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

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

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

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

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