Opinion : A closer look at the new Vinton residents who will \'get things done\'

A group of AmeriCorps NCCC members arrives on the bus from the CR Airport Tuesday afternoon.

AmeriCorps members who already signed in help the new arrivals with their suitcases.

Kimberle Vegliante of New Jersey tries on coveralls after signing in as an NCCC member.

NCCC member Nicolas Wollak of Minnesota poses with his roommate David Albrecht of Iowa.

Kim Harmon takes a photo of her daughter, Erin after she tries on a coat.

Put yourself in the shoes – actually in the black government-issue work boots – of any of the 250 or so people who saw Vinton, Iowa, for the first time yesterday.

You’ve spent most of your life in a city much larger than Vinton (although a few of the AmeriCorps members are from small towns). You may have spent the last four years, as Ben Westin did, at a large college campus (Michigan State).

You just flew in to another city you have never seen before. You may have heard of Cedar Rapids in the news – something about a flood a few years ago. Or you may remember the city being mentioned in the movie “Titanic.” (Cedar Rapids tourism officials hope you do not, since the line in the movie uses “Cedar Rapids” and “dead” in the same sentence.)

You get off the plane; you get on a bus. You head west on a four-lane highway that has fewer cars than any highway you have ever seen. You look past the concrete and see: Fields. Lots of ‘em.

Welcome to Iowa.

“I wish they could see those fields for the first time when there are crops in them,” says Assistant Director Rob Levis.

The bus turns north onto a two-lane road, with even fewer cars – and a tractor or two.

A dozen or so miles later, the bus makes a wide turn. You look to the right and see houses. You look to the left. There, you still see fields. As you come out of the turn, you look to your right again. You see the watertower and the word “Vinton” next to a snow-covered baseball diamond. Then you see, off to the right, your new home, the campus of the Iowa Braille and Sight-Saving School (IBSSS).

Welcome to Vinton.

The bus makes a right turn at a corner marked by a sign with the letter “A” that is very quickly becoming familiar to you. A block or two later, another sign, another right turn.

You look ahead. The first thing you see: A barn. Yes. A barn. A large barn. A large pale green barn.

You pass that barn; soon the bus is parked outside a gym. The door opens and a handful of people who made that same journey a few hours earlier welcome you to your new address: 1004 G Avenue, Vinton, IA 52349.

You are home.

“There were lots of cornfields,” says Kimberle Vegliante, of the bus trip. “But when I saw the campus, it was beautiful.”

Everyone who entered the Iowa Braille School gym for the first time shared Kimberle's enthusiasm for their new home, their new opportunities and challenges.

“The only job my son wanted after college was this one,” said Eric Westin of southern Michigan. He’s Ben’s dad. He and his wife Beth made the drive from Michigan, stopping to spend the night with relatives along the way. One of the first things that Eric noticed: The dorm rooms at the IBSSS campus are much bigger than the ones Ben lived in at Michigan State.

Eric might feel more at home in Vinton than many first-time visitors. “See that map?” he asks, pointing to a map of Michigan among the other state maps on the east wall. “Our town is just below the star.”

I explain to Eric and Beth that the star represents the city where the Michigan school for the blind was located. I tell him how that decades ago the Iowa Rams – the official name of the Iowa Braille School athletic teams – competed with other blind athletes who attended schools from more than a dozen states, from North Dakota to Kentucky. Eric tells me he knows somebody who used to work at that Michican facility. Then he tells me about his small town, where two of the main attractions are a race track and a theater run by volunteers. His wife asks where to buys some sheets; I say something I have said countless times over the years; I tell her there is a store "across the street." Everything, in Vinton, is either across the street or just a few blocks away from where you are.

Eric is happy his son made this choice. He tells me a friend of his says everyone should have to participate in AmeriCorps. Although Eric is already a big AmeriCorps believer, he disagrees. “I think only those who really want to be here should be,” he says.

Like Vinton, Eric’s town is mostly white. He looks around the room and notices that the new members come in "all shapes and sizes.” I tell him that Vinton is 97.8 percent white, and that one of the class requirements for this new group – which seems to me to include more non-white people than our entire town – is “Diversity Training.”

The Westins are among the handful of parents who drove their children to Vinton. Another couple who did that are Joe and Kim Harmon of Fort Madison. Kim took photos of their daughter, Erin, as she went through the several stations of the registration process. Erin had first considered joining the Peace Corps, but came across AmeriCorps instead. Her parents like that choice because it allows their daughter to stay in the U.S.

The AmeriCorps New Clothes

Once they get signed in, the new members go from table to table, getting sized for their new uniforms. In addition to the grey shirts – with the now-familiar “A” on the chest and one shoulder – and khaki and black multi-pocket pants and shorts, the new members will soon have a hard hat, winter coat and light blue coveralls.

The coveralls – hecho en Mexico by the Redkap company, according to the tags – are light blue. The new color is designed to feel cooler during warmer months.

Green shirt-wearing Phil Grantham of Georgia is helping the newbies with their coveralls. It’s obvious, he says, that many are wearing coveralls for the first time in their life. He finds it amusing watching them wriggle into the blue material. He points out that the best way to put on coveralls is to put both arms in at the same time. He also admits to keeping that secret from some of the newbies. But he tries not to laugh too much.

“Some of them may be on my team,” says Phil, who is one of the Class 17 field team leaders. “They may want revenge later for the coveralls thing.”

The thick winter coats have another familiar “C” name: Carhartt. Available in more colors and styles across the street at Theisen’s (although not at AmeriCorps prices) these coats are all black – except, of course, for the “A.”

New town, new routine

The first few days are for getting the basic information about the program, and filling out the necessary documentation. Only American citizens can participate in AmeriCorps, says Levis. The members will form temporary teams before being assigned their permanent ones. The 250 AmeriCorps members and team leaders will be parts of units known as Maple 1, Oak 2 and Cedar 3. Eventually they will travel hundreds of miles. But for now, they will spend the next few weeks in training. This’ week’s events include “community” meetings, which in AmeriCorps lingo means a gathering of all the members.

Vinton’s mayor has been invited again to one of those meetings, where John Watson will welcome a new group of Green and Grey Shirts to town. He will tell them how glad we are they are here, and how much good their predecessors have done in Vinton and beyond since the first teams arrived nearly three years ago. When he says that, he will be echoing the sentiments of many Vinton residents who have seen first hand – and have benefited from – the work of AmeriCorps members.

March induction

After several weeks of training, there will be a formal induction ceremony. The members will recite the AmeriCorps pledge, which ends with “I will get things done.”

Then the next day, they will pile themselves and their red bags full of the uniforms they tried on yesterday into 15-passenger vans. For the next several months they will do what they had said the day before: Get things done in a variety of ways for a variety of people with a variety of needs in a variety of places.