Service, Adventures, and the End of Round 1

Green 2 Holiday Flip Book

Happy Holidays From Green 2!

Having a Sierra Nevada Journey at Grizzly Creek Ranch

I am now a full three weeks through my first project as an AmeriCorps NCCC Team Leader. It has been a bit of an adjustment getting better acquainted with the project life of a Team Leader as opposed to the project life of a Corps Member. Work on this project has been a bit of a struggle and I have to make sure to always to keeping one step ahead of the project list, always anticipating when a project will be complete so we are ready for the next agenda item. Work is constantly changing and we are flying through projects.

Some work we have done includes...

Fuel Reduction, using chainsaws and buck up "ladder fuel" on the forest floor

Then splitting that wood and transferring it down to the camp to be used as firewood

Installing snow poles along the road to camp so that the driveway can be plowed when it snows

(Break time)

Refinishing outdoor furniture (Before)

(During)

Refinishing camp entry archways

And all sorts of other odds and ends.

In other news, yesterday was both our midsite visit and my birthday! It was the best birthday present to have Katie and Jeanine come visit. And hopefully the meetings during the visit will prove helpful in making the second half of our project as successful as possible.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

After an easy arrival at Grizzly Creek Ranch on a beautiful sunny day, a blanket of snow transformed the landscape at our new home. Our first night at Camp we accompanied camp staff and a middle school group on a night hike through the snow and we awoke the next morning in a winter wonderland with a day full of shoveling ahead of us. But I am getting ahead of myself, no where in this explanation is there any account of the gigantic snowball pictured above. The first prank of the Green 2 year was upon us when the girls found ourselves nearly trapped in our cabin by this monstrosity.

Luckily there was a back door to the cabin and the snowball proved entertaining to all involved.

With the snow our first few days were a little different than originally planned. But by the second week at camp we were finally able to participate in the camp's challenge course led by GCR staff educators Denise and Adam. It was an absolutely wonderful day for the team: challenging for the group and for individuals, and fun for all.

Particularly exciting was the end of the day on the alpine tower (pictured below) and an element called the flying squirrel, where we sent eachother (safely) flying into the air.

Grizzly Creek Ranch is absolutely beautiful and while the education staff is still here it is wonderful to have other young and adventurous people around. Sadly they are all slowly leaving for the season and we are quickly becoming the only people around.

The work here has been moving fairly slowly and has been hard to find at times. I find there is a lot to be done, but not a great understanding of how to organize the work that surrounds us. Still, the team is flying through projects and finding ways to enjoy our time in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas.

Trips to Reno have proved entertaining as well. Our first week of work included a trip to the Sierra Nevada Journeys Offices in Reno. It was wonderful to meet the rest of the SNJ staff and learn more about all of the work the organization accomplishes in the Reno area. Each staff member talked to us about their hopes for the future of SNJ and then all joined us for a pizza lunch and game of two truths and a lie. The trip to the office was followed by exploring downtown and grocery shopping. We will continue to drive to Reno once a week for groceries, as the one market in Portola, "Leonards" is hardly in our price range. Portola as a town has very little to offer though the team has been drawn in by a few thrift stores in town.

NCCC Has Hops

One of the Class XVIII Corps Members made this video and showed it at our final Community Meeting at the end of CTI. My dance ended up on the cutting room floor, but I still thoroughly enjoy the video and hope you all do. Video Credit goes to Corey from Silver 5.

Camp Mendocino CTI Mini Spike

Three Days in Photographs...

Green 2's Pumpkin: "The AmeriFlu"

The Next Generation of Green 2

We are now nearing the end of Corps Training Institute (CTI) and just days away from Induction and deployment for our first project. The past few weeks I have had the great pleasure of getting to know my team, the next generation of Green 2. It has been an unbelievably busy few weeks, stressful and full of a never ending to do list, but I am very happy with the team I have and think we have a wonderful year ahead of us.

On October 13^th we had our Team Reveal night. The Corps Members had been in Sacramento for a week at this point. For the first week we were in temporary teams called Pods. My Pod was great and made a pretty easy practice round for me. Then with the start of team time, the real work began. This year the Green Unit had adopted a bit of a teenage mutant ninja turtles theme. Our Unit cheer is based off of the show’s theme song and inspired by this cheer we decided to make our Team Reveal have a ninja theme as well.

Once the Corps Members were split into units, each person in our unit received an envelope that contained a colored face mask and clue to begin a scavenger hunt to find the Team Leader. My Team had yellow face masks and so at each clue location throughout their hunt they would find a sketch of a ninja turtle wearing a yellow face mask. The hunt ended in our big multipurpose room on campus where a dinner table was set up for each team with place tags and decorations.

Green Unit Ninjas (Minus Pam and Katie) and our Unit Leader, Jeanine

Then once every team had arrived the Team Leaders ran in together dressed in all black and wearing our color facemask. We then did the cheer: “NCCC gives us the power, safety shields us every hour, Jeanine ensures we never cower, Service in an “A” shirt, Green Power!” Then we joined our teams, had introductions, and ate a pizza dinner.

Since that night we have spent time in teams and trainings, getting to better know the program and each other. The most notable training for the team include our first day together for a workshop called “Hands of Peace” and our day of training on Diversity in Service. Hands of Peace was a particularly big day for me because it is a workshop facilitated entirely by Team Leaders. I was paired up with Ben, the Team Leader of Blue 6, and our day was definitely a success. The workshop is dedicated to working on communication techniques, particularly as they pertain to team life. This also includes techniques for conflict resolution. In the process the team has an opportunity to share and learn about themselves and each other. And most of all, it is Fun! The day is broken up by "light and lively" games to keep everyone energized and upbeat.

Green 2 and Blue 6 completing a Human Knot at Hands of Peace

As I mentioned, diversity in service was another important training for our team. This training presented an even greater opportunity to share about life and backgrounds and some really amazing things were discussed in my team. This was harder for some and easy for others, but it certainly brought the team closer together and brought about a better understanding of each individual on the team.

On Saturday, October 22nd, we had our first service day together. It was for a Corps Wide service day in Sacramento called Make a Difference Day. The day focuses specifically on work with community gardens in the Sacramento area. My team had certainly one of the more challenging day long projects and worked wonderfully together, pushing themselves particularly hard at the end of the day. We worked with Elderberry Farms Native Plant Nursery. The Nursery is currently expanding their facilities and needed our help to prepare the ground where the extension was going. The team cleared and leveled 960 square feet of land adjacent to the current nursery. Within this space, Corps Members dug 100 feet of trench line and assisted with the assembly of 100 feet of irrigation line then placed in the trench line. Once this was complete, the team lay weed cloth over the area and covered the cloth with a three- inch-deep layer of gravel. Green 2 was also able to dig out three post holes, each two feet deep, and cement eight foot post into place. Together the team completed 99 hours of service for the Elderberry Native Plant Nursery. It was hot and the work was hard, but the team really pulled it off wonderfully, working hard right up until the last second.

Once we got back from work that evening, the team had a chance to shower and relax a bit before a team meeting. I started the meeting as I would any other meeting. We discussed schedule and paperwork and then decided on meals for the week. Then it was time for me to reveal to the team what our first project would be! For Round 1 (Starting November 3rd) we will be working with an organization called Sierra Nevada Journeys. The organization does Outdoor education for kids. We will be working at their Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola, CA doing fuel reduction, camp improvement projects, and assisting with camp programs when they occur. If you remember from posts during my Corps Member year, this is the same camp that I went to for the Summer of Service overnight. I loved the camp then and am quite sure I will love it again!

To reveal this to the team, they had to take pictures including every team member doing the following...

Human Pyramid

Form a Heart

Be a Wacky Family on Vacation

Show Me Your Best Dance Moves

As they finished each picture, they could remove the panel for that picture and reveal part of the poster pictured below. Each panel also included key words about the project on the back. When these were put in order they told the team what the project was.

After the team had cracked the code, I told them a little more about the project and showed them a video on the sponsor website from the president of the organization talking about inspirations and necessity for the work that Sierra Nevada Journeys does. Some team members were a little worried about the snow inevitable in the mountains, but everyone is really excited for the project and can't wait to get out and start working.

Green 2 with no feet on the ground in front of the California State Capitol Building during Community Mapping