Et cetera : NCCC FEMA Corps Team Hickory 5 Volunteers at a Virginia State Park

Hickory 5 Team Members, Teleia Stringfellow, Laura Finch, Alexandra Bowen, and Danielle Niles.

 By Teleia Stringfellow

On Saturday April 20, 2013, AmeriCorps NCCC- FEMA Corps members of team Hickory 5 celebrated Earth Day by participating in an Individual Service Project at the Annual Eagle Festival at Mason Neck State Park in Virginia. The festival celebrated the park’s 200 bald eagles and at least 200 people attended. Throughout the day there were live animal shows, pony rides, music, games, guided canoe tours, hay rides, and many exhibits from environmental organizations.

Hickory 5 started the morning by helping with setup. This consisted of carrying picnic tables, setting up chairs and tents and preparing recycling and trash bins. For the rest of the day the team was split up into two different jobs. Most of the members worked alongside the park rangers in directing and managing the parking lots. Those same members were tasked to help guests whose cars got stuck in the mud. The other task that was given to a team member was helping guests get in and out of the canoes for the guided canoe tours.

Mason Neck Park is ranked one of Virginia’s top parks and is also known for being a great place to bird watch. The park is 1,825 acres and its wetlands, ponds, open water and forest makes it a great place to do environmental studies and wildlife conservation. Hickory 5 enjoyed this opportunity because they were able to be outside in a really extraordinary environment and learned more about wildlife conservation. For example, Park Ranger Steven taught the team that every spider is poisonous in some way or another, but not every snake is poisonous. 

At the end of the day Hickory 5 was invited to come back and volunteer anytime. Park Ranger Frank said “the AmeriCorps team was very helpful and because of this, they freed us up to do some other things that needed to be done throughout the day.” Hickory 5 is looking forward to taking them up on their offer soon.