The Way Life Should Be

This blog post is way overdue, but I feel I need to wrap up this year, rather than leaving it incomplete.

After working at Rebuilding Together New Orleans for two harried and completely crazy weeks, Badger 7 was ready for a pretty awesome project. We had poked and prodded for a Habitat for Humanity project the whole year, and we wanted to go somewhere truly amazing.

Then, imagine our reaction when Brenton spelled out our next project using Skittles: Habitat for Humanity, Portland, Maine. Most of us had never been to the northern most state in the continental U.S., so we were all pumped to visit and check out its largest city: Portland (pop: 65,000).

The Maine welcome sign on I-95 pronounced that Maine was "the way life should be", and we, as a team, found that to be fairly accurate. Maine has so much natural beauty its hard to put into words. For the first time since first round, the team was together for a full round, and we were excited to have an awesome location and an awesome project.

While in Portland, we stayed at HFHGP's volunteer house, lovingly dubbed "the farm". We had the run of the house with our super cool roommate Stef, and slowly became accustomed to the ways of the farm: a gang of wild turkeys that would circle the house each day at 5:30 pm, low water pressure, flammable clothes dryers, exploding fire extinguishers, and stumbling around a bathroom without a light. Badger 7 acquired quite an eye as well as to finding free wifi, including (not 1 but)2 public libraries, numerous drinking establishments, and the random panera and starbucks thrown in.

The project this round would not have the same (or even remotely possible) if not for the staff of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland, including Steve, Kate, Stef, Ben, Asa, Alexa, and ReSteve. We had the great opportunity to work with Steve Bolton, the executive director of HFHGP, for at least half the round. Steve had the innate ability to make every task at hand, even the most mundane, fun and exciting.

For the majority of our project, we worked on a single house in Naples, ME. The house was a Habitat home where the homeowner could not keep up with the payments, and ultimately had to return the house back to HFHGP. The homeowner had just moved out a week before we arrived in Maine, so we started in on the house just after the papers had been signed. Habitat wanted to sell the house to recoup some of the value, so it was our job to return the house to a sallable condition.

The house had been left in a mess. The homeowner and her two sons had packed up everything they could fit into their car and left Maine.

To be Continued.....

(This post is a work in progress...even half a year since NCCC has ended)

Badger 7 Video!

Here is a video that we made interviewing our sponsor in our last project in Portland, ME. Enjoy!

-Peter

Five Years After Katrina: A Reflection

08/29/10 is the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I wrote this reflection thinking about how far I've come since I was a freshman at Loyola University New Orleans during the storm. This reflection appeared in the Perry Point weekly newsletter:

Sitting in the van traveling to New Orleans, I'm relaxing in the back seat of the Badgership enjoying the Tennessee scenery, and just notice the "A" on my right sleeve. I realize how far I've come from 5 years ago. Since the AmeriCorps NCCC logo is ubiquitous to all of us in the Corps, to the point that it doesn't seem special. But, if you look at it in a different lens, it becomes something else, something special. Whenever I talk to someone outside the Corps about the program, it’s really interesting to see their reaction to it. They are always amazed that young people can give up 10 months of their life to service. I guess it’s a credit to AmeriCorps that it instills in all of us that volunteer service is ordinary, even commonplace.

Five years ago, I had never thought of doing a term of volunteer service. I had done some community service in high school, but it was never a constant occurrence. Five years ago, I just graduated high school in California, and was intent on getting through my freshman year of college. Normally, this would have gone on without a hitch, but considering I was going to college in New Orleans in August 2005, it proved to be a much more interesting kind of year. I had come before classes started at Loyola University for freshman orientation, was starting to really enjoy the new-found freedom of college and settle into my dorm when Hurricane Katrina made my ordinary freshman year a bit less ordinary. I evacuated with my family back home to California, unsure of what was going to happen next, either to New Orleans or to Loyola. At home, as I watched the levees break and flood New Orleans, I grew a lasting attachment to the Crescent City. I found a college to attend for the fall semester, and resolved to return to Loyola and New Orleans when the next term began.

In January 2006, I came back to New Orleans with a renewed commitment to New Orleans. I met my first NCCC member while helping on a Habitat build in St. Tammany Parish, and thought it sounded pretty cool. As I reached the end of my senior year at Loyola, again met some more NCCC’ers volunteering at Jazz Fest, and I seriously started considering NCCC as a program that would help me give back to the city I had grown to love and commit myself to a lifetime of service.

NCCC is an extraordinary thing. I still pinch myself every once and awhile to see if I really am doing National Service with AmeriCorps NCCC. New Orleans, five years after Katrina, has changed for the better, although there is still much to be done. In helping New Orleans, we have all become part of the solution, and contributing bit by bit, house by house to a rebuilt New Orleans. Back in New Orleans now for the 5^th year anniversary of Katrina, in the “A” and doing my part for NOLA, I see myself as coming full circle. So much has changed in five years, and to think that I all started with a little bit of heavy weather.

Round 3: Mosquitos in New Jersey and lending a hand in New Orleans

Badger 7 in New Jersey


So, after getting back to the Point after Summer Break, Badger 7 began in earnest preparing for our next project in New Jersey combating...mosquitos? For our next round, we were going to spread the word to New Jerseyans about the dangers of the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Being well versed in doing off-the-wall projects, we were excited somewhat for this project; we would be walking door-to-door in two Central Jersey communities-Aberdeen Township and Trenton, the capital of New Jersey.

NEW JERSEY

Personally, I was interested in going to New Jersey since, well, I hadn't really been there before, and two, I was excited about our project sponsor Rutgers University in New Brunswick. We ended up living in some pretty sweet accommodations for this part of our project, living in a Rutgers residence hall, and eventually acquiring library, wifi, and gym access as well. I found that I really enjoyed going back to a college setting, and I reignited my desire to enter academia one day.

The project itself was quite interesting. Rutgers was in charge of a federal grant to establish a control program for the Asian Tiger Mosquito (ATM), an invasive species of mosquito that has the capability to carry West Nile Virus and is a real problem in New Jersey. Rutgers had determined a few communities to serve as test sites, where they would recieve various services to control the ATM, ranging from homeowner education, mosquito control services, a combination of both, or none at all. We were sent out to serve as mosquito educators, going door-to-door, canvassing a specified area. Overall, we had a mixed bag. Some residents were responsive, others, not so much. Both areas were interesting to explore, however, I greatly enjoyed discovering the city of Trenton.

Our project in New Jersey, due to foreseen and unforeseen circumstances, ended early. For the majority of the time in New Brunswick, we were told that we would spend the remainder of our round working on a project in West Virginia. However, much to our great surprise, our destination was changed to....

NEW ORLEANS


Badger 7 + Composite Team = Rebuilding Together MEGATEAM

We headed down to New Orleans to work for 2 weeks with Rebuilding Together New Orleans, who were commemorating the 5th year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with an appropriately giant event called Fifty for Five. Rebuilding Together was going to be working on 50 different houses in the Gentill area of New Orleans over 4 days, and they needed a lot of help. They had originally requested a large number of NCCC teams to help them out, however as disasters occurred, they didn't receive any. It was at this juncture, where we, Badger 7 came in, bolstered a composite team already in New Orleans, joined forces to help out RTNO. We ran the gamut of work tasks: from putting fence/wheelchair ramp posts in the ground to working in the RT warehouse, we helped RT prepare for the big event. Starting with the event, we averaged 12 hour days, working at sites and running supplies for sites, while also supervising lumber deliveries and planting 700 trees. I was fortunate enough to work at the same build site for most of the event, where I got to know the homeowners, Adolph and Mary Christmas. They showed us tremendous hospitality, even making us and our volunteers Red Beans on Friday at lunch. Although our progress was interrupted several times by rain and media attention (to any HGTV fans out there, I met Carter Oosterhouse on site. Seemed like a cool enough guy, and plus I got to tell him about Americorps NCCC), we accomplished at lot on their house. Now that Fifty for Five is over, we now have a few days off and then head back to Perry Point for transition and our next project, which we learned will be a Maine attraction.

Me, RTNO Geoff, and the volunteers at the DeBore build site with the homeowners Adolph and Mary Christmas.

Summer Break and Boston

Here's another installment of the continuing saga of "N-Trip". Enjoy!



After coming back from Virginia, it was good to see everyone back at the point, especially the awesome Badger Unit. However, this being our second transition, it was a special one: we were getting our SUMMER BREAK!!! (caps and exclamation points added for excitement)



After deciding early on that I wouldn't go back home (mostly due to prohibitive costs for a plane ticket to Los Angeles), I decided to live it up, and spend a couple of days hanging around the East Coast. I had never been to Boston (except my parents tell me now that I was there as a child; I decided that if I don't remember it, it doesn't count), so I seized upon this opportunity to embrace my inner history geek inside me and go to Bean town for 4 days. Plus for a bit more experience, I decided to take the train up north, which I now believe was an awesome decision. So, I hitched a ride with one of my teammates to New York City, to see a game of the Evil Empire...err, I mean the New York Yankees. The game was fun and was even more satisfying when the Blue Jays beat the Yankees in extra innings.

After the game, we parted ways and I put my red bag on my back (containing all my stuff I own) and trekked off to the New York subways. My friend from college, Dan, lives on Long Island, and he allowed me to crash at his house for a couple days until I left for Boston. Arriving in Long Beach, I was hit with the realization that Long Island is much different than New York City, plus I was amazed how big the island itself is. Over the 4th of July weekend, I had a lot of fun hanging with Dan, on and off the beach.

After reverting back to a beach bum state, I left New York and took the Amtrak to Boston, where my real vacation was had. I stayed at a hostel for my first time, which was a really cool experience (plus NCCC has accoustomed me to living in bedrooms with bunkbeds with people I don't know), the people there were nice as well. The majority of my time there was spent walking the freedom trail, which was heaven for an American History buff, like myself. Boston is a nice walkable city, plus the subway is convienent if you get tired walking. I was glad to explore a bit of the city while there, doing a lot of the typical touristy stuff as well. Boston was definitely a place where I want to come back to.

Coming back early for our break, Perry Point was still largely deserted, except for the small contingent of NCCC whom, for one reason or another, stayed at the Point. Still having a couple days to myself, I finally got to explore the mystical city across the Susquehanna from Perry Point, known to most people as Havre de Grace. Its a quaint little town, with a lot more things to do than Perryville.

Soon, everyone returned and we back in motion for mid-year training and second transition. Badger 7, better known as the Super Badgers, readied ourselves for our next adventure in service, the off-misunderstood New Jersey. Rutgers University was too be our locale this round, which as one will see, provided a wealth of opportunities for us.

Until next time....

Oh..The Places You'll Go!

Due to some problems with accessing internet over the past round, this is my first blog post in forever, it seems. That being said, this may turn out to be a long one, since I have a lot of ground to cover.

The Super Badgers in Baltimore, looking very accomplished after recycling 4 tons of aluminum

Second Round was the SuperBadgers first split round, meaning that we were going to be at 2 different projects in the span of a round. The two different projects provided a good contrast to one another in locale, though, they were closely related in their aims and missions.

For our first half, we were sent to Charm City, Baltimore, Maryland to work at a charter school called City Neighbors. City Neighbors was one of the first charter schools to open in Baltimore City (our sponsor was one of the founding members), and it has become such a success that they decided to expand from the original location in the Sedonia neighborhood of Baltimore to the Hamilton area, which are about a couple miles apart in Northeast Baltimore. City Neighbors obtained the ownership of Hamilton Middle School, a school that had closed a couple years ago, and are now in the process of renovating the older school building into a more dynamic, effective learning environment. The school began last year with grades K-3, and this upcoming school year, they are adding the middle school and a high school to the mix in the same building.

The unimproved side of the old Hamilton Middle School

The renovated part of the school-a big difference

Arriving at City Neighbors Hamilton, we met our sponsor, Aisha, who is our favorite sponsor so far in NCCC. Aisha served as the guiding architect for the City Neighbors vision for Hamilton, and she was also put in charge of getting the school ready for the influx of new students in the fall. Our job, essentially, was to help the school save money on labor costs by helping prepare the school for the next stage of renovation, a big part of which was demolishing the Blue Building.

The Dreaded Blue Building

This project by far was the most physically demanding project since our year began. With our task in the Blue Building to remove as much aluminum as possible, we had to take down many of the interior walls to remove the aluminum frames. Although the walls were meant to be constructed fairly quickly (I was told at one point, a crew could out up the walls in 3 days), deconstructing them took a bit of problem solving on our part, eventually perfecting a method that worked well, and involved a lot of smashing. As we have now decided as a team, the sledgehammer was the most important tool for working in the Blue Building. Not did it get the job done in a timely manner, but it improved our upper body strength, and fulfilled the desire that everyone has at one point just beat the living crap out of something. After taking down the wall, we had to find a place to put it, which meant carrying each steel-plated piece of Sheetrock out of the building into the dumpster outside the blue building. As each piece weighed about 50-60 pounds, it was a least a 2 person job, although by the end of the project, it had turned into a 4-6 person job due to our wall-carrying fatigue.

The Blue Building near the end of our project: an unwilling victim to the power of the sledgehammer

Along with the blue building, we had an assortment of other jobs, including clearing out rooms for the professional demo crews, but one of note was deconstructing lockers in the school's boys locker room. Occurring mostly during our last week of the project, we used all of our brain and man power to disassemble these lockers, eventually using a sawsall, a weird power chisel, and of course, sledgehammers and crowbars to get it done.

My foot got caught under a row of lockers we were moving. Good thing I have steel-toed boots.

Beyond the work site, I really enjoyed getting to know Baltimore, a brand new city for me. Getting out on our free time and exploring the different neighborhoods like Fells Point and Mount Vernon was a lot of fun. The Inner Harbor provided some good time out on the water, and some team fun.

Camp Fraser, Great Falls, VA. The second half of our project.

Transitioning to Great Falls, Virginia, where the second half of our round was fairly easy. Our project, Camp Fraser, was located in a 300 acre forest preserve, which excited many of us. I was pumped to be out in nature and living simply.

Camp Fraser is operated by Calvary Baptist Church, located in downtown Washington, D.C. Mr, and Mrs. George Fraser, who were parishioners at Calvary, donated a portion of their property on the Potomac River to the church in the 1960s to help inner-city youth experience the outdoors. Since that time, the camp has been striving to fulfill that mission, until this year, when the hard choice was made to close the camp for the season and focus on getting the camp up to par. We were all thrown for a loop coming into Great Falls, where multi-million dollar mansions, each acres of land, are the norm. The contrast between the work we were doing for inner-city youth at Camp Fraser and the affluence of its immediate environs was striking.

The Camp Fraser Lodge, where we lived and worked.

Our main task at Camp Fraser was to disassemble odd-looking three-tiered bunk beds in the lodge, and construct new, typical two-tiered bunk beds. This task seemed simple enough, granted that we would have the plans and expertise provided by our site supervisor to get us started. Unfortunately, our original site supervisor, aged 89, had a slight stroke a few days before we arrived, which meant we had to shift gears on the work we could do.

In the place of our original site supervisor, we got to know (and love) Ivan, the camp's caretaker, who led us on our new work-painting the lodge bedrooms and storage rooms. We had as much fun as one could have painting white rooms a newer, brighter shade of white, and now have declared ourselves quite proficient in the fine art of painting.

The Badger 7 Paint Crew: now available for hire for all your painting needs

By the middle of the second week, painting had grown a bit repetitive, and, luckily for us, a new site supervisor arrived to help us get started building bunk beds. Laid out in different stages, Brenton, our TL, developed a system for making wood cuts and assembling the different parts that would make a bunk bed whole. We caught on pretty quickly, and by the end of the round, had made enough new bunk beds to fill both of the large downstairs bedrooms- 16 beds in all.

While at Camp Fraser, we finally had time to bond and become a more cohesive team. Stranded without both TV and Internet (combined with a good half-hour walk to anything that resembled civilization), we had to rely on each other for support and camaraderie. In our spare time, we took a lot of team outings, and got to explore some of our nation's capital.

Our second round, as a whole, was lots of fun and had many contrasts. As I write this on our summer break, Badger 7 is scattered to the far corners of the country, but in a week when we reunite for our third round (spoiler alert: its in New Brunswick, New Jersey working with Rutgers University), we'll be ready to take on anything that's in our path.

Until next time, keep your noses on the grindstone and your eyes on the stars.

-Peter

Badger 7, at the end of our project at Camp Fraser. Also, two people got into a fight with an electric shaver and lost (myself included).

What Does it Mean to Miss New Orleans (Take 2)

It is now getting to 2 weeks left in project here in St. Bernard, and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by. It only seems like yesterday we were a bunch of greenhorn Ameri-Babies (Jen's term, not mine, lol) who didn't know Los Islenos from Judge Perez Dr. We're now spike-seasoned veterans now, almost ready for our marathon drive back to the Point and our sophomore spike.

The time is coming up soon when I will have to say goodbye to my favorite city in the world for the second time in less than a year. It does make me pause for a minute and think of all the good times I have had here, both in college and these past weeks.

I have grown to love NOLA since Katrina assualted it nearly 5 years ago, and it has nestled a special place in my heart ever since. It is a palce which I could talk of for hours on end and never really get tired of it. Most of my team had never been to the Big Easy and my favorite thing this round has been seeing their (and other Corps Members) reactions to New Orleans and seeing some of them falling in love with the city, slowly, but indeed surely.

Although I myself came into this project knowing quite a bit about the city, I still have been learning tremendously about St. Bernard Parish, which though a 5 minute drive from NOLA proper, is a world apart in history and culture. It has been my distinct pleasure in the past few weeks to get to know Mr. Bill Hyland, the St. Bernard Parish Historian. He seems to know everything you would want (and possibly not want) to know about St. Bernard, and is quite the storyteller.

Stories. That is probably the most important part of this project so far. People telling stories about everything. How the past Parish President goosed President Bush when he came to visit St. Bernard. How one cemetery lost 21 tombs from the flooding and they ended up in peoples backyards. How one man's home lifted up off of his foundation, spun around 180 degrees, and set back down. How a man and his neighbor were leaving their flooded neighborhood at night and passed an aligator coming into their neighborhood. How many concrete slabs all along our street at Camp Hope are silent memorials and testimonies to the devastation a hurricane causes. Stories. All of them.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
I miss it both night and day
I know that its wrong...this feeling is getting stronger
The longer, I stay away