Only 3 months left of AmeriCorps and these blogs

After spending 3 weeks in Joplin doing disaster relief my Team Leader chose me to be one of the Corps members staying back in Joplin to help train the 4 new teams from Vinton, IA who were taking over the project. I departed ways with Cedar 4 while they headed back to campus for mid year training JW, Melissa, and myself headed to Quapaw, OK where the new teams would be living for the duration of their project. Quapaw is only about 30 minutes away from Joplin so the commute wouldn’t be too much but it was longer than our commute from Carl Junction. The camp that we were living on was a camp for disadvantaged youth and their camp season had ended. The property included a pool and hot tub, horses, and even a herd of buffalo.

The new teams arrived that evening and training began the next morning. I actually loved facilitating the trainings alongside with FEMA because it is something that I want to do in the future. My career goals of working in student affairs will require me to facilitate trainings to the students in many areas so it was a great experience helping 40+ individuals learn a new skill that I myself had only learned 3 weeks earlier. After spending a few extra days in Joplin we traveled back to Vinton and spent the weekend before reuniting with our teams on Monday August 8^th. It was great to be back in Vinton and I can’t wait to go back.

Ok now onto our Round 3 project. Chisago City, Minnesota. JW, Melissa, & I pulled up to the White Pine Lodge to find Cedar 4 working diligently on our new home for the next 5 weeks. Our cabin had to be scraped, painted, and the screen porch was dismantled and replaced.








So far we have painted 4 cabins and are continuing work on others. We worked at the Ki-Chi-Saga festival this past weekend and I had the opportunity to judge a car show with Sheldon & Natalie. Below are some pictures of my favorites!

It was a hard weekend to miss on Nantucket because it was the infamous Demo weekend that I have driven in since I was 15 and having never missed the derby before it was very sad day. My family did great in the derby taking home 4+ trophies to add to the Manchester trophy shelf. Unfortunately a driver was severely injured when his car burst into flames. It is the worst injury at the derby since my cousin got his hand caught in the steering wheel over 10 years ago. (Contrary to our local newspaper that stated there have been a few broken necks over the years that is completely untrue). Hopefully he recovers quickly and prayers are sent to him and his family.

Here are some pictures from the derby!

This weekend I am meeting up with some of the Minnesota Conservation Corps members we met in Joplin and are going to the Vikings/Cowboys Pre-season game. I am wicked excited since I haven’t been to a professional game in years plus it will be warm. Most Patriot’s games are in the dead of winter and its FREEZING. The following weekend (Labor Day Weekend) I am headed back to Vinton for my own mini vacation. There is a derby in Blairstown that weekend that I am going to (I need my derby fix!)

We are headed back to Vinton for transition Sept 9^th and head out on our round 4 project (our final project) and will be headed back to Minnesota, Loretto to be exact. We will be working at a YMCA camp in Minneapolis until October 15^th. The project is only a month long and we are not quite sure yet what we will be doing between October 15^th and graduation but are hoping to find out soon.

I had my Team Leader interview on August 10^th. I am waiting to hear back for a second interview for the Support Team Leader position in the Programming Office and I am getting nervous that I will not hear but that’s my natural reaction. I am crossing my fingers and toes!

That’s all for now!

Katy