Et cetera : AmeriCorps NCCC-FEMA Corps Team Spruce 3 Serving in Missouri

Genevieve, Ashley and Steven prepare chicken at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen for MLK Day

Several FEMA Corps campuses come together on their ‘Valentine’s Day Dinner’ for crafts and fun

By Chrissy Diers

Round two is wrapping up for Spruce 3! The team left Vinton, Iowa and arrived the first week of January at the Joint Field Office in Jefferson City, Missouri. They were greeted by a beautiful hotel chalked full of other FEMA Corps members and FEMA employees. Upon arrival, Spruce 3 was the new kid on the block and joined several other repeat FEMA Corps teams not only from the Vinton campus but also from the Vicksburg, Mississippi and Baltimore, Maryland campuses.

The Joint Field Office here in Missouri is mainly focused on Public Assistance at this point and that is what most of our counterparts were doing. Spruce 3, however, only had a few teammates who were moved into that section once their role in a different department was completed. At the office we had 7 members spanning the 3 floors working in Information Technology, Logistics, Public Assistance, Planning, and Human Resources. The team liked having a set schedule , serving from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., unlike what they had while serving in Colorado. This schedule also included serving 5 days a week with weekends off and the occasional snow day as the country, especially the Midwest, got hammered with severe weather systems. This particular schedule gave the team an opportunity to regroup and decompress easier than in round one.

Due to their schedules, Spruce 3 has been able to serve on more independent service projects (ISPs). On Martin Luther King Day, a cold Saturday morning, the team served with the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, making and serving food to the residents and walk ins to the facility. The whole team was satisfied with their work and being able to once again see their service being appreciated. A few members were also able to join members of Spruce 2 and Pine 4 in serving at an animal shelter walking dogs, cleaning kennels and washing a family of puppies! The team’s project outreach liaisons are looking forward to setting up a few more ISPs for the team before the end of the round. All in all, the overall morale of the team and service completed during the project is high. The team is enjoying the interaction with so many more FEMA Corps members and expanding networks and friendships.