believe how fast time has gone by! It has been so awesome for me because all of my projects have been very different. Each project we work on is about 2 months long, give or take a little.

First round my team was in Covington, Louisiana working with Habitat for Humanity. Basically we learned how to do everything from framing to roofing.
After we were taught how to do something, we would teach groups of volunteers. We participated in a Blitz Build at the beginning of our project where we working with hundreds of volunteers to build two houses in two weeks. It was so cool to be a part of building a house from the ground up. It was also really sweet because we were less than an hour from New Orleans so we got to see the city and try the food and get a taste of the culture.

Our second project was in Minneapolis, Minnesota working with a Non-profit organization called Groundwork Minneapolis. We worked with the organization and did a variety of things from invasive species removal to city maintenance projects to painting murals at a local apartment complex with the kids. I really liked that we were able to do a lot of different things. It kept things interesting. Our team lived in two two-bedroom apartments in Minneapolis which was sweet. I had never been to the Twin Cities before and I loved living there.

Third round was shuffle round (we get “shuffled” and are assigned a new team for a round), and I spent it locally in Denver. Thirty Corps Members were selected from the Denver campus to run a three-week Summer of Service program for at-risk youth ages 14-17. It was so fun, I loved it! I have always loved working with youth and I feel that doing the Summer of Service program gave me Social Work experience as well. Basically we did a mini-AmeriCorps program with the teens. Each day we would take them out on service projects in the Denver area. We also did different things with the kids like going camping, rafting, we went to an amusement park, hiking and a lot of fun things around Denver. This project made me realize that I really want to work with at-risk youth later in my life. It took a lot of energy and patience but I had a blast! I still keep in contact with my kids. It was an amazing experience.

Currently I am on disaster. I am not with my original team because I was selected to go out on disaster based on my disaster ranking. We are in Baton Rouge, Louisiana responding to the damage Hurricane Gustav caused. There are several AmeriCorps NCCC teams here but our team is working with the American Red Cross Headquarters doing various things. So far I have worked in the sheltering department acting as a support for local shelter managers and helping them order supplies they made need or any issues they may be having. I have also had the chance to go out on an ERV (emergency response vehicle) to distribute hot meals to communities with power or running water. We are here to pretty much do whatever the Red Cross needs from us. We are assigned to disaster for three weeks. Because Hurricane Ike is supposedly hitting the Gulf soon, our time could possibly be extended. We are working long days and are exhausted but what we are doing is directly helping those affected by the hurricane. Although it is stressful at times, I am really loving the work we are doing. I do not have internet access often but I will blog as soon as I can. Until next time…

Carpe Diem
-Margaret

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