It was our last week in Flint, Michigan and 4 days left of working on the bright orange hallway that seemed never ending. All 9 members of Cedar 4 worked tirelessly priming, trimming, and painting the hallway that would inevitably get abused by the residents who walk down them daily. When we first got to the project the walls were drawn on, punched through, etc. Some residents liked the orange and were not pleased that they were being changed for various reasons. Some actually liked the orange opposed to the new colors of “Coconut Milk & Coffee Milk” as we referred to them while others actually were part of the reason that orange was originally chosen. Others felt that it wasn’t necessary to paint because it was just going to get destroyed. We came into work one morning to find that someone had keyed the wall. Even though it was only the primer it is still discouraging.
Our last day of work was definitely an experience to remember. On the last day all 9 of us were working diligently on the orange hallway in hopes of finishing at least one hallway before we left. I was setting my roller into the paint tray when Amanda asked me “Can you hear that? I think they are fighting.” Being so close to the laundry room I could barely even hear myself think. All of a sudden Amanda throws down her roller and sprints towards the elevator to find our Team Leader. She had just witnessed a domestic assault. From what she could hear it sounded as if a woman was being choked by a man. We contacted our supervisors and they came and took care of the situation. What surprised me the most was that the woman went back to the door of the apartment. One of my teammates told me that she probably went back because she had no other place to live and that was her option. The cops were called and due to the lack of police officers in the area they arrived four hours later to find the individual away from his apartment. We had our final debrief with our sponsor, finished as much of the hallway as we could, cleaned up one final time at KMS and headed back to our housing to cook, clean, disassemble our beds, and pack up all of our stuff. I acquired quite a bit of stuff over the 6 weeks so packing was a bit of a challenge however I made it work. Better pack lighter next time!
We left for Iowa Friday April 29th at 7am. Well at least we tried to. Concentrating so much on making sure we didn’t take anything with us including the keys to the Boys & Girls Club we forgot to unlock the gate for us to leave which left us stranded until the executive director came to let us out. It took us just under 10 hours to get back to Iowa which landed us in Vinton around 4:30pm (CST). We unloaded the van, grocery shopped for the week, and visited with old friends who we haven’t seen in weeks.
Saturday Cedar 4 worked with Maple 4 about an hour away from Vinton at Pilgrim Heights Camp and Retreat Center in Montour, Iowa. We helped move sticks, branches, and leaves to clean up the grounds and cleaned up the bunks to get the camp ready for the upcoming season as a one day service project to celebrate AmeriCorps Week.
Saturday night a bunch of us went to Golf Right (What I like to call my place away from the bamboo J) and hung out with old friends. There a few places in Vinton one can go as far as night life goes and this is by far my favorite, I can relax there. Sunday a bunch of us went to Cedar Rapids to prepare for our trip to South Dakota. Sunscreen, bug spray, among other things which are needed to “survive” in rural South Dakota were on our shopping lists. This week is full of trainings, debriefings, briefings, packing, cleaning, and lots more driving.
After meeting with our Unit Leader I found out that after our summer break our midyear transition we are in Vinton until July 18th when we depart for round 3. The best part about this is the demolition derby is the 16th of July and I am trying to get a car. There is also a roll over contest but I don’t want to push my luck. I called the Benton County Speedway and they are sending me the information and the name of a salvage yard in Independence, Iowa that could potentially put a car together for me so I am wicked excited and hope that it all works out but I will definitely keep you updated.
XoXo
-Katy-
