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: