Et cetera : AmeriCorps NCCC continues service at Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area

Kellye Howard teaches kids how to blow bubbles at the Dragonboat Festival.

David Vega weeds and thins a carrot bed at Solway Elementary.

Since July 18, the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team, Cedar 3, has served at the Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area, in addition to Oak Hills Christian College. The team has been extremely busy during their time in Bemidji, Minnesota, serving as program staff at the BGCBA, which includes helping with over 100 youth per day. They’ve also performed maintenance repairs to the building, painting three walls and replacing eight floor times, as well as cleaning the gym floor and creating various children’s games. Additionally, they spend one morning a week tending to the garden at Solway Elementary, where they have weeded over five garden beds and have harvested about 35 pounds of produce.

“A child told me he was going to be homeless and it broke my heart,” says Kellye Howard, Cedar 3 member. “The service we’ve done has been extremely eye-opening and I’ve gained a different perspective on life…the Boys & Girls Club is a lot of these kids’ safe place, it’s a home they can’t afford to lose and we have to help preserve that for them.”

At Oak Hills Christian College, the team deep cleaned nine apartments, two hallways, two entry ways, two laundry rooms and one sitting area, in addition to seven garages to prepare for the upcoming year. They sanded and painted four patios and two picnic benches, in addition to painting two walls, seven doors and six doorframes. The team also removed a chain-link fence and built a wooden one instead.

Next on the list for is planning a Community Service Day at the Bemidji Community Food Shelf, weeding their 4.5 acre garden as well as harvesting, washing and weighing produce.

Cedar 3 is serving in Bemidji until Sept. 1.