Hi everyone!!
I'm back in Denver now, and patiently waiting for 3:30 am to roll around so I can hop on the shuttle to the airport and go home for Christmas!! I am SO ready to see friends & family!!
The last few days of work in Joplin were definitely bittersweet. We finished up a lot of projects, which I think made my team feel pretty good about being there. We completely finished clearing out all of Twilla's house...which was a HUGE accomplishment. The pictures on my previous post were of her house. On the very last day we got to work out at Scott's house and help him finish his chain link fence. He really wanted to complete that so that we could get his dogs back in his yard. It made me a little sad though because Scott was worried about his dogs not remember his yard! We assured him though that they would be fine. We also helped him organize some things in the different sheds he has. He is the only homeowner on his block that has begun rebuilding..all the other lots that surround him are empty. In fact, while we were there a newscaster came out (he had been following us for the past couple of weeks). In an interview, Scott pleaded that people do not forget the community of Joplin because it had been an incredible, progressive 6 months, but it was going to take more like 6 years or more to truly be finished.
Across the street from his property is the Joplin High School, "Hope High School". After the storm, only the "OP" from the word "JOPLIN" was left on the sign in front, and someone added and "H" and an "E" to make it say HOPE, and the community has kept it ever since. The school was completely demolished and it is painful to look at. Only recently have they begun moving heavy machinery in for clean up.
Round 1 proved to be quite an experience for me. It was extremely powerful and rewarding. Some moments were devastating and almost too much to handle, but others were undescribably amazing. The unyielding spirit of that community is something I will never forget. The people there are so thankful and so positive that I truly believe they will get Joplin rebuilt. There are so many good things happening there, and I wish them the absolute best.
Love,
Abby
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Winding down!
Hey everyone!
Things are winding down in Jopling...in fact, only 4 more days of work left! We have today (Wednesday) and tomorrow off! Then we work Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon...maybe a half day Tues..and Wednesday we leave again for Denver! Crazy how time flies!!
As I said in my last blog, we really don't get volunteers anymore so we've been doing things ourselves instead! I've had quite a few powerful experiences since I've last posted. One morning we came to the office and we were told that a family needed moved out of their FEMA trailer and into their new home. We were really excited to help this family out. When we got to the FEMA trailer park, the mom seemed extremely overwhelmed. She had three kids there screaming and crying as she was telling us all that needed to be done. We got things packed up and moved to her new house, which was one given to her by Habitat for Humanity. She explained to me what a big deal this was because this was actually teh first house she's ever owned!!! She was eager to get everything settled because she planned on being there for a LONG time. It turns out that she was a single mother with 4 kids and 1 grandkid. She was so thankful for her help, but I could definitely see the desperation in her as she explained to me her situation. As we moved her in to her small, but beautiful new home, I realized something I never thought of before. Yes, her home was brand new, well built, sodded and everything...but the surrounding neighborhood was still terribly depressing. Diagonal across the street from her was a standing, destroyed house that still needed demo'ed. Right next door to their house was a giant hole in the ground from a house that had already been demo'ed....pretty much wreckage surrounded her house. It reall opened my eyes to all that still needs to be done here in Joplin. Nevertheless..I was so thankful for this lady and her kids to get to move into a real home and out of the FEMA trailer.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I worked at one of the saddest property's I've ever been to...Twilla's house. The house was destroyed, the roof was off...and all it's contents have been weathered for the past 6 months. When we got there yesterday morning, the mold, insulation, and debris was all frozen together. She was still trying to salvage things like her refrigerator, washer and dryer. The washer was full of water which we dumped and then began gagging at the smell. The walls and floors were just rotting away...we found pictures, books, dishes, computers, pool balls, and so much other stuff. All we could do was shovel it into wheelbarrows and take it to the curb. For some reason, this property had pretty much not been touched yet. Even more unbelieveable, I found out that Twilla was going to try to rebuild as is! Without demo-ing! I was blown away and then felt even more compassion and motivation to help her remove the debris. We made some progress at that property, but there's still so much to be done..just as there is everywhere.
With 4 more days of work left, it's hard to say what we'll be doing. Each day's an adventure. Some days are spent moving conrete in the rain, or trying to fill holes in people's yards with dirt (Missouri's dirt is horrible, by the way..full of clay and ROCKS!). No matter what we do though, we know we are making an impact. I'll try to post once more before we leave. But this is definitely a place I will never forget!!
moving concrete in the rain! you cant see it very well, but there is not one dry spot on my pants and I am full of mud!
before picture of the garage
after picture of the garage!
katy getting attacked by the puppies at the humane society!
mural painted after the tornado went through
Things are winding down in Jopling...in fact, only 4 more days of work left! We have today (Wednesday) and tomorrow off! Then we work Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon...maybe a half day Tues..and Wednesday we leave again for Denver! Crazy how time flies!!
As I said in my last blog, we really don't get volunteers anymore so we've been doing things ourselves instead! I've had quite a few powerful experiences since I've last posted. One morning we came to the office and we were told that a family needed moved out of their FEMA trailer and into their new home. We were really excited to help this family out. When we got to the FEMA trailer park, the mom seemed extremely overwhelmed. She had three kids there screaming and crying as she was telling us all that needed to be done. We got things packed up and moved to her new house, which was one given to her by Habitat for Humanity. She explained to me what a big deal this was because this was actually teh first house she's ever owned!!! She was eager to get everything settled because she planned on being there for a LONG time. It turns out that she was a single mother with 4 kids and 1 grandkid. She was so thankful for her help, but I could definitely see the desperation in her as she explained to me her situation. As we moved her in to her small, but beautiful new home, I realized something I never thought of before. Yes, her home was brand new, well built, sodded and everything...but the surrounding neighborhood was still terribly depressing. Diagonal across the street from her was a standing, destroyed house that still needed demo'ed. Right next door to their house was a giant hole in the ground from a house that had already been demo'ed....pretty much wreckage surrounded her house. It reall opened my eyes to all that still needs to be done here in Joplin. Nevertheless..I was so thankful for this lady and her kids to get to move into a real home and out of the FEMA trailer.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I worked at one of the saddest property's I've ever been to...Twilla's house. The house was destroyed, the roof was off...and all it's contents have been weathered for the past 6 months. When we got there yesterday morning, the mold, insulation, and debris was all frozen together. She was still trying to salvage things like her refrigerator, washer and dryer. The washer was full of water which we dumped and then began gagging at the smell. The walls and floors were just rotting away...we found pictures, books, dishes, computers, pool balls, and so much other stuff. All we could do was shovel it into wheelbarrows and take it to the curb. For some reason, this property had pretty much not been touched yet. Even more unbelieveable, I found out that Twilla was going to try to rebuild as is! Without demo-ing! I was blown away and then felt even more compassion and motivation to help her remove the debris. We made some progress at that property, but there's still so much to be done..just as there is everywhere.
With 4 more days of work left, it's hard to say what we'll be doing. Each day's an adventure. Some days are spent moving conrete in the rain, or trying to fill holes in people's yards with dirt (Missouri's dirt is horrible, by the way..full of clay and ROCKS!). No matter what we do though, we know we are making an impact. I'll try to post once more before we leave. But this is definitely a place I will never forget!!
mural painted after the tornado went through
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Halfway through round 1
Hi everyone!
Everything in Joplin is going well. My team is finally getting the hang of things at work, and we can begin to see the difference we are making. While the living circumstances are tough and sometimes cause us to bicker, other times it can be kind of fun having 'giant sleepovers'. For the past 2 nights, we've had a group of amish workers stay in the church with us. Most were from Kentucky, and they made the trip down to build houses. As you can probably guess, they pretty much built the house in a day. It's amazing what they can do. We knew that they got up really early so we were all prepared to be quiet in the evenings because they would probably be heading to bed early as well. Instead, they ended up keeping US up with their singing, jokes, and harmonica playing until 11. Usually were heading for bed around 10, haha. They were really interested in hanging out with us and we felt the same way. It was definitely a neat experience.
At work, I've begun working out in the field. The volunteers have dwindled down to practically nothing. Instead of us coordinating the volunteers and supervising them, we get to go out and do the work instead! One afternoon I spend demoing the inside of a house with crowbars and sledge hammers, but we've mostly been focusing on one individual property that really hadn't been touched since the storm. It was multiple acres with a house, 2 or 3 barns..and TONS of trees. Everything is destroyed and the project is overwhelming when you initially see the property. But just being there the past few days we have been able to make such a difference!! Our main focus lately has been one barn that has already been knocked down, but we had to go through and tear apart the boards and clean everything up. We've found christmas decorations, telephones, boy scout badges, a Beatles cassette, and so much more. Seeing personal items like this gives me a real wake up call about what we are doing. I've heard that the property we are working on has been passed down 4 generations. Unfortunately, the man living there does not plan to move back. I'm 90% sure we are demoing everything and cleaning up the lot so it can be sold.
Besides that project, one other project I did was help a lady move. We got sent to Dianne's house only knowing that she had to be out by the end of November. When we got there, she greeted us with hugs and smiles...she was so grateful that she had help. It turns out that she was EXTREMELY overwhelmed, and many things in her home had not even been packed up yet. It was up to us to help her out. As they day went on, she slowly shared her story with us. She originally lived with her husband and son in Texas. On May 22, 2007 she was evacuated from her home because of a tropical storm and flooding. She moved to Joplin, and in 2009 she her husband passed away, leaving here with her 9 year old son. And on May 22, 2011 --4 years to the day of the Texas flood--- her home was hit by the tornado. Somewhere in there she also broke her ankle and now has a plate a few screws in it. She told us about the night of the storm and her son asking her if they were going to die. She told us about the sound of debris hitting her door and a huge tree falling in her front yard. While her home had some severe destruction and some of the rooms were destroyed, her and her son were safe. In fact, when we were there yesterday her home was in good shape because it had already been repaired. But Dianne expressed to us the need to move somewhere else because it was too hard to be there. It took us most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but eventually we had her stuff packed up. When the 4 of us went to leave, she would not stop hugging us and began to cry. She told us that she didnt know what she would have done without us. She was so overwhelmed and didnt know how she was going to make the move with a bum ankle. She told us about how thankful she was for all of the volunteers that helped her as well as the Americorps workers. She told us we were always in her hearts. I've never met someone with so much gratitude. I felt so thankful to get to help that woman yesterday. It's something I'll truly never forget!!
Here are a few picturs of what we've been working on...as well as some fun we had at The House of Bounce. Hope all is well for everyone at home!!
Ready for demo!!
Part of my team :)
The huge property with sooooo much to be done!
Found a Christmas tree in the barn
House of bounce...having a little fun :)
Michelle Willis, this is your lovely daughter! Hahaha!
Love
Abby
Everything in Joplin is going well. My team is finally getting the hang of things at work, and we can begin to see the difference we are making. While the living circumstances are tough and sometimes cause us to bicker, other times it can be kind of fun having 'giant sleepovers'. For the past 2 nights, we've had a group of amish workers stay in the church with us. Most were from Kentucky, and they made the trip down to build houses. As you can probably guess, they pretty much built the house in a day. It's amazing what they can do. We knew that they got up really early so we were all prepared to be quiet in the evenings because they would probably be heading to bed early as well. Instead, they ended up keeping US up with their singing, jokes, and harmonica playing until 11. Usually were heading for bed around 10, haha. They were really interested in hanging out with us and we felt the same way. It was definitely a neat experience.
At work, I've begun working out in the field. The volunteers have dwindled down to practically nothing. Instead of us coordinating the volunteers and supervising them, we get to go out and do the work instead! One afternoon I spend demoing the inside of a house with crowbars and sledge hammers, but we've mostly been focusing on one individual property that really hadn't been touched since the storm. It was multiple acres with a house, 2 or 3 barns..and TONS of trees. Everything is destroyed and the project is overwhelming when you initially see the property. But just being there the past few days we have been able to make such a difference!! Our main focus lately has been one barn that has already been knocked down, but we had to go through and tear apart the boards and clean everything up. We've found christmas decorations, telephones, boy scout badges, a Beatles cassette, and so much more. Seeing personal items like this gives me a real wake up call about what we are doing. I've heard that the property we are working on has been passed down 4 generations. Unfortunately, the man living there does not plan to move back. I'm 90% sure we are demoing everything and cleaning up the lot so it can be sold.
Besides that project, one other project I did was help a lady move. We got sent to Dianne's house only knowing that she had to be out by the end of November. When we got there, she greeted us with hugs and smiles...she was so grateful that she had help. It turns out that she was EXTREMELY overwhelmed, and many things in her home had not even been packed up yet. It was up to us to help her out. As they day went on, she slowly shared her story with us. She originally lived with her husband and son in Texas. On May 22, 2007 she was evacuated from her home because of a tropical storm and flooding. She moved to Joplin, and in 2009 she her husband passed away, leaving here with her 9 year old son. And on May 22, 2011 --4 years to the day of the Texas flood--- her home was hit by the tornado. Somewhere in there she also broke her ankle and now has a plate a few screws in it. She told us about the night of the storm and her son asking her if they were going to die. She told us about the sound of debris hitting her door and a huge tree falling in her front yard. While her home had some severe destruction and some of the rooms were destroyed, her and her son were safe. In fact, when we were there yesterday her home was in good shape because it had already been repaired. But Dianne expressed to us the need to move somewhere else because it was too hard to be there. It took us most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but eventually we had her stuff packed up. When the 4 of us went to leave, she would not stop hugging us and began to cry. She told us that she didnt know what she would have done without us. She was so overwhelmed and didnt know how she was going to make the move with a bum ankle. She told us about how thankful she was for all of the volunteers that helped her as well as the Americorps workers. She told us we were always in her hearts. I've never met someone with so much gratitude. I felt so thankful to get to help that woman yesterday. It's something I'll truly never forget!!
Here are a few picturs of what we've been working on...as well as some fun we had at The House of Bounce. Hope all is well for everyone at home!!
Michelle Willis, this is your lovely daughter! Hahaha!
Love
Abby
Friday, November 18, 2011
first week in Joplin!
Hello everyone!!
I know it really hasn't been that long since I've blogged, but it feels like forever! We've been so busy in Joplin trying to coordinate everything. So the church were staying in is not the most ideal circumstances..but we're getting by. Other volunteer groups have been coming and going, so it's been difficult to always accomodate them, but oh well. We've already messed up once on our 10 oclock curfew, but we were only at wal mart grocery shopping! But we can't help it because it's literally the only time we have! ahhhhhh!
So anyways, Joplin is unbelievable. I would have never in my wildest dreams expected the destruction to be this bad. With that being said, the community of Joplin feels that they are doing well and WAY ahead of the game because they have beaten FEMA's estimations on how long it should take them to get certain things done (search & rescue, recovery conditions, etc.). Many of the homes have been demo'ed and the lots have been cleared....they're kind of in an "in between" phase right now between finishing up all the demos and debri clearing and then the rebuilding stage. The hard part is figuring out how all of these people are going to afford to get their homes rebuilt! It so so sad. We got to drive by the FEMA trailer park and it is enormous....I was driving the van at the time and I had to focus on not crying. We also went to "ground zero" of the tornado destruction...it was horrible. Of the 1 mile wide and 6 mile long path that the tornado left, this was the worst of it. Most lots are cleared, but the hospital that was hit is still barely standing and looks awful. There's a few homes standing here and there where either the people died or moved away and cant be contacted. The city is working out all of those details. Another thing at "ground zero" that they did was rebuild part of a park that was there. There was a memorial built for the volunteers that focused on "The miracle of the human spirit"....if I ever had doubts before, I truly believe in that now. In the memorial they also took an Americorps hard helmet, painted it gold, and sat it on part of the memorial. From the very beginning Americorps programs have been running the show. In a sad way, we're practically famous around here! It made me extremely proud to be an Americorp member helping out here today. Tuesday marks the 6 month anniversay of the tornado and they are having a huge memorial service to remember that day the 162 people that are gone because of it. Even though it will be emotional, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
So, my team is working with Americorps St. Louis at the Americorps Recovery Center (ARC). The tornado happend at 5:41 on a Sunday evening, and Americorps St. Louis had their recovery center set up before dawn of the next day. They act as a "hub" for the community...homeowners come there to get free assistance, and then we organize that data and match the community volunteers to appropriate work sites. Outside organization, like Salvation Army, churches, etc., also are in contact with us because when we have lots of volunteers we can send some there. Some volunteer groups are scheduled, but sometimes people just walk right through the door and say they want to help. We have huge white boards that list assignments and properties and what tools are needed. It's amazing how the process works! This idea of "volunteer reception center" really took affect after Hurrican Katrina. They described to us how after a disaster, there is a "second disaster" when thousands of volunteers show up and do more damage than good, which definitely happened in New Orleans. Because of this center, like I said, Joplin is beating FEMA's estimates. Also, every volunteer hour that we get logged, the city of Joplin gets paid approximately 20 dollars. This is what helps them stay out of debt as much as possible. I never really thought about how the city pays it off..but I was absolutely amazed by this! For the first two weeks, I get to be in the office, greeting volunteers and helping them get sent to the correct work sites. Also, because homeowner's properties are constantly changing, we get to update databases and speak to homeowners about what all needs to be done. Half of us stay in the office and do that sort of work, and the other half of my team is out "in the field" supervising other volunteers and workforce investment board (WIBs), planting trees, removing debris, etc. The state issued a grant to Joplin to hire either people who lost their jobs because of the tornado or people who were previously unemployed to help out with the recovery effort. Those people are the WIBs.
The work here is super exciting, and I'm very sad that we are here on our shortest spike. It seems like 4 weeks here isn't near long enough. But my team is definitely motivated to do our best while we are here! I'll do my best to keep sneaking upstairs in the church to get wifi so I can give updates! :)
Love
Abby
I know it really hasn't been that long since I've blogged, but it feels like forever! We've been so busy in Joplin trying to coordinate everything. So the church were staying in is not the most ideal circumstances..but we're getting by. Other volunteer groups have been coming and going, so it's been difficult to always accomodate them, but oh well. We've already messed up once on our 10 oclock curfew, but we were only at wal mart grocery shopping! But we can't help it because it's literally the only time we have! ahhhhhh!
So anyways, Joplin is unbelievable. I would have never in my wildest dreams expected the destruction to be this bad. With that being said, the community of Joplin feels that they are doing well and WAY ahead of the game because they have beaten FEMA's estimations on how long it should take them to get certain things done (search & rescue, recovery conditions, etc.). Many of the homes have been demo'ed and the lots have been cleared....they're kind of in an "in between" phase right now between finishing up all the demos and debri clearing and then the rebuilding stage. The hard part is figuring out how all of these people are going to afford to get their homes rebuilt! It so so sad. We got to drive by the FEMA trailer park and it is enormous....I was driving the van at the time and I had to focus on not crying. We also went to "ground zero" of the tornado destruction...it was horrible. Of the 1 mile wide and 6 mile long path that the tornado left, this was the worst of it. Most lots are cleared, but the hospital that was hit is still barely standing and looks awful. There's a few homes standing here and there where either the people died or moved away and cant be contacted. The city is working out all of those details. Another thing at "ground zero" that they did was rebuild part of a park that was there. There was a memorial built for the volunteers that focused on "The miracle of the human spirit"....if I ever had doubts before, I truly believe in that now. In the memorial they also took an Americorps hard helmet, painted it gold, and sat it on part of the memorial. From the very beginning Americorps programs have been running the show. In a sad way, we're practically famous around here! It made me extremely proud to be an Americorp member helping out here today. Tuesday marks the 6 month anniversay of the tornado and they are having a huge memorial service to remember that day the 162 people that are gone because of it. Even though it will be emotional, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
So, my team is working with Americorps St. Louis at the Americorps Recovery Center (ARC). The tornado happend at 5:41 on a Sunday evening, and Americorps St. Louis had their recovery center set up before dawn of the next day. They act as a "hub" for the community...homeowners come there to get free assistance, and then we organize that data and match the community volunteers to appropriate work sites. Outside organization, like Salvation Army, churches, etc., also are in contact with us because when we have lots of volunteers we can send some there. Some volunteer groups are scheduled, but sometimes people just walk right through the door and say they want to help. We have huge white boards that list assignments and properties and what tools are needed. It's amazing how the process works! This idea of "volunteer reception center" really took affect after Hurrican Katrina. They described to us how after a disaster, there is a "second disaster" when thousands of volunteers show up and do more damage than good, which definitely happened in New Orleans. Because of this center, like I said, Joplin is beating FEMA's estimates. Also, every volunteer hour that we get logged, the city of Joplin gets paid approximately 20 dollars. This is what helps them stay out of debt as much as possible. I never really thought about how the city pays it off..but I was absolutely amazed by this! For the first two weeks, I get to be in the office, greeting volunteers and helping them get sent to the correct work sites. Also, because homeowner's properties are constantly changing, we get to update databases and speak to homeowners about what all needs to be done. Half of us stay in the office and do that sort of work, and the other half of my team is out "in the field" supervising other volunteers and workforce investment board (WIBs), planting trees, removing debris, etc. The state issued a grant to Joplin to hire either people who lost their jobs because of the tornado or people who were previously unemployed to help out with the recovery effort. Those people are the WIBs.
The work here is super exciting, and I'm very sad that we are here on our shortest spike. It seems like 4 weeks here isn't near long enough. But my team is definitely motivated to do our best while we are here! I'll do my best to keep sneaking upstairs in the church to get wifi so I can give updates! :)
Love
Abby
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Day 1 of spike travel...complete!
Hey everyone!
I am currently in a hotel in Salina, Kansas. We drove for about 9 hours today...but it surprisingly wasn't too bad because we stopped every two hours to switch drivers. In some ways that was annoying to me though, because I'm used to my dad's rushed road trip style. I actually found myself getting annoyed when it took almost an hour for everyone to eat lunch! But that's just the Niekamp anyways...I just have to take a deep breath and be patient! Hahaha, I'll get used to it. Anyways...we're staying at a Ramada Inn...we weren't expecting much because our TL told us that it was one of the cheapest she could find...but when we came in we saw that we had a pool, a HUGE slide, and a hot tub! And there is a ping pong table. We're in heaven! Unfortunately, none of us packed our swimsuits in our "carry ons", and even our shorts/sports bras/etc. were packed away in the cargo van. Quin and Katy just hopped in with their clothes anyways! A lot of the boys hopped in with their boxers..and a lot of us just sat on the edge with our feet in..it was nice. and now we're in our room enjoying Wifi, TELEVISION, nice beds, and a shower that was clean enough to not worry about shower shoes! Life is good :)
So...Thursday we had our induction ceremony to be official NCCC members woohoo! And yesterrday (Friday) we had off for Veteran's day. Katy and I spent the day at the Children's Museum getting ISP hours! It was a lot of fun..and I think I'm offically up to 29 hours! I'm getting closer! So here's a picture of me after induction, and a few of Katy and I at the Children's Museum. Enjoy :) I have no idea when I'll be able to blog again..because I'm pretty sure that we don't have Wifi at the church we'll stay in. Special shoutout to MICHELLE WILLIS! Thank you for reading :) I'm taking good care of your daughter for you :)
Love,
Abby
I am currently in a hotel in Salina, Kansas. We drove for about 9 hours today...but it surprisingly wasn't too bad because we stopped every two hours to switch drivers. In some ways that was annoying to me though, because I'm used to my dad's rushed road trip style. I actually found myself getting annoyed when it took almost an hour for everyone to eat lunch! But that's just the Niekamp anyways...I just have to take a deep breath and be patient! Hahaha, I'll get used to it. Anyways...we're staying at a Ramada Inn...we weren't expecting much because our TL told us that it was one of the cheapest she could find...but when we came in we saw that we had a pool, a HUGE slide, and a hot tub! And there is a ping pong table. We're in heaven! Unfortunately, none of us packed our swimsuits in our "carry ons", and even our shorts/sports bras/etc. were packed away in the cargo van. Quin and Katy just hopped in with their clothes anyways! A lot of the boys hopped in with their boxers..and a lot of us just sat on the edge with our feet in..it was nice. and now we're in our room enjoying Wifi, TELEVISION, nice beds, and a shower that was clean enough to not worry about shower shoes! Life is good :)
So...Thursday we had our induction ceremony to be official NCCC members woohoo! And yesterrday (Friday) we had off for Veteran's day. Katy and I spent the day at the Children's Museum getting ISP hours! It was a lot of fun..and I think I'm offically up to 29 hours! I'm getting closer! So here's a picture of me after induction, and a few of Katy and I at the Children's Museum. Enjoy :) I have no idea when I'll be able to blog again..because I'm pretty sure that we don't have Wifi at the church we'll stay in. Special shoutout to MICHELLE WILLIS! Thank you for reading :) I'm taking good care of your daughter for you :)
Abby
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Winding down CTI! :)
Hey everyone!
Last time I blogged we had just gotten our teams and our assignments..and ever since then we've been working on project prep! The end of last week included a 6 hour diversity training and something else that I don't remember at the moment. Anyways, everyone was super relieved to have that week over with. It was definitely a long one. On Saturday morning I did an ISP with the Colorado Coalition for Homelessness. We help them organize their "Home for the Holidays" 5k run. I was a course marshal so I just had to stand at a certain spot in the course and direct people of where to go, and cheer them on of course. The run was at a BEAUTIFUL park in Denver called City Park. Even though it was cold, I loved it..and I got 5 hours of ISP which meant that I am up to 22! Woohoo! Sunday was a free day at the Denver Zoo. So after we had brunch at the cafe we all piled in a van and went to check it out. We didn't have much time there because some people had meetings, but what we did get to see was awesome. I'd love to go back sometime.
Yesterday (Monday) our team did some team building things (like getting ice cream!). We also checked out our supplies for our trip..like cots, kitchen equipment, etc. Also, last night was our Corps talent show. I obviously didn't perform, but I had an amazing time watching. There was all kinds of talent and lots of fun. Everyone was so supportive and we all yelled as loud as we could no matter who was performing. It was a such a good atmosphere. Some of the cute boy team leaders and staff members even did a "90's Throwback" where they lip synced and danced too a Backstreet Boys song. It was absolutely hilarious. My friend Pavia also performed and she danced to a song called "Let go and Let God". She is SO graceful and pretty when she dances..I loved it.
So today we had a whole community meeting..where each team from all 4 units did a quick skit that showed where they were going and what they'd be doing. That totalled up to 28 teams doing skits..but we had a good time with it. My team also had to do a briefing today, which meant we had a formal meeting with our Unit Leader (Kevin) and our Region Director (Barbara). Barbara is like the head honcho of campus, but she's super nice. We basically had to present to them every aspect of our project in terms of travel, emergency plans, service learning activities, physical training activities, etc. It was intense, but in the end they told us we did a great job. We did a fun team building activity after that, and now I'm back in my room just hanging out. Tonight is our "Black & White Ball" where we all got black and white trash bags to make outfits out of. I guess we get to come in like red carpet style with our teams..and then we get to do all sorts of games and the chance to win prizes and stuff. Who knows, but I hope it'll be fun. The staff member who is doing it is really really fun so it should be neat.
On another note, we finally found out about our housing!! We will be staying at a Baptist Church in Joplin. They have bunk beds, showers, and a kitchen! Which is a lot more than we were expecting. We also will be staying there with another team in our unit, which is really awesome because more of my friends will be there with me! They are also working in Joplin but with a different project. Overall, I am really excited! We have a few more things to take care of tomorrow and Thursday. Friday we have off because of Veteran's day, and on Saturday morning we leave! When we get to a hotel Saturday night I will try to blog again! Ok I have to head to dinner and then get ready for the ball!
Love,
Abby
Last time I blogged we had just gotten our teams and our assignments..and ever since then we've been working on project prep! The end of last week included a 6 hour diversity training and something else that I don't remember at the moment. Anyways, everyone was super relieved to have that week over with. It was definitely a long one. On Saturday morning I did an ISP with the Colorado Coalition for Homelessness. We help them organize their "Home for the Holidays" 5k run. I was a course marshal so I just had to stand at a certain spot in the course and direct people of where to go, and cheer them on of course. The run was at a BEAUTIFUL park in Denver called City Park. Even though it was cold, I loved it..and I got 5 hours of ISP which meant that I am up to 22! Woohoo! Sunday was a free day at the Denver Zoo. So after we had brunch at the cafe we all piled in a van and went to check it out. We didn't have much time there because some people had meetings, but what we did get to see was awesome. I'd love to go back sometime.
Yesterday (Monday) our team did some team building things (like getting ice cream!). We also checked out our supplies for our trip..like cots, kitchen equipment, etc. Also, last night was our Corps talent show. I obviously didn't perform, but I had an amazing time watching. There was all kinds of talent and lots of fun. Everyone was so supportive and we all yelled as loud as we could no matter who was performing. It was a such a good atmosphere. Some of the cute boy team leaders and staff members even did a "90's Throwback" where they lip synced and danced too a Backstreet Boys song. It was absolutely hilarious. My friend Pavia also performed and she danced to a song called "Let go and Let God". She is SO graceful and pretty when she dances..I loved it.
So today we had a whole community meeting..where each team from all 4 units did a quick skit that showed where they were going and what they'd be doing. That totalled up to 28 teams doing skits..but we had a good time with it. My team also had to do a briefing today, which meant we had a formal meeting with our Unit Leader (Kevin) and our Region Director (Barbara). Barbara is like the head honcho of campus, but she's super nice. We basically had to present to them every aspect of our project in terms of travel, emergency plans, service learning activities, physical training activities, etc. It was intense, but in the end they told us we did a great job. We did a fun team building activity after that, and now I'm back in my room just hanging out. Tonight is our "Black & White Ball" where we all got black and white trash bags to make outfits out of. I guess we get to come in like red carpet style with our teams..and then we get to do all sorts of games and the chance to win prizes and stuff. Who knows, but I hope it'll be fun. The staff member who is doing it is really really fun so it should be neat.
On another note, we finally found out about our housing!! We will be staying at a Baptist Church in Joplin. They have bunk beds, showers, and a kitchen! Which is a lot more than we were expecting. We also will be staying there with another team in our unit, which is really awesome because more of my friends will be there with me! They are also working in Joplin but with a different project. Overall, I am really excited! We have a few more things to take care of tomorrow and Thursday. Friday we have off because of Veteran's day, and on Saturday morning we leave! When we get to a hotel Saturday night I will try to blog again! Ok I have to head to dinner and then get ready for the ball!
Love,
Abby
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Permanent teams and Round 1 projects!
Hello!
I've been meaning to post now for the past 2 and a half days..but the internet here has been TERRIBLE. We don't have wireless, we have ethernet cords...which I thought meant that we wouldn't have any trouble..but I was wrong...
Anyways...we got our permanent teams and first assignments on Monday!! First we had to sit through a shelter simulation training and a "Save the Children" presentation..but then they began the revealing. We each had colored puzzle pieces and had to find the other people's pieces that fit with ours...on our puzzle was a picture of a milk jug, so we found another group that had a cookie..and we were all one big team..then we had to do some scavenger hunting until we eventually met our Team Leader. My team leader's name is Ally, she's from San Diego, and she's super nice. I am really happy with the rest of my team as well. Two of my good friends that are already here are on my team: Katy from North Carolina and Quindeshia from New Orleans. Besides us 3, there's 7 others..3 girls and 4 boys. Everyone seems fun and I think we'll get a lot accomplished.
After we found Ally she informed us that we will be going to.....JOPLIN, MISSOURI!! I am so so so excited about this because I've been wanting to do disaster relief all along! It is obviously not immediate disaster relief because the tornadoes happened in late spring/early summer, but I am still excited to be doing continuing disaster relief there. Plus, many of the team leaders this year got to go there last year and they said we'd have a great time. Our sponsor organization that we will be working with and that will be training us is The St. Louis Emergency Response Team. We don't know exactly what we will be doing, but they've given us a few descriptions including rebuilding and restoring building and homes, maybe fixing up some parks, things like that. We also have not had our housing confirmed yet, but we will be finding that out soon. All I can say is that I CANNOT WAIT to be there!! :) :)
So with the excitement of Monday, the rest of the week has kind of been dragging. It's pretty much lecture after lecture. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had CPR and First Aid training, which I know is necessary, but it was a long day. So far today we've had a "quality of life" lecture with our counselor and I'm about to head off to tool training. As for the rest of the week, I'm not really sure what it entails.
Everything's still going great...except now that I know where were going I just want to go instead of stay here and finish CTI. Haha, but we're all in the same boat, so we'll get through it!! Hope all is well for everyone at home.
Love,
Abby
I've been meaning to post now for the past 2 and a half days..but the internet here has been TERRIBLE. We don't have wireless, we have ethernet cords...which I thought meant that we wouldn't have any trouble..but I was wrong...
Anyways...we got our permanent teams and first assignments on Monday!! First we had to sit through a shelter simulation training and a "Save the Children" presentation..but then they began the revealing. We each had colored puzzle pieces and had to find the other people's pieces that fit with ours...on our puzzle was a picture of a milk jug, so we found another group that had a cookie..and we were all one big team..then we had to do some scavenger hunting until we eventually met our Team Leader. My team leader's name is Ally, she's from San Diego, and she's super nice. I am really happy with the rest of my team as well. Two of my good friends that are already here are on my team: Katy from North Carolina and Quindeshia from New Orleans. Besides us 3, there's 7 others..3 girls and 4 boys. Everyone seems fun and I think we'll get a lot accomplished.
After we found Ally she informed us that we will be going to.....JOPLIN, MISSOURI!! I am so so so excited about this because I've been wanting to do disaster relief all along! It is obviously not immediate disaster relief because the tornadoes happened in late spring/early summer, but I am still excited to be doing continuing disaster relief there. Plus, many of the team leaders this year got to go there last year and they said we'd have a great time. Our sponsor organization that we will be working with and that will be training us is The St. Louis Emergency Response Team. We don't know exactly what we will be doing, but they've given us a few descriptions including rebuilding and restoring building and homes, maybe fixing up some parks, things like that. We also have not had our housing confirmed yet, but we will be finding that out soon. All I can say is that I CANNOT WAIT to be there!! :) :)
So with the excitement of Monday, the rest of the week has kind of been dragging. It's pretty much lecture after lecture. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had CPR and First Aid training, which I know is necessary, but it was a long day. So far today we've had a "quality of life" lecture with our counselor and I'm about to head off to tool training. As for the rest of the week, I'm not really sure what it entails.
Everything's still going great...except now that I know where were going I just want to go instead of stay here and finish CTI. Haha, but we're all in the same boat, so we'll get through it!! Hope all is well for everyone at home.
Love,
Abby
Friday, October 28, 2011
Grrr!
Hi everyone!
Today was supposed to be the highlight of CTI...we were supposed to find out our teams and first service project. But......we didnt. Apparently they have them all together, but they're still waiting on all the results of the drug tests that we had on Monday because they don't want to make the teams and then have to take people off them to send them home. Today 4 people went home..but I'm not sure how many more will. They promised us that we'll find out for sure on Monday though. So we're all grumpy and what not..but oh well.
On top of that, today was our baseline test which meant we had to run 1.5 miles around campus, as many sit ups in a minute and as many push ups in a minute as we can do. My results weren't spectacular, but it doesn't really matter. Between each round we'll do it again and try to improve. The altitude definitely killed us and we were all complaining about how it felts like our lungs were bleeding! But we survived and all my girls did well :) we were proud. Tonight's our halloween party and I'm dressing up like a clown!! We get to sleep in tomorrow, and then tomorrow night all of us girls are going out for sushi and then going out dancing :) we're so excited! And Sunday I have more ISP hours working with the Denver Police Department helping them decorate and set up for their annual Halloween party for the kids in the inner city. The neighborhood where the kids would trick or treat is not actually safe for them to do so...so instead they get to come to the party and get candy and go to haunted houses and everything! The party isnt until Monday, so Sunday is just set up...but it still gets me more ISP hours! woohoo! ok that's all...the girls are waiting on me! :) I'll post monday after we FINALLY get our teams!!!
Love,
Abby
Today was supposed to be the highlight of CTI...we were supposed to find out our teams and first service project. But......we didnt. Apparently they have them all together, but they're still waiting on all the results of the drug tests that we had on Monday because they don't want to make the teams and then have to take people off them to send them home. Today 4 people went home..but I'm not sure how many more will. They promised us that we'll find out for sure on Monday though. So we're all grumpy and what not..but oh well.
On top of that, today was our baseline test which meant we had to run 1.5 miles around campus, as many sit ups in a minute and as many push ups in a minute as we can do. My results weren't spectacular, but it doesn't really matter. Between each round we'll do it again and try to improve. The altitude definitely killed us and we were all complaining about how it felts like our lungs were bleeding! But we survived and all my girls did well :) we were proud. Tonight's our halloween party and I'm dressing up like a clown!! We get to sleep in tomorrow, and then tomorrow night all of us girls are going out for sushi and then going out dancing :) we're so excited! And Sunday I have more ISP hours working with the Denver Police Department helping them decorate and set up for their annual Halloween party for the kids in the inner city. The neighborhood where the kids would trick or treat is not actually safe for them to do so...so instead they get to come to the party and get candy and go to haunted houses and everything! The party isnt until Monday, so Sunday is just set up...but it still gets me more ISP hours! woohoo! ok that's all...the girls are waiting on me! :) I'll post monday after we FINALLY get our teams!!!
Love,
Abby
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
lots of service projects!
Helloooooooo!
I feel like I've been super busy since the last time I posted! Friday night at the Boys and Girls Club was a lot of fun. Other B&GC from around Denver all brought their teenagers to the one that I was at for a teen dance. We even tried to dance with them, but we werent very successful! We also played some basketball with some boys, made some lanyarns with some younger girls, and some xbox kinect, it was neat! That counted for 4 of my 80 hours for ISP. On saturday a group of us went to Lifeline Puppy Rescue. It was pretty far from campus, and seemed a little sketchy as we pulled up. But it ended up being a lot of fun. I scooped poop out of a lot of kennels, spread gravel, moved some brush piles, unloaded dog food, walked a puppy with weak legs, and played with a of puppies :) And that gave us 6 hours, I'm up to 10 already! And I may be going back to Boys and Girls Club tomorrow night for like 3 hours just to hang out with the kids. I really want to knock out these hours as quick as I can since we have a pretty good amount of freetime here in Denver during CTI.
On Sunday my friend Jessica and I went into the city. Jess is from a super small town in upstate New York, so we understand each other a lot. We were proud when we successfully took the bus to the lightrail station, and the lightrail station all the way to downtown Denver. There is a HUGE outdoor mall that we walked around with multiple levels. Some stores were familiar and some werent, but we had a blast just exploring...and I also got a headstart on my Christmas shopping!! We were also proud when we made it all the way back to campus without getting lost :)
Yesterday (Monday) we got our steeltoe boots!! I feel like such a badass when I wear them! hahaha. Most people complain about them, and I'm sure I will eventually because we will be wearing them alllllllll the time when were on project, but for now I totally dig them! Other than that we just did more training. But today my team got to do a service project all day at The Food Bank of the Rockies! For some reason, when I heard we were going to a food bank I kept picturing a soup kitchen instead. I thought we'd be serving homeless people lunch...but when we walked in it was a HUGE warehouse stocked full of packages of food. I was a little nervous about how I'd like it, but I ended up LOVING it!! I worked for a guy who was in charge of the Nutrition Network. Bascially, after school programs, community centers, and schools from around Denver would come to our loading dock with a bulk food order, and we would fill that order either on a cart or on a palate (I have no idea if I spelled that right). The whole point was to get food to kids that didn't get much food at home. The schools that came were part of a "backpack" program. If teachers could tell that the kids with free and reduced lunches didn't have food at home, they would send them home with tote bags, backapacks, etc. full of food on Friday so that they would have food for the weekend, because hunger doesn't stop on the weekend! Anyways, I felt super lucky that my team went to the food bank. And it's also just another reminder that I shouldn't be quick to judge things right away, I came in all worried and when we left I didn't even want to leave!!
The rest of the week will be more training and exploration time, and on Friday we FINALLY find out our permanent teams and where we will be going for our first project!! We are all getting so anxious to just find out already!! Other than that everything's going great...I made a hula hoop last night so I've been practicing my tricks. I'm getting closer to a lot of people which eases my nerves a little bit about the team selection, I know I'll wind up with at least a few people I like! I miss everyone at home...but I'm still having a hell of a time!!
Love,
Abby :)
I feel like I've been super busy since the last time I posted! Friday night at the Boys and Girls Club was a lot of fun. Other B&GC from around Denver all brought their teenagers to the one that I was at for a teen dance. We even tried to dance with them, but we werent very successful! We also played some basketball with some boys, made some lanyarns with some younger girls, and some xbox kinect, it was neat! That counted for 4 of my 80 hours for ISP. On saturday a group of us went to Lifeline Puppy Rescue. It was pretty far from campus, and seemed a little sketchy as we pulled up. But it ended up being a lot of fun. I scooped poop out of a lot of kennels, spread gravel, moved some brush piles, unloaded dog food, walked a puppy with weak legs, and played with a of puppies :) And that gave us 6 hours, I'm up to 10 already! And I may be going back to Boys and Girls Club tomorrow night for like 3 hours just to hang out with the kids. I really want to knock out these hours as quick as I can since we have a pretty good amount of freetime here in Denver during CTI.
On Sunday my friend Jessica and I went into the city. Jess is from a super small town in upstate New York, so we understand each other a lot. We were proud when we successfully took the bus to the lightrail station, and the lightrail station all the way to downtown Denver. There is a HUGE outdoor mall that we walked around with multiple levels. Some stores were familiar and some werent, but we had a blast just exploring...and I also got a headstart on my Christmas shopping!! We were also proud when we made it all the way back to campus without getting lost :)
Yesterday (Monday) we got our steeltoe boots!! I feel like such a badass when I wear them! hahaha. Most people complain about them, and I'm sure I will eventually because we will be wearing them alllllllll the time when were on project, but for now I totally dig them! Other than that we just did more training. But today my team got to do a service project all day at The Food Bank of the Rockies! For some reason, when I heard we were going to a food bank I kept picturing a soup kitchen instead. I thought we'd be serving homeless people lunch...but when we walked in it was a HUGE warehouse stocked full of packages of food. I was a little nervous about how I'd like it, but I ended up LOVING it!! I worked for a guy who was in charge of the Nutrition Network. Bascially, after school programs, community centers, and schools from around Denver would come to our loading dock with a bulk food order, and we would fill that order either on a cart or on a palate (I have no idea if I spelled that right). The whole point was to get food to kids that didn't get much food at home. The schools that came were part of a "backpack" program. If teachers could tell that the kids with free and reduced lunches didn't have food at home, they would send them home with tote bags, backapacks, etc. full of food on Friday so that they would have food for the weekend, because hunger doesn't stop on the weekend! Anyways, I felt super lucky that my team went to the food bank. And it's also just another reminder that I shouldn't be quick to judge things right away, I came in all worried and when we left I didn't even want to leave!!
The rest of the week will be more training and exploration time, and on Friday we FINALLY find out our permanent teams and where we will be going for our first project!! We are all getting so anxious to just find out already!! Other than that everything's going great...I made a hula hoop last night so I've been practicing my tricks. I'm getting closer to a lot of people which eases my nerves a little bit about the team selection, I know I'll wind up with at least a few people I like! I miss everyone at home...but I'm still having a hell of a time!!
Love,
Abby :)
Friday, October 21, 2011
Getting into the swing of things...
Hey everyone!
I know I haven't posted for awhile, so I'll try to go over a quick recap of what I've been up to. Monday we had boring classes about driving the huge 15 passenger vans. It felt like driver's ed all over again. But, in the afternoon our team leaders took us into the city and we got to explore a little bit! That was really neat. We didnt have much time, so I know I'll want to go again. Tuesday, we spent all morning taking our 15 p's (the vans) on a "confidence course" in the parking lot. basically we had to swerve around a lot of curves and maneuver into tight spaces. It was difficult, but not too bad. That afternoon we practiced something called community mapping. Each time we go on a spike project we are expected to do community mapping where we familiarize ourselves with the community we're living in. Observe the strengths and challenges of the area, ask community members for their opinions on social issues and also the history of the place. We got to "map" the community surrounding City Park which was pretty neat.
Wednesday was our fun day where they took us all to Rocky Mt. National Park!! It was a 3 hour drive, but the drive was beautiful! When we got there we had lunch by Bear Lake, and then took about a mile hike to Alberta Falls. It was totally worth it! We were all so happy to have a day out instead of inside doing training. Thursday consisted of driving the vans all over the place so that each corps member wanting to drive could do so with an instructor. Along the way we stopped at neat places and gave our legs a chance to stretch. Our first stop was in Columbine, CO. We got to go to the park and walk around the memorial a little bit. The memorial was VERY neat but of course sad as well. They had quotes of students, parents, and faculty at Columbine High School. From the memorial, I drove the 15p all the way to Red Rocks ampitheater!! I was sooooo nervous but our instructor was really good. He even made me put the van in manual and learn to shift up and down as you drive through mountains. Red Rocks ampitheater has huge red rocks that make natural acoustics as good or better than any manmade acoustic design. They had a rock 'n roll hall of fame there and we found out that pretty much any singer/performer/band you could possibly think of has performed there. It was incredible. From Red Rocks we went to Buffalo Bills which is at the top of a mountain and has a museum, gift shop, and cafe. Very beautiful views and we had our little picnic lunch there. The rest of the day we spent driving around.
And today (Friday) were sitting through lots and lots of training. Disaster stuff, discrimination stuff, etc. I think this afternoon we have to try to memorize the Americorps NCCC pledge too, our regional director is obsessed with the pledge! Haha, it is pretty good though. I'll post it some other time. I'm REALLY excited though because tonight some of us our going to the Denver Boys and Girls Club to help with a Halloween party. This will count towards part of our ISP hours that we need 80 of. It should be a lot of fun because we just get to hang out with the kids and play games with them. AND tomorrow, some of us are going to Lifeline Puppy Rescue where we get to play with puppies and try to get people to adop them. That counts for ISP hours too. I'm actually getting things accomplished!
Ok well I gotta run, because meeting are starting up again soon. Oh yea, for anyone who doesn't have facebook you can go to my shutterfly acount. go to shutterfly.com click on sign in. my username is niekamp.25@osu.edu and my password is abigail. Under my albums you can click on the album called Amerilife and see my pictures! Because posting them to this blog takes a long time and I can only do a few at a time. Going on Shutterfly will allow you to see all of them! Ok that's its! :) :)
Love,
Abby
I know I haven't posted for awhile, so I'll try to go over a quick recap of what I've been up to. Monday we had boring classes about driving the huge 15 passenger vans. It felt like driver's ed all over again. But, in the afternoon our team leaders took us into the city and we got to explore a little bit! That was really neat. We didnt have much time, so I know I'll want to go again. Tuesday, we spent all morning taking our 15 p's (the vans) on a "confidence course" in the parking lot. basically we had to swerve around a lot of curves and maneuver into tight spaces. It was difficult, but not too bad. That afternoon we practiced something called community mapping. Each time we go on a spike project we are expected to do community mapping where we familiarize ourselves with the community we're living in. Observe the strengths and challenges of the area, ask community members for their opinions on social issues and also the history of the place. We got to "map" the community surrounding City Park which was pretty neat.
Wednesday was our fun day where they took us all to Rocky Mt. National Park!! It was a 3 hour drive, but the drive was beautiful! When we got there we had lunch by Bear Lake, and then took about a mile hike to Alberta Falls. It was totally worth it! We were all so happy to have a day out instead of inside doing training. Thursday consisted of driving the vans all over the place so that each corps member wanting to drive could do so with an instructor. Along the way we stopped at neat places and gave our legs a chance to stretch. Our first stop was in Columbine, CO. We got to go to the park and walk around the memorial a little bit. The memorial was VERY neat but of course sad as well. They had quotes of students, parents, and faculty at Columbine High School. From the memorial, I drove the 15p all the way to Red Rocks ampitheater!! I was sooooo nervous but our instructor was really good. He even made me put the van in manual and learn to shift up and down as you drive through mountains. Red Rocks ampitheater has huge red rocks that make natural acoustics as good or better than any manmade acoustic design. They had a rock 'n roll hall of fame there and we found out that pretty much any singer/performer/band you could possibly think of has performed there. It was incredible. From Red Rocks we went to Buffalo Bills which is at the top of a mountain and has a museum, gift shop, and cafe. Very beautiful views and we had our little picnic lunch there. The rest of the day we spent driving around.
And today (Friday) were sitting through lots and lots of training. Disaster stuff, discrimination stuff, etc. I think this afternoon we have to try to memorize the Americorps NCCC pledge too, our regional director is obsessed with the pledge! Haha, it is pretty good though. I'll post it some other time. I'm REALLY excited though because tonight some of us our going to the Denver Boys and Girls Club to help with a Halloween party. This will count towards part of our ISP hours that we need 80 of. It should be a lot of fun because we just get to hang out with the kids and play games with them. AND tomorrow, some of us are going to Lifeline Puppy Rescue where we get to play with puppies and try to get people to adop them. That counts for ISP hours too. I'm actually getting things accomplished!
Ok well I gotta run, because meeting are starting up again soon. Oh yea, for anyone who doesn't have facebook you can go to my shutterfly acount. go to shutterfly.com click on sign in. my username is niekamp.25@osu.edu and my password is abigail. Under my albums you can click on the album called Amerilife and see my pictures! Because posting them to this blog takes a long time and I can only do a few at a time. Going on Shutterfly will allow you to see all of them! Ok that's its! :) :)
Love,
Abby
Monday, October 17, 2011
Make each day a holiday! :)
(The title comes from my friend's Dove chocolate candy wrapper, but she's gotten it repeatedly so she's starting to feel she really should follow it)
Hi everyone!
The first weekend in Denver was good. Saturday we went to Washington Park to help with trailbuilding and tree planting. I mentioned that my team was assigned to food distribution for all the volunteers, but we actually go to do some trailbuilding as well! Which was really neat...it seems like you'd just dig out a trench thing and throw in some dirt, but it's actually quite the process! Washington Park was beautiful and no joke it was bigger than Fort Recovery! I was in awe while we walked around it.
So...another thing we've been trying to organize is our ISP's, because we have to get 80 hours of our own projects. Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to set up some hours at the Denver Children's Museum. I'm really really excited about that, so I hope it works out. A few of us are also talking about making a day trip to Boulder and go for a hike and explore! It's supposed to be amazing there so we'll see! :)
Here are some pictures of around campus...they really don't do it justice, but it's the best I could do! Our dorms aren't that great, but they get the job done :)
Hi everyone!
The first weekend in Denver was good. Saturday we went to Washington Park to help with trailbuilding and tree planting. I mentioned that my team was assigned to food distribution for all the volunteers, but we actually go to do some trailbuilding as well! Which was really neat...it seems like you'd just dig out a trench thing and throw in some dirt, but it's actually quite the process! Washington Park was beautiful and no joke it was bigger than Fort Recovery! I was in awe while we walked around it.
So...another thing we've been trying to organize is our ISP's, because we have to get 80 hours of our own projects. Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to set up some hours at the Denver Children's Museum. I'm really really excited about that, so I hope it works out. A few of us are also talking about making a day trip to Boulder and go for a hike and explore! It's supposed to be amazing there so we'll see! :)
Here are some pictures of around campus...they really don't do it justice, but it's the best I could do! Our dorms aren't that great, but they get the job done :)
Oh! and another thing is that I joined the hula hoop club! It sounds ridiculous, but it's really really really fun! We get to make our own and everything. And I'm learning new tricks and everything! hahaha so funny. Ok, well that's all I have for now. But..if you would like to send me any letters or packages send it to...
Abby Niekamp/Class 18
AmeriCorps NCCC
3001 S. Federal Blvd.
Walsh Hall, Rm. 136
Denver, CO 80236
Love,
Abby
Friday, October 14, 2011
training, training, and more training....
Hey everyone!
Corps Training Institute (or my 30 days of training before I get to go do a real project) is going great! I mean, it's a little boring....we've literally been going over rules and regulations, but we're getting there. It's a lot of just sitting and listening to either one of the team leaders or our unit leader talk to us....but oh well. We gotta do what we gotta do. We officially have our uniforms so now we all look like dorks in our BDU's (battle dress uniforms). I'll post pictures at some point, because they're hilarious!
All the corps members have definitely been getting more used to each other. Our dorm used to be so quiet....and now there's literally doors open, music blaring, and girls showing each other their dances and stuff hahaha. We're currently in "temporary teams" for different stations in training and stuff...we've finally gotten used to those teams, and tomorrow night they'll swtich us up again. We'll get switched up every few days with new team members and a new team leader until Oct 28 when we get our official teams and find out our first project. We're all frustrated though because we just want to find out now!
So tomorrow we actually get to do some work! We're working with a group called Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC). We're working with VOC on coordinating the community volunteers to help build a running trail and plant 25 evergreen trees around Washington Park in downtown Denver. Apparently it's one of the most popular parks in the city. Each of our corps teams got assigned a task..some are helping with parking, some are helping with registration, some are actually helping build the trail or plant trees...and my team got food! We get to help serve everyone coffee, tea, and bagels in the morning, and then set up and help serve the taco bar for lunch for all of the volunteers. The work should be done by noon so then we have a celebration with tacos and a live bluegrass band! We're kind of bummed that we have to get up 6 am on a Saturday, but I think everyone's also excited for something to do and actually doing some hands-on stuff. Apparently we have either entire corps projects on Saturdays, or some optional ones that can get us some independent service project (ISP) hours...throughout our 10 months here we have to get 80 ISP hours..and everyone says its best to get a lot done while you're here in Denver, because it's when we have the most free time.
I think that's all I have for now! Today was a much more comfortable day for me than yesterday and Wednesday because I've finally connected with some of the girls...and just gotten familiar with faces and stuff. Everyone here is SO nice and helpful...and the staff is SO SO SO encouraging, it's great!! :) :)
Love,
Abby
Corps Training Institute (or my 30 days of training before I get to go do a real project) is going great! I mean, it's a little boring....we've literally been going over rules and regulations, but we're getting there. It's a lot of just sitting and listening to either one of the team leaders or our unit leader talk to us....but oh well. We gotta do what we gotta do. We officially have our uniforms so now we all look like dorks in our BDU's (battle dress uniforms). I'll post pictures at some point, because they're hilarious!
All the corps members have definitely been getting more used to each other. Our dorm used to be so quiet....and now there's literally doors open, music blaring, and girls showing each other their dances and stuff hahaha. We're currently in "temporary teams" for different stations in training and stuff...we've finally gotten used to those teams, and tomorrow night they'll swtich us up again. We'll get switched up every few days with new team members and a new team leader until Oct 28 when we get our official teams and find out our first project. We're all frustrated though because we just want to find out now!
So tomorrow we actually get to do some work! We're working with a group called Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC). We're working with VOC on coordinating the community volunteers to help build a running trail and plant 25 evergreen trees around Washington Park in downtown Denver. Apparently it's one of the most popular parks in the city. Each of our corps teams got assigned a task..some are helping with parking, some are helping with registration, some are actually helping build the trail or plant trees...and my team got food! We get to help serve everyone coffee, tea, and bagels in the morning, and then set up and help serve the taco bar for lunch for all of the volunteers. The work should be done by noon so then we have a celebration with tacos and a live bluegrass band! We're kind of bummed that we have to get up 6 am on a Saturday, but I think everyone's also excited for something to do and actually doing some hands-on stuff. Apparently we have either entire corps projects on Saturdays, or some optional ones that can get us some independent service project (ISP) hours...throughout our 10 months here we have to get 80 ISP hours..and everyone says its best to get a lot done while you're here in Denver, because it's when we have the most free time.
I think that's all I have for now! Today was a much more comfortable day for me than yesterday and Wednesday because I've finally connected with some of the girls...and just gotten familiar with faces and stuff. Everyone here is SO nice and helpful...and the staff is SO SO SO encouraging, it's great!! :) :)
Love,
Abby
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I'm Here!
Hey everyone!
I successfully made it to Denver! I didn't chicken out, or get lost in Chicago airport..or miss the shuttle from Denver airport to Colorado Heights University campus. I MADE IT! When we first got to campus we had to check in and all that jazz. My roomate's name is Riley and she's from California! She's very sweet...when I saw her I felt instant relief to be living with her, because you never know what you might find! Riley and I went about unpacking our things together...our dorm is small but it'll be just fine since we won't be here much. We at least have our own sink in our room, so that's nice. The bathroom's like 2 doors down from us and then the showers are on the other side of that. Riley and I are opting out of showers tonight though. They're a little disgusting and something we just dont quite want to tackle yet. After we unpacked we went and had dinner in the dining hall. Salad and pizza! :) One whole wall is windows with an AMAZING view of the Rockie's. I think I can get used to that! After dinner we had our first unit meeting.
Oh yea, on Sunday before I came I got a call from my "temporary" team leader Josh..who informed me that I'll be part of the Earth unit! We still don't know our official teams yet though. The names of the units have hint as to what projects we'll be doing or anything..all it does is help them organize us. We met our Eart unit leader Kevin today. He is an older man who is in charge of all the team leaders...and essentially in charge of us as well.
So Riley and I are back in the room now and we're exhausted. Most people here are though right now...it seems like we've been up forever. It's 11:00 at home but only 9:00 here...yikes! I'll get used to it though. Something else I need to get used to....the altitude! They've been hammering us about drinking lots and lots of water because the altitude dehydrates you so quickly. But I guess we'll get adapted to it in like 7 to 10 days. So until then we just suffer through workouts, haha. I'm really excited for training to officially begin. It'll be a lot of lecturing and classroom, paperwork type stuff, but I know that it'll all be worth it in the end!
Ok that's all I have for now! :) If anyone has questions just post a comment or something and I'll try to answer it :)
Love,
Abby
I successfully made it to Denver! I didn't chicken out, or get lost in Chicago airport..or miss the shuttle from Denver airport to Colorado Heights University campus. I MADE IT! When we first got to campus we had to check in and all that jazz. My roomate's name is Riley and she's from California! She's very sweet...when I saw her I felt instant relief to be living with her, because you never know what you might find! Riley and I went about unpacking our things together...our dorm is small but it'll be just fine since we won't be here much. We at least have our own sink in our room, so that's nice. The bathroom's like 2 doors down from us and then the showers are on the other side of that. Riley and I are opting out of showers tonight though. They're a little disgusting and something we just dont quite want to tackle yet. After we unpacked we went and had dinner in the dining hall. Salad and pizza! :) One whole wall is windows with an AMAZING view of the Rockie's. I think I can get used to that! After dinner we had our first unit meeting.
Oh yea, on Sunday before I came I got a call from my "temporary" team leader Josh..who informed me that I'll be part of the Earth unit! We still don't know our official teams yet though. The names of the units have hint as to what projects we'll be doing or anything..all it does is help them organize us. We met our Eart unit leader Kevin today. He is an older man who is in charge of all the team leaders...and essentially in charge of us as well.
So Riley and I are back in the room now and we're exhausted. Most people here are though right now...it seems like we've been up forever. It's 11:00 at home but only 9:00 here...yikes! I'll get used to it though. Something else I need to get used to....the altitude! They've been hammering us about drinking lots and lots of water because the altitude dehydrates you so quickly. But I guess we'll get adapted to it in like 7 to 10 days. So until then we just suffer through workouts, haha. I'm really excited for training to officially begin. It'll be a lot of lecturing and classroom, paperwork type stuff, but I know that it'll all be worth it in the end!
Ok that's all I have for now! :) If anyone has questions just post a comment or something and I'll try to answer it :)
Love,
Abby
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Preparation.
Hi all!
I'm 6 days away from hopping on a plane to Denver, Colorado! I wanted to start a blog so that family and friends could check out what I'm up to while I'm there. I thought I'd start it before I left to try to give everyone a little outline about what it is I'll be doing there for 10 months! I've had questions ranging from stuff about Peace Corps, to college, to a career, etc. So, I'll try to clear things up a bit here.
Americorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). You may have heard about them on the radio or something. Anyways, within Americorps there are 3 separate programs. VISTA, State and National, and NCCC, which is where I fall. NCCC stands for National Civilian Community Corps. It's a residential national service program for people ages 18-24. About 1,200 people serve in this program each year, and I feel EXTREMELY lucky to be one of them! We were told that many, MANY, more people than that acutally applied....I am so blessed!
NCCC covers all US states and territories. The country is divided into 5 regions. Being stationed in Denver, my region is the Southwest Region which covers Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas. For the first month, we will be in CTI (Corps Training Institute). We'll be trained in CPR, First Aid, disaster services, mass care, shelter management, leadership, and others that I know I'm missing but can't remember at the moment. Basically, they do the best they can to prepare us for whatever projects we may encounter during our term. Because we work so much with disaster relief efforts, Americorps NCCC works closely with The Red Cross and FEMA, so lots of our training is provided by them.
I will be assigned to one of 4 units: earth, fire, sun, or water. Within those units, I will be placed on a team of 8 to 12 other people. This is the part where I feel like I'm about to go and do a season of The Real World! Hahahaahaha. Anyways, we are expected to prepare and eat meals together, travel in a 15 passenger van together, and live together. But, we will also be working together on a variety of projects that may address any of these areas: supporting the environment, infrastructure improvement, energy conservation, urban and rural development, and immediate and continuing disaster response. We won't be assigned to our teams until we're there for a little while, I'm not sure the exact time. So that's something I'm really really looking forward to. Once we get our teams, the next big step is finding out what our round 1 project will be! There are 4 rounds total, though if disaster happens anywhere in the U.S. we could get sent at any time, to anywhere..even out of our region!
I could keep going...but I think this gives a good idea of what I'll be doing at least for now. So now I'm just tying up loose ends with paperwork, brainstorming everything I may need, and trying to figure out how to fit everything in my luggage! I shipped a box out this morning with bedding and towels, so that will help. But we'll see. I'm am just SO excited to get on with it already, feels like I've been waiting forever! I'll probably make at least 1 more post before I leave just because it's pretty much all I can think about and this definitely helps calm me :) Please feel free to spread the word about this blog, I'd love to spread the word about Americorps NCCC and all the cool stuff they do. thanks!!
Love,
Abby :)
I'm 6 days away from hopping on a plane to Denver, Colorado! I wanted to start a blog so that family and friends could check out what I'm up to while I'm there. I thought I'd start it before I left to try to give everyone a little outline about what it is I'll be doing there for 10 months! I've had questions ranging from stuff about Peace Corps, to college, to a career, etc. So, I'll try to clear things up a bit here.
Americorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). You may have heard about them on the radio or something. Anyways, within Americorps there are 3 separate programs. VISTA, State and National, and NCCC, which is where I fall. NCCC stands for National Civilian Community Corps. It's a residential national service program for people ages 18-24. About 1,200 people serve in this program each year, and I feel EXTREMELY lucky to be one of them! We were told that many, MANY, more people than that acutally applied....I am so blessed!
NCCC covers all US states and territories. The country is divided into 5 regions. Being stationed in Denver, my region is the Southwest Region which covers Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas. For the first month, we will be in CTI (Corps Training Institute). We'll be trained in CPR, First Aid, disaster services, mass care, shelter management, leadership, and others that I know I'm missing but can't remember at the moment. Basically, they do the best they can to prepare us for whatever projects we may encounter during our term. Because we work so much with disaster relief efforts, Americorps NCCC works closely with The Red Cross and FEMA, so lots of our training is provided by them.
I will be assigned to one of 4 units: earth, fire, sun, or water. Within those units, I will be placed on a team of 8 to 12 other people. This is the part where I feel like I'm about to go and do a season of The Real World! Hahahaahaha. Anyways, we are expected to prepare and eat meals together, travel in a 15 passenger van together, and live together. But, we will also be working together on a variety of projects that may address any of these areas: supporting the environment, infrastructure improvement, energy conservation, urban and rural development, and immediate and continuing disaster response. We won't be assigned to our teams until we're there for a little while, I'm not sure the exact time. So that's something I'm really really looking forward to. Once we get our teams, the next big step is finding out what our round 1 project will be! There are 4 rounds total, though if disaster happens anywhere in the U.S. we could get sent at any time, to anywhere..even out of our region!
I could keep going...but I think this gives a good idea of what I'll be doing at least for now. So now I'm just tying up loose ends with paperwork, brainstorming everything I may need, and trying to figure out how to fit everything in my luggage! I shipped a box out this morning with bedding and towels, so that will help. But we'll see. I'm am just SO excited to get on with it already, feels like I've been waiting forever! I'll probably make at least 1 more post before I leave just because it's pretty much all I can think about and this definitely helps calm me :) Please feel free to spread the word about this blog, I'd love to spread the word about Americorps NCCC and all the cool stuff they do. thanks!!
Love,
Abby :)
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