News : FEMA Corps members to make difference after disasters

FEMA Corps Hickory 5 Team Leader Melissa Ridder speaks to her team before the induction ceremony.

After hearing on Friday evening that their most important task for the next year is to make a difference to people who are experiencing the most difficult crises of their lives, the 230 members of the first FEMA Corps class at the AmeriCorps NCCC campus in Vinton vowed to “get things done.”

FEMA and AmeriCorps officials from Washington, D.C., along with Senator Tom Harkin, spoke to the members of the new Hickory, Pine and Spruce units about the goals of the FEMA Corps program during the induction ceremony at the VSHS auditorium. The members will serve in a variety of areas like the previous AmeriCorps units, but their focus will be on FEMA-declared disaster areas. They will help fellow Americans in all 50 states recover from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters.