News : Cedar 2: Getting Things Done for America

Americorp NCCC team Cedar 2 graduates after 10 months in Vinton

By: Casey Caison

Over the past 10 months, AmeriCorps NCCC team Cedar 2 has traveled all over the Midwest getting things done for America. The team of nine has completed six service projects in the region.

The team’s first project was in Lake Charles, LA working with the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church Disaster Response. They helped repair homes damaged by past hurricanes. From there they traveled to Jackson, MI to work at YMCA Storer Camps. It was there that they were cabin leaders of groups of 5th graders and removed invasive plant species from the camp. They then traveled to Minot, ND to work with Rehab Services, Inc. to do volunteer recruitment. After that they went back to Michigan, this time to Flint to work with Genesee County Habitat for Humanity. They continued to work with Habitat for Humanity in Cedar Rapids, IA by helping to prepare for the 2010 AmeriCorps Build-A-Thon with Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity. For their last project, the team has traveled to Stratton, NE to work with SW Nebraska Resource Conservation and Development to help beautify an area lake.

The team will graduate on August 5th from the AmeriCorps NCCC program. Since starting the program in October of 2009, the team has gained many valuable skills to help them in the future. States one Cedar 2 Corps Member Phillip Taylor, “As a whole, the program was hard, but I have gone to many places, met many great people and have ultimately become a better person for the experience.”