My AmeriLife

Aug 26, 2012

Say goodbye to Camden

6am PT

So the round is almost over. Thankfully. To be completely honest I do not like this round very much. It probably wasn't helpful that I loved firefighting and last round, and I had the awkward transition back onto my team this round, but really this project (and the sponsors) weren't my favorite. Since the houses were almost complete we didn't actually have much to do, and since Camden Habitat doesn't get many volunteers I feel like the sponsors didn't know how to manage us and give us tasks at the worksite. My team got to clean the houses about 50 different times, so if you ever need someone to come and wash your windows, or sweep our floors (with a tiny little hand broom in order to not scratch the hardwood floors), I'm your gal!

But, only 3 more days! Then it's back to campus for transition, fall break and spike 4... the last spike of my corps member year... scary how fast this year has flown by.

The roof is gone... time to take down the 2nd floor wall on the left

The before picture

Taking apart the roof. Philly in the back. Boy is is hot up there!

Stripping off the mortor and wire mesh to expose the bricks.

Toothing the wall

our 2 levels of scaffolding that we used to pass down the bricks

chillin on the 2nd floor

How dirty we get after a good days work...

One thing that the team did get to work on that was fun was demolition. Habitat just acquired a house that was really run down and used to be a hot spot for drugs etc. We had the responsibility of helping to take apart the roof, piece by piece (cut apart using a saw), then taking down the wall, brick by brick so the entire house didn't fall. We got the entire roof and 2nd floor down. We all wanted to continue, but since the home dedications were nearing we had to switch tasks and concentrate on them versus finish the demolition. When the roof was still on the house you could stand on it and see the skyline of Philly!

So one night since we were all so tired of being trapped in the house and having no where to go in Camden, we decided to book a hotel and go out for dinner and dancing in Philly. It was crazy! We ended up going to this cute little italian restaurant near our hotel called Lulu's and I got a seafood risotto. It was delicious. I love Italy and anything Italian! I even found the cutest travel book called "In love in Italy" at Barnes and Nobel the other day and I had to get it. It was the perfect size, perfect texture, had cute quotes both in Italian and translated in English... I love it! I definitely need to go back some day to Italy. Anyway, back from that tangent, after dinner we all went to the gay club Woody's. It was out of control, but after being cooped up in Camden it was just what we all needed I think. Plus it was fun to get all dressed up.

Camden Habitat used to only build 1 house every 2 years. This wasn't because there wasn't a need for them, or for lack of applicants, it was simply because of lack of volunteers and money. This year was the first time that they finished and dedicated 3 houses. We helped finish them, and three more are almost complete. So at the home dedication everyone who worked at Habitat was going crazy with nerves and excitement!

I got to blow up helium balloon!

There were a bunch of cookies and coffee

We donned our formals and welcomed everyone

There was even a big sheet cake with the family's names

It was like a big block party. We blocked off the entire street for about 2 hours and had a few people from habitat speak. Then there was a ribbon cutting, and a surprise where the kids of the families receiving the homes read "there's no place like home" and blew bubbles (really cute) and a social hour with food. The homes were open for people to walk around in and check out, and one of them was furnished using furniture from the Habitat ReStore to make it seem like it was lived in. I thought it would be more fun, but since I didn't know anyone and wasn't apart of the building from the beginning I think I had my expectations a little high.

Now that the dedications are finished we are back to work like normal... and that means putting up the chain link fence in the backyards of the 3 unfinished houses. IT IS HORRIBLE! I have never gotten so many blisters on my hands in my life. But if you ever need a fence put up I know a very able bodies crew of 9 who can help you out. It was just very frustrating since we were told to put it up, then on multiple occasions had to take it down and put it up again, and again, and again because the sponsors realized something, or changed their minds etc. I hate fences.

And finally the other night our sponsors got us free tickets to the Camden Riversharks minor league baseball game, where $5 of every ticket went to Habitat.

It was fun, but so late that we all ditched out early since we were all exhausted by about 9pm. Yep, AmeriCorps turns you into grandparents in bed by 10...

So now our last day of work is at the Habitat ReStore on Tuesday, and a half day at the construction site on Wednesday, then back to campus for transition.

So goodbye Camden and hello Wells, Maine and Kennet Square Pennsylvania!

Jul 23, 2012

Spike 3

The AmeriCorps pledge

I can't believe I've already pasted the half way point! It's so sad to think about how soon all of us will be going home so my friends will be spread all around the county and I won't get to see them that often. I love this program (most days) and can't believe how fast it's going by!

For people who don't know I'm actually applying to be a field team leader next year, hopefully at this campus or wherever my friends go (either here, iowa, or mississippi since those are the only winter start campuses). I'll know by the end of this year if I got the job and will be coming back in January or not.

But for now, I've begun spike 3 and have come to Camden, New Jersey to work for Habitat for Humanity. It's actually not my favorite... I've worked for Habitats in the past, but this one is not the greatest. I have issues with some of the sponsors and I feel like they don't trust us to do difficult tasks, which make the work mundane and seem pointless.

The row of houses we are finishing... We have to board up all the windows and doors at the end of the workday. There is also a chain linked fence surrounding the site

The house we are demolishing

Support walls we installed so the house doesn't fall down on top of us

If you don't know anything about Camden here's a quick rundown:

It's been voted (multiple times) as the most dangerous city in the county...
The day we got here there was a deadly shooting and stabbing on either end of our street (separate incidents)...
Within the first 5 minutes of leaving our house we saw someone get pulled over by the police, then patted down and arrested...
There is a mobile police unit that is almost always parked outside our worksite...

Around 3 each day the police swarm the streets near our work in order to "make their presence known"...
We were advised not to go into our corner store if we saw drug dealers outside...
2 men were doing a drug deal about 5 feet from me when I was sweeping at work...
It's home to the Campbell's factory...
It was once a city that flourished until gentrification took over and drugs became the norm.

View of Philly from the roof

The cool thing is we are just across the bridge from Philadelphia, so we've gone exploring and went there for Jimmy's 19th birthday.

Apparent'y Philly is known for having large statues of things...

jason got jumped by a pawn

Go directly to jail, do not pass go

The creepy present that was left for us by the last NCCC team here

We have to drive to a park in order to do PT since it's not safe to just go out the door for a run...

Yep. That's my home until August 26th!

So we also got a new member on our team. Her name is Monique and she transferred from the moose unit.

My team (raven 4) was chosen to possibly go to Colorado as a camp crew and support the wildland fire fighters who are working long days to contain all the wildfires. THIS WOULD BE SO COOL! Even if they didn't call me to actually help on the fire (which technically I could since I'm red carded), it would be so awesome to get to work with the fire fighters and talk to them about their job/ fires they've been on. I'm considering applying for a seasonal fire job after all my AmeriCorps stuff since I loved last round so much. If I got to go to Colorado it would be ideal since it would help me decide if that's really what I want to do. Who knew that I would graduate college thinking I want to be a baker, and a few short months later I could be changing my life and becoming a fire fighter! To quote Jerusha... I went from cupcakes to badass!

There's a possibility that my team wouldn't go, and we won't find out until campus randomly calls us one day and says we're going. Keep your fingers crossed fore me :)

Yep so now you're all caught up on my ameri-life. Until next time...

Back to grey... Summer break

So as of last week I am officially not a team leader anymore.. Phoenix 2 is finished. I turned in the last of the paperwork and am returning back to raven 4. It is bittersweet. I am kinda excited but I liked phoenix 2 and my fire team that I am not quite sure how to handle transitioning back into my normal team. I guess I'll just have to go with the flow and see what happens.

Here is a funny video that past NCCC people put together...

I didn't come here to die

Summer break mini project. So instead of spending all the money that I don't have anyway I decided to keep working over my summer break. I opted to be put on a composite team with 10 other weirdos (there do seem to be a lot of us this year in AmeriCorps) and drive the 12 hours into the adirondack mountains. Here we are doing trail maintenance and building a butterfly garden for the state park within the Huntington wildlife forest.
My team consists of mostly one team (moose 3) and there are 4 team leaders who decided to come. It kinda makes things complicate because then they don't want to hang out with us lowly corps members and they all sometimes have the urge to lead... The rest of us 7 are corps members. We get along pretty well, which is great since we are only together for a week so there's not much time for any awkward get to know you phase anyway.
We are tent camping in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no reception or Internet. Not even at the visitor center. We have a theory that there is a killer in the woods who is out to get us... If you've seen the trailer "I didn't come here to die" you will understand. No one would ever no we were gone! We are from different teams and so far out that no one could find us or hear us scream...
We are on a beautiful lake however and two of my teammates are skilled fisherman and have caught many bass.

My goofy Panda 1 team....