Parks and People

2nd Round officially began almost two weeks ago, and our short project before DC has been in full-swing.

We’re working for an organization known as Parks and People Foundation in Baltimore, MD. The main mission is to create a greener Baltimore by increasing tree canopy, cleaning out invasive species, cleaning streams, and more. Another goal is to increase outreach and education to residents of the Baltimore area about the need to do this.

Fun Fact: Healthy urban environments should be covered by about 40% tree canopy. Currently, Baltimore is at about 20%.

So we’ve got lots of work to do. There’ s a goal of planting 1000 trees in Baltimore. The last NCCC team started this first round, and Badger 6 will be pushing to finish that goal.

So far, it’s been a pretty physical project: We’ve planted trees, cleaned trails, placed mulch, created rain barrels, and removed invasive species (No rabid animals, just weeds). We’ve all enjoyed being able to work outside everyday for this project, so we’ve had the added pleasure of being able to maintain the Ameri-tan we all absorbed in the Gulf.

…Except all you’d see is Badger 6 covered head to toe in dirt, mud, pine needles, mulch, or leaves respective to the day. Long story short, we’ve been working hard, getting dirty, planting trees, and making Baltimore greener. Short story shorter, SAVES THE WORLD.

One Likes to Move-it Move-it

So part of transition entailed taking down and removing many of the old bed frames from the former hospital here on campus. The plan is to have this building clear so that we can move into it for the second half of the year. That’s right, I’ll be moving into my fourth residence here at the Point. Perhaps I’ll remain there the rest of the year… perhaps not. In any case, I’ve now kept all of my items in my red bag rather than unpacking. Never know where I’ll be tomorrow.

Anyway, the plan: The Corps should be moving into those dorms. More on that as we know more!

Transition

Yeah, it’s been awhile. And here I am, catching up. It’s been busy.

I last talked about our de-brief. We continued the rest of transition (which also happened to be National AmeriCorps Week) keeping busy with projects and events. Pictures are along the right, per usual.



Our week consisted of a Playground Build in Baltimore, working at Public Service Recognition Week even tin D.C., attending an AmeriCorps Career fair, working at the first ever NCCC Open House, painting the interior of one of the village houses, cleaning out what was once the VA hospital here, and a solid chunk of cardio PT, amongst other things. It was tiring but productive, and it was nice to see all of the other teams and work with them throughout the week before deployment. Check out the albums along the side to see all of the pictures.

I’ll be switching to a new entry for the next topic. Until then, DK and Eileen would like to wish you much happiness.

Final Reflection

So we finished our de-brief and officially completed Round 1. This week has been packed since then with starting our brief for the next project and participating in events and various service projects, but before that, we created a little video reflection on our way back from our presentation to informally wrap up our thoughts.

Back at the Point - ATL duties

So its been a week; as usual, time has flown by. We arrived after two days of driving to Perry Point, to our old houses which we all greeted with enthusiasm. The experience of sharing a room with only one other person again has been an adjustment, and somehow, almost lonely, but its all relative, and its certainly been nice to be back in my old bed.

Of course, things are a bit different than they were when we were last here. The grass is greener and taller, the trees have bloomed, and the bugs are as plentiful as ever. So in actuality, I suppose I do have several more roommates than I expected. Oh well, little buggers...

This week itself has been just as busy, if not more, than every week before. Chalk-full of training, events, PT, De-breifings and briefs, and volunteer hours.

Along the lines of briefs, I've also been designated Assistant Team Leader for this upcoming Round, so a few things have been added to the agenda, including coordinating a presentation to the staff on what we'll be doing next for our project. In addition to everything else, it's kept me busy but productive, and I'm looking forward to rehearsing with the team and presenting tomorrow.

I'll add more about two recent one-day projects soon. As always, check out the brand-spankin' new photo albums section along the right... I'll update those as often as I can.

PHOTOS UP!

I finally figured it out! Now you can see all of the photos I've taken this year; each album has its own link. I'll continue to add new albums as I upload them. Enjoy!

SBP Wrap-up

Lots of wrap-up and reflection this past week and weekend. After a productive week of doing finishing work on my house, the weekend came where we put together some final reports, debriefs, and also said our goodbyes to the St Bernard Project staff.

Throughout our time here we've heard about many experiences through the storm, first-hand accounts. I was also able to see some pictures which I included in an earlier entry. However, we were really able to see what it was like when our team watched a home video of the flood itself that is on YouTube.

I'm including it here. What you'll see in the video is very much like how it was described by many of the residents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQkksAVBezc

Of course, we also had to move out of Camp Hope this morning. Packing and cleaning took a good while, and we had some sad moments saying brief goodbyes to other teams who are remaining at the camp. However, before then, this weekend we had a fantastic game of soccer against our fellow badger team, a rematch game of sorts after our first game of ultimate frisbee about a month ago against them. In true team spirit, we all decided to wear the same shirts, which happened to be a Global Youth Service Day T that we received during our Day of Service. We didn't win, but the fact still remains that we take awesome pictures:

Next Project: Summer of Service: WASHINGTON DC!

I just realized I haven't put this up here yet. Our team is one of three teams heading to DC for a program called Summer of Service. We'll be living in D.C. for two months and serving as Crew Leaders to 14-17 year olds who will be participating in various service projects in the DC area throughout the summer. I'm super pumped and I can't wait to get going, and to be in DC.

This next two rounds will be a bit different than normal. Since this is a specific summer program , we will have a mini-project in Baltimore for about three weeks with an environmental project called Parks and People. For this project we will be commuting from our Perry Point campus. After that, we'll be moving to DC for the second half of the round, where we'll stay until the end of the first half of third round. So the DC project takes up two rounds, it just changes things around a bit. At the end of third round we will have another shorter project to finish off, which will bring us to Fourth Round, still to be decided.

As sad as we are to be leaving this project, the team is excited to be heading back to Perry Point and living in the houses again. Not to mention we'll be greeted with some much more pleasant weather than it was two months ago when we left.

More soon...

Site Supervisor: A Day in the Life

Our final day of work was Thursday. We do have a final debriefing coming up on Monday with the staff, but in regards to the house, we wrapped everything up there. We've created a Day in the Life as part of a reflection, and I figured I'd include here as well to give you an idea of what the average day was like for a site supervisor. Enjoy!

Site Supervisor: A Day in the Life

What is for breakfast?

Should I pack a lunch or an MRE?

Where are we working?

How is this done?

How many volunteers will I have?

How can I teach them when I just learned last week?

What's a chop saw?

These are just a few of the many questions in the heads of Badger 6 site supervisors, and this is before we've even arrived at work. The typical day of a site supervisor on the St. Bernard Project tends to get fairly busy, and just one day is an experience that can be so positively overwhelming and productive that breeds a new story that is shared with the rest of the team on our van ride home.

The role of a site supervisor, to start out with, is to train, supervise, and work with a group of volunteers at a specific house that is being rebuilt. Each house is at various stages of the rebuilding process, and we have been (and are throughout) trained on each stage of construction. Because we are working with volunteers of different ages and skill levels, we begin each day with many questions to think about, especially considering anything can happen and everybody works differently.

Objective Number 1: Unlock the house, organize our tools, plug in the electricity, and break out the plan.

We've got about 15-30 minutes before volunteers arrive, and a plan needs to come to fruition.

Objective Number 2: Introductions and Orientation

Typically, we have very little to no information about the people now standing in front of us. It's time to break out the duct-tape name-tags and break some serious ice. These people are probably excited to get going, but we've got a mission: to immerse them into our world and the homeowner's story and get a grasp of what will be happening and what will be accomplished this week and why. Trust us, by the end of the week these folks will be happy when they can remember everyone's name and install dry-wall while feeling comfortable enough around each other to sing their guilty pleasures from the radio out loud and proud.

Objective Number 3: Train

So we just learned this yesterday. Now we've got to show our volunteers how to stagger a butt seam and feather mud over tape. What does that mean, you ask? Good question, you'll have to ask our volunteers, because now they know, and somehow we've managed to teach them.

Objective Number 4: Supervise

So now the volunteers have gotten the hang of it, right? Wrong. Our job isn't done. There is always that one person who wasn't paying attention, and couple of others who have already done this before and will start doing things their own way. It's time to keep an eye out and work alongside until everyone is on the same page. The process in which we rebuild is important, and as a site supervisor, we've got to emphasize that while also recognizing volunteer strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is an asset, and we can only work efficiently if we are working as a team.

Objective Number 5: Safety

This house may have a homeowner, but for the moment, this our house. We've got to keep things organized and clean, make it a safe environment for volunteers, inform them of safety precautions and gear, understand volunteer allergies and restrictions, and make sure they know how to use the tools and take plenty of water breaks.

Objective Number 6: CAP

We wouldn't be Badgers if we didn't love talking about how incredible we are. Typically, we'll talk about about this during our introductions and orientation, but it's always fun to talk about NCCC. In most cases, volunteers will ask many questions anyway, so its best we stay on our "A" game. Pun intended.

Objective Number 7: Keep Everyone Busy and Having Fun

There's typically a lot to do, but a big part of our job is to make sure people aren't bored or just standing around. "Getting Things Done" applies not just for us but also for our amazing volunteers. Crank up the radio, get messy, and work together, and you've got the essentials for a fantastic work-day. In short, your volunteers will be requesting a break so you can reteach huckabucks so they can go home and show their family and friends what they learned from their site supervisors.

-- Follow all these simple objectives, and you've completed the average workday for a St. Bernard Project Site Supervisor. 4:00pm will roll around, and its time to begin clean up. We wrap up with our volunteers 4:30pm, give our congratulations on a job well-done, and take a breather as we do some final clean-up and lock-up until 5PM, when we wait for our fearless Team Leader to arrive in the van lovingly referred to as the DuckBoat. Our van ride back consists of stories of our day, our volunteers, our frustrations, and accomplishments. It's been quite a day, and as we look at each other in astonishment over what we've completed, we realize what we're now capable of. We can totally do this! So, did anyone find out about that chop saw thingy?