By Ben McCready, Americorps Volunteer
Over the past nine and a half months I’ve
been a member of a ten-month program called Americorps NCCC (National Civilian
Community Corps). As a corps member, I became a member of a team of ten 18-24
year olds, who travel around what we NCCC folks know as the Pacific Region,
performing a variety of community service projects.
Most projects are two month long
stints with a specific organization, although the duration of the project can
vary depending on circumstances. My team has been placed in two-month projects
with the parks system in San Diego County, a low-income elementary school in
Sacramento, as well as with the Catalina Island Conservancy on Catalina Island.
We’ve also served for a month with Habitat for Humanity in Portland, Oregon,
and are now wrapping up with two weeks of work at Bread and Roses here in
Olympia, Washington.
I joined the program because I needed
time to reflect on what my life would be after college, wanted to travel, and
also because I really wanted to help people. Of course, there was also the
added incentive to the fact that I’d just lost my job, Americorps pays for room
and board, health insurance, a living allowance, and provides a $5,200
education award at the end of the program. But who’s keeping track of the
little things?
In all seriousness, being a part of
the program has taught me a lot, truly has helped me grow as a person, and our
team has been able to give back quite a bit to the communities we served.
Which
brings us to Bread and Roses, the organization that, thanks to the Volunteer
Center, we’ve been working with for the past week and a half. The Volunteer
Center applied to have an Americorps NCCC stay at St. Michael’s Church on 10th
and Boundary St., and I’m really glad they did.
Working at Bread and Roses has been a
delightfully surprising adventure. After being briefed before our arrival I
must admit that I was a little skeptical. We were told that we’d be landscaping
a house at a women’s shelter, and from what we were told I’d imagined a rundown
building inhabited by a cranky old couple with a list of laborious demands. Luckily
this was not the case.
Phil and Meta, the two in charge of the
operation, couldn’t be nicer or more accommodating. Their personalities have
made what could be almost unbearably backbreaking work, a relaxed and fun
experience.
The work we’ve done includes repainting the
inside of the women’s shelter (which is really a house), pulling up carpet to
reveal the more attractive hardwood floor beneath, and tearing out drywall in
what will become a tool shed. Oddly enough, my favorite chore is the landscape
work I’d been dreading.
The landscaping consists primarily of
building rock walls all over the property, transforming it into what I like to
call a mini Machu Picchu. Phil plans to cover nearly every square inch of the
property with edible plants, the fruits of which will provide them and the food
bank with fresh fruits and veggies in the years to come. While I do get a good
warm feeling from knowing that the work I’m doing will help feed the hungry, I
think I’m actually more motivated by the large amount of pride I get from constructing
the best looking walls I can put together. It’s important to carefully select
the proper stone to fit into place as seamlessly as possible. This involves a
lot of guesswork and trial and error. It’s kind of like building a big puzzle
with really heavy pieces.
On top of the work we’ve done we also
received an education on homelessness. My previous viewpoints were challenged. For
instance, the average homeless person is only actually homeless for less than
two years. This and some other reality changing info have seriously altered my
perception of the issue, and I’m grateful for it.
In sum, I’d like to thank all of you who
support the Volunteer Center, because without it I’d never have learned the nuances
of building rock walls, gotten to smash holes in drywall with a sledgehammer or
have gotten to drink cup after cup of some of the strongest coffee I’ve had in
my life (Phil and Meta always have a pot going). Nor would I have learned of
all the intricacies surrounding the homeless issue, and have been able to help
the people here who can really use it.