WOW! Has it really been over 2 weeks since my last post? OUCH! I guess these 50-60 hour weeks are really catching up on me. The full effects of being a team leader have truly kicked into gear! Let me tell you, these last couple weeks have been memorable and definitely unforgettable.
Since I have a lot of updating to do, I will begin what has occurred here in Vicksburg, MS starting at the beginning of this week (Monday, August 31st) all the way through the official first week of round 1 of projects. On the eve of Hurricane Katrina anniversary, River 3 celebrated their first team birthday…Miss Alleigh Wickert first on the list and we went out as a team to celebrate by going to LD’s. LD’s was a restaurant right along the Yazoo River and we had a nice family meal with a birthday cake that teammate Becca made for everyone. We ended up doing a practice run for the Induction ceremony that would be taken place next Tuesday. On this day, I got budget trained by Dot and Joy. I just got to make sure I am not a penny over on the final receipt turn in at the end of the round (October 23rd). Catering ended on Friday which meant each CM and TL was given 15 dollars per day for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday…that led up to project departure on Wednesday.
Lots of anticipation, anxiousness, and overall happiness poured through myself, other team leaders, the corps members, and especially River 3! We were ready to embark on the next step into our Americorps NCCC journey. BRING ON THE VICKSBURG FIRE DEPARTMENT!
August 31st (Monday)
- as of today, CTI (corps training institution) was officially over with! No more trainings, now it was more focused on getting prepped for leaving
- the night before, we got project briefed by Jen Prall on the all corps service project in the remote areas of Vicksburg
o my team as well as River 1 got together and went to the Redwood Kidz Club in Redwood, MS (suburb of Vicksburg)
o we dug trenches and holes for the Methodist Church’s pavilion that will be built in roughly 5 weeks
o at lunch, we definitely got the southern hospitality with turkey, ham sandwiches, chips, desserts, drinks, and salads!
- we worked at the Redwood Kidz Club until 3 PM because the Team Leader’s had to be back along with one member of their team
o I chose my Assistant Team Leader, Mike, because that was the only fair way
- Getting into our Ameri-tuxedos…we looked GOOD! Hopped into the van with 4 other teams and headed to Jackson, MS for the VIP dinner and display board showing
- every team had to complete a display board of their first round projects to be showcased, along with brief descriptions of each of the members on the team
- Mike and I as well as the other 13 team leaders and their honorary corps member got the chance to shake hands with several men and women of the Vicksburg and Jackson area, some were sponsors, some worked for Americorps headquarters
- We ate wonderfully, food from beef to oysters to crawfish, we were fed handsomely; while the rest of the corps had a pizza party back on campus
- After the end of a very exhausting day, we traveled in our van back to Vicksburg when all of the sudden Mike got our team van stuck in the mud!
o We had to park the 15-passenger vans on the soccer field because of various important guests that were going to be at induction
o What a disaster trying to get it out! We spent nearly an hour and half trying to get it unstuck with the help of other team leaders; when all the sudden we saw how late it was and we would handle the issue tomorrow
- what a crazy ending to a day…right?
Since I have a lot of updating to do, I will begin what has occurred here in Vicksburg, MS starting at the beginning of this week (Monday, August 31st) all the way through the official first week of round 1 of projects. On the eve of Hurricane Katrina anniversary, River 3 celebrated their first team birthday…Miss Alleigh Wickert first on the list and we went out as a team to celebrate by going to LD’s. LD’s was a restaurant right along the Yazoo River and we had a nice family meal with a birthday cake that teammate Becca made for everyone. We ended up doing a practice run for the Induction ceremony that would be taken place next Tuesday. On this day, I got budget trained by Dot and Joy. I just got to make sure I am not a penny over on the final receipt turn in at the end of the round (October 23rd). Catering ended on Friday which meant each CM and TL was given 15 dollars per day for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday…that led up to project departure on Wednesday.
Lots of anticipation, anxiousness, and overall happiness poured through myself, other team leaders, the corps members, and especially River 3! We were ready to embark on the next step into our Americorps NCCC journey. BRING ON THE VICKSBURG FIRE DEPARTMENT!
August 31st (Monday)
- as of today, CTI (corps training institution) was officially over with! No more trainings, now it was more focused on getting prepped for leaving
- the night before, we got project briefed by Jen Prall on the all corps service project in the remote areas of Vicksburg
o my team as well as River 1 got together and went to the Redwood Kidz Club in Redwood, MS (suburb of Vicksburg)
o we dug trenches and holes for the Methodist Church’s pavilion that will be built in roughly 5 weeks
o at lunch, we definitely got the southern hospitality with turkey, ham sandwiches, chips, desserts, drinks, and salads!
- we worked at the Redwood Kidz Club until 3 PM because the Team Leader’s had to be back along with one member of their team
o I chose my Assistant Team Leader, Mike, because that was the only fair way
- Getting into our Ameri-tuxedos…we looked GOOD! Hopped into the van with 4 other teams and headed to Jackson, MS for the VIP dinner and display board showing
- every team had to complete a display board of their first round projects to be showcased, along with brief descriptions of each of the members on the team
- Mike and I as well as the other 13 team leaders and their honorary corps member got the chance to shake hands with several men and women of the Vicksburg and Jackson area, some were sponsors, some worked for Americorps headquarters
- We ate wonderfully, food from beef to oysters to crawfish, we were fed handsomely; while the rest of the corps had a pizza party back on campus
- After the end of a very exhausting day, we traveled in our van back to Vicksburg when all of the sudden Mike got our team van stuck in the mud!
o We had to park the 15-passenger vans on the soccer field because of various important guests that were going to be at induction
o What a disaster trying to get it out! We spent nearly an hour and half trying to get it unstuck with the help of other team leaders; when all the sudden we saw how late it was and we would handle the issue tomorrow
- what a crazy ending to a day…right?
September 1st (Tuesday)
- INDUCTION DAY!
- Van still stuck!
- First things first was a community meeting that was put on by River 4 and Delta 4
- River 3 changed into our formal uniforms and loaded into a replacement 15 passenger van; it was either that or driving 2 minivans to the Vicksburg Convention Center
- Since lunch was going to be a crunch, fellow team leader Jo and I bolted with a corps member to Subway and took orders from the team while they cleaned, polished, their boots and made sure their shirts and pants were ironed.
- We managed to pull it off with a couple minutes to spare, swung back around to the front porch and picked up the team and headed to the Convention Center; everyone ate in the van on the way there.
- Arrived at the venue and set-up a table with our display boards; the CAPpers and Media Representatives stood by the table talking to on-lookers about what we would be doing 1st round, while the rest of the team stood and listened to a live press conference
- When the press conference was over, we all gathered into our induction lines and got prepared for the ceremony.
- Single-filed lines we danced our way into Induction and took our seats; corps member Gary was the MC for the afternoon; with special reflections from Michelle Pyne (was on my temp team) and Peter (nicknamed: “sunshine” because he is always smiling) was apart of the Ameri-choir that sang the National Anthem
- Induction ceremony lasted for about 1.5 hours; my buddies from Perry Point campus last year, Molly and Kelsea, drove up from Biloxi to see the induction and to see me J It was so awesome seeing them again.
- Molly and Kelsea were going to be one of the sponsors for the teams down in Biloxi this first round
- I got the opportunity to talk to the O’Keefe family, Jim and Jannie are the sponsors we will be talking to the last 3 weeks of Round 1. I got to ask them a couple questions pertaining the project with them; some of River 3 members got to meet them and they were super nice, excited about to help them!
- After the termination of induction, there was a dessert and drink gathering that everyone took part of. CONGRATS TO ALL THAT GOT INDUCTED!!
- Drove back to campus and that is when I changed out of my formal clothes and headed back down to the soccer field and helped pull the van out of the thick mud
- Teams that had to travel the next day got packed, cleaned their rooms, and loaded their vans in preparation to leaving on time tomorrow morning
- Our team didn’t have to do much packing other than being ready to move rooms in the event that the River Unit would indeed be moving rooms; was later told that the River Unit won’t be moving rooms until end of first round and during transition
- clocked in with another 10 hour work day!
September 2nd (Wednesday)
- ADIOS teams! All non-local teams depart!
- Got to say goodbyes to some of my Ameri-friends but not everyone. Everything happened to quickly
- What a frazzled, crazy, and hectic morning trying to get everything and everyone in check
- River 3 hopped into the van for our first day of 1st round and drove to the Fire Department for check-in
- Met with sponsor Mark Hales at the station and without further instruction we loaded all the supplies in the pick-up truck and headed towards the first subdivision
o Just to remind you…for the first 5 weeks of our round, we will be going around to local subdivisions and painting house numbers on curbs
o The goal they wanted us to complete is 608.
o Really didn’t need an orientation considering we received a tour of the fire station a week ago
- every workday we will be doing the numbers, there is an assigned fire fighter private that is watching us and directing any busy traffic’
- to ensure further into our safety, we are all required to wear neon green/yellow vests that drivers can see us
- the first neighborhood our team was going to tackle was Wildwood (about 3 miles from campus roughly)
- Sponsor Mark initially had told me over the phone that this process was going to be trial and error, but it seemed our team got a grasp on it from the get-go
o We divided into groups quickly and efficiently…two groups of 3 begin painting a white rectangle on the curbs, while then two groups of 2 followed behind with the stencils and black spray paint
o In the meantime, I was supervising and every so often would step-in for a member that needed a water break
- we actually ended the day early and didn’t know what to do, what UL Neal told us to do was come back to campus and do a service learning reflection exercise to fill up the day
- Roughly 98 houses had been painted numbers on the curbs which was a HUGE increase from what the sponsor had imagined us doing; they averaged it out to be 17.5 houses per day, but we for sure exceeded that amount!
- I was very proud of all my River 3 members for their hard work ethic and getting things done! The subdivision we knocked out that day was actually supposed to take one week…WAY ahead of schedule!
- When we got back the team composed a grocery list and what we would be making for dinner the rest of the week
- Lan, our Food POC, Ryan, Brendan, and myself climbed into the van and went food shopping…our FIRST team grocery shopping!
- Got back an hour and a half later and made some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and chicken noodle soup; we were even 40 dollars under budget!
- During dinner we dissected the day and prepared for tomorrow’s work day, meet at the van at 8:10 AM!
September 3rd (Thursday)
- First organized morning team PT
- woke up and had to handle some logistically things in the morning before loading up for work
- arrived at the FD at 8:25 AM reporting in for work
- drove off with another Fire Fighter private to the next subdivision and began painting numbers on curbs; this neighborhood was bigger than the first and the houses were spaced out farther than the other
- This time there were over one-hundred houses that River 3 pounded out; over one-third of our 5 week project was done in only 2 days! WOW…we were on a pace to paint over 3,000 residencies in the city of Vicksburg
- Ended the day with smiles on our faces after accomplishing a lot that day
- Came back to campus and helped Delta 5 team unload beds in the dorms to Johnson Hall (this dorm was finally finished and the Delta Unit would be moving into there pretty soon)
- Spent about 2 hours taking off bed frames, loading mattresses into trucks, and organizing them into Johnson
- Overall another tiring day, I guess we will have to get used to the September southern heat in the days to come J
September 4th (Friday)
- prepping for that 3-day Labor Day weekend
- woke up for work and headed towards the van at 8 AM
- went back to put the final touches on the Sky Farm subdivision from the day before and then moved onto 2 more neighborhoods and knocked those out with no problems
- our team works really hard once they see the prize ahead of them (eyes on the prize)
- as of totals in 3 days, our team has done over 500 houses which is nearing our goal of 608…GREAT WORK!
- Sponsor, Mark made sure we were accounted for by bringing us several black spray paint cans, our only supply issue is stencils, the paper stencils we are using stick together easily and are falling apart
- As our team charter says, No Complaining! And that is what we have been doing in times like this
Labor Day weekend came and went quickly. I got to catch up on some much needed sleep and got some paper work done in the process during the 3 day break. Fellow buddy of mine (Geoff) and I were going to drive to Memphis, TN for a day and a half to hang out up there, but that fell through. Possibly next weekend? I surely miss everyone that has gone away for spikes. It has definitely been a lonely campus and at times it feels like you are the only one here. I plan on keeping in touch once the Fed Ex mailing starts up again because you have to LOVE Ameri-mail! Don’t forget to mail me J I love getting messages! After the week I talked to Mark about future plans for this project. The team suggested if it would be alright to paint numbers on curbs of the whole city of Vicksburg or at least as much as we can until the 5 weeks is up, he said that would be fine. There are roughly 29,000 residencies in the city of Vicksburg and as a team River 3 will try and get as many as we can done. The team is stoked and motivated! Mark mentioned he will have subdivision maps for us every morning during check-in and we can depart from there. BRING IT ON! I really think our team as the will-power and motivation to impact this city…plus getting tan is not a bad idea either ;)!
Until next time in which I will not wait so long in between posts…have a great week y’all!
PS. Check out the sweet pics imprinted within the blog…do you like?
PSS. Michelle's and Ben's wedding T minus
