Packed.

Whew.. these past few weeks have been such a blur! I think I started a new entry here at least 5 times, every time being pulled away by paperwork or some team event happening as we closed up our project in Hancock County. That's right, we're done, out of Mississippi and onto bigger (although better is still to be determined) things. What sorts of things, you might ask? Well... Habitat in Baton Rouge! That's right, we'll be living in Louisiana's capital city, the home of the Louisiana State University Tigers and working, again, with Habitat for Humanity building homes for families living below the poverty line.
Our last week in Hancock County was filled with so many emotions; excitement, sadness, nostalgia and anxiety over what was to come. Monday was Martin Luther King day, a day which is encouraged to be "a day on-- not a day off" meaning instead of just lounging around enjoying a day off of school/work American citizens should embrace King's message and serve their communities. AmeriCorps, being a service organization, connects its members with different organized events so, even though Habitat, our sponsor, was closed, we spent the day working. Our team went to a MLK day event sponsored by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and the group that I was a part of worked with Loaves and Fishes, a shelter which provides meals 6 days a week and church services on Sundays for homeless in the Gulfport-Biloxi community. It was a really great day of service led by a college student and we got to mingle with volunteers from the community including some other AmeriCorps teams. My group worked on painting the dining/service area of Loaves and Fishes but, luckily, we got to take a nice break to watch the MLK Day parade going down the street! This picture is of me and teammates Maria and Bailey after collecting some beads! We thought this parade was great.. we can't wait until Mardi Gras!! After the parade was over we ate lunch and our hosting MGCCC student held a reflection activity in which we discussed why we were serving (either that day or for our term of service in general) and also how we feel about MLK Day being a day "on" not a day off. It was really great to get to hear from locals about their view on service, so many of them talked about how volunteers have done so much in their communities that they feel it is their duty to give back. One girl thanked us so much, said that she wouldn't have a house if it hadn't been for AmeriCorps volunteers and told us that, even though it has been 3 years, everyone loves seeing people come down to help, it gives them hope and reminds them that people still remember this area even though other events might be taking precedence in the media. Aside from the discussion we had with the local volunteers my favorite part of the reflection activity was when a Team Leader from another team serving with us referred to our Ameriyear as a "year on, not a year off". I think that too many people assume that since we're not working "real" jobs or attending school that we're putting our lives on hold or avoiding doing some sort of assigned task. In reality, we're serving our country just like someone in the military or a government official might be.. we're just doing it in the way we see most befitting to us. I think with the close of my first project I'm getting a bit Amerisappy.. but I can honestly say that through this program I have met the most incredible, selfless people and have really discovered how much good there is when people come together to help strangers.
After Monday we went back to working with Habitat for the rest of our final week. We were helping prepare for a blitz build the next week as well as just getting to say good bye to our fantastic staff. Friday was our last day and quite a fantastic one at that. We worked until lunch at which point Habitat grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers for us and we all ate and talked for an hour or so. Our team decided that since our staff and done so many construction Olympic events for us and made us do ridiculous tasks that we would do the same for them. We created two events, the first of which was a physical challenge and the second was a written exam in which we quizzed them about NCCC policy such as how much money is each corps member allotted for food per day ($4.50) as well as questions about our team specifically like, which green 5 team members don't knit (Sam, Abe and Sarah). The end of the day held the Closing Ceremonies for the Construction Olympics. The culminating event of the Olympics was the birdhouse building competition. My partner Bailey and I built a "Birdstone"-- our birdhouse version of a Brownstone-- and we placed second out of 5! I ended up placing third overall and being awarded the Bronze metal which I will forever brag about :).

Saturday night we went out with out housing sponsors Beth and Larry (you might remember me talking about how incredible they were and how much I loved baking in Beth's oven). They took us out for dinner and told us that we'll always have a home in Pearlington. I can't imagine how they manage to stay sane having so many teams come and go through their home. We will miss their hospitality immensely as we move on in our year. The picture of us by the Pearlington sign was taken the night that we went to dinner which was, actually, the first time we had been somewhere dressed up out of uniform, as a team, since the beginning of our project! We all couldn't stop remarking about how GOOD we all looked!!
Sunday morning and promptly (more or less..) 10:30 am we left the Pearlington Recovery Center for good and headed to Camp Hope in New Orleans. In between all projects in AmeriCorps NCCC all teams get together for a few day for a period of time we refer to as Transition. During this period we have debriefs in which we talk about our project and present to our Unit Leader and some other NCCC staff members. We also have a briefing in which we talk about the project we are about to begin to the same NCCC staff members. Transition began this yesterday morning and we'll leave Thursday morning to arrive at our housing in Baton Rouge in the afternoon. We had our debrief at 10:30 this morning and along with the staff we were watched by Green 1, the team which is about to take over the project we left in Hancock County which was really great because we were able to help them understand more about what their project will be like as well as answer any questions they might have.
Whew. Like I said, the past few weeks have been a blur... but a fun blur! I can't believe that our 4th month in this program has flown by so fast and that we've already completed our first project but I can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings. Take care and stay tuned soon for more information on Green 5's second project in Baton Rouge!
love,
--Walker