Et cetera : AmeriCorps Maple 7 members help rebuild a community

The team after removing a level of flooring

Corps Member Rachel Evans receives thanks from a grateful flood victim.

Jonathon Howe works to beautify a playground set at the town park.

A team of ten AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) members just completed a two week project, from May 19 to June 2, 2011, with South Troy Restoration, Lutheran Social Services and the City of Zumbro Falls. The NCCC team, Maple 7, worked on restoring a historical schoolhouse and log cabin, restoring civilian homes from flood damage and participating in flood cleanup and beautification of the towns damaged areas.

Maple 7 Member Randy Lawson from Atlanta, Georgia is twenty-four years old and joined AmeriCorps NCCC because he wants to help people who are less fortunate than him and give back.

This project has allowed Randy to grow closer to the team and grow as a person. Randy feels he is becoming a better person than he was by helping people. Prior to joining AmeriCorps NCCC, Randy thought that the ultimate goal was to make money but through helping people has realized “helping people is more important.”

Team Maple 7 focused on individual homes by removing rotten levels of flooring, cleaning up debris outside of homes, and participating in Care Fest. Care Fest is a community event hosted by Lutheran Social Services that brings community members together to clean up the flood damaged areas of the town. The team worked eight hours to remove debris from the river bank and burn excess wood. Under the supervision of the City of Zumbro Falls, the team worked on the town’s park by creating the wooden perimeter of the playground, raking loads of gravel, hauling branches and logs, and sanding and painting the playground equipment. The team finished the project in South Troy by painting a one room school house, chinking the interior and exterior of a historic cabin and trimmed trees on the property.

During each project, Maple 7 participates in Individual Service Projects (ISPs)-community service activities apart from our regular work. The teams only ISP in Minnesota was with the Med-City Marathon in Rochester, MN from May 28-May 29. The team helped with race registration on May 28th when the marathon hosted a runner’s convention at the Mayo Civic Center. On May 29th, the team helped pass out medals, supply beverages and remove runner’s chips at the finish line of the marathon. Overall, Maple 7 is striving towards success!

Extended caption for pic 1:

The team after removing a level of flooring from Left to Right Starting with the top row. Jon Howe, Randy Lawson, Nick Wollack, Ryan Skiff, Brian Wolf,Rachel Evans, Alanna Taylor, Cynthia Smith, Brigid Hunt, and Sabrina Hassan.