The Earth Crew

When SOS started, we entered the busiest and most exhausting three week's of the entire AmeriCorps experience. We were working six days a week for about 11 hours a day and constantly in charge of great but also energetic and sassy teenagers. And all of this was during the hottest days we have experienced all year. Even our days off were not truly days off, as we had grocery shopping for our crews, paperwork to complete, and team fun days to plan. Busy Busy Busy!

My Crew, the source of my constant entertainment and stress, was the Earth Crew. Allison and I led this group of eight for the three weeks. We were sometimes incredibly impressed and sometimes incredibly frustrated, but overall, they did great work and we were able to see real growth in several of our participants who gained a lot from the experience.

(Left to Right) Isaac, Camay, Me, Allison, Jahzale, and Jenobah covering over graffiti at a housing development owned by the Salvation Army

Anthanisha, Dominique, and Randy working in the kitchen at our Primary Sponsor: St. John's Shelter for Women and Children

Dominique, Camay, Jenna, Anthanisha, and Jahzale at the park on our Team Fun Day

Bowling for Team Fun: Anthanisha, Jenna, and Camay

Team Building Exercises: The Swamp Game

Team Building: Magic Carpet

The Crew working at Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. We packed 745 food bags that day!

Camay and Jahzale at the Boys and Girls Club where we cleaned out a storage closet and found a disorganized box of prom dresses

Miniature Horse at St. John's on one our of last days of working there

For our Crew's "Legacy Project" we fixed up three benches in the yard. This is a bench before...

During...

...and After!

We had left our Mark

Graduation Day: The Crew with their Paper Plate Awards