Cities of Service was created by mayor Michael Bloomberg. With his direction, a coalition of cities was created along with commitments from volunteers declaring that a volunteer must also acknowledge they are a citizen. From this coalition, non-profit organizations joined and created an even larger web of networks. Today Cities of Service is nationwide and in full strength. Check out the Cities of Service website to see if your city is involved.
When one my closest friends graduated college, she knew one thing for fact; that she wanted to give back to the community through service. Her choice of vehicle for this endeavor was the AmeriCorps. Friday we got the chance to team up with one of the AmeriCorps teams here in Tuscaloosa.
Our assignment was to help the American Red Cross break down the last of the shelters from when the tornadoes came through. This is a great thing because now we know that all of the people who have been displaced are now in a residence but unfortunately, it also meant that the volunteers from the Red Cross would be going home. They are heading out when there is still so much work to do. Thankfully FEMA and the AmeriCorps are still in town.
I am told that there are currently about ten teams of eight in Tuscaloosa at the moment: Each of them doing something equally important to help out the community. For those of you that are not familiar with AmeriCorps, here is a bit of the basics. AmeriCorps is for adults 18-24 and it works well for people who are taking a break from school or have recently finished college. In addition to gaining the satisfaction of helping others, full time AmeriCorps members receive tuition and student loan help. Every year AmeriCorps offers over 75,000 opportunities to help out in different communities in the country so if you have the least bit of interest, then check out the AmeriCorps website.
These additional pictures are of the American Red Cross center that was hit by the storm. After we loaded the truck with all of the cots and bedding from the shelter, we then went to unload the truck to this office building that was still standing after a brutal hit from the April storms.
Our first day on an actual clean up site was Cherrywood. It is the most overwhelming thing to get to an area that has been completely demolished and asked to “clean it up”. In almost 100 degree heat, in the sun, we raked, shoveled and wheel barreled our way through two house lots. It is the only way to do it; with basic tools to give the people who live there and their insurance companies the ability to assess the damage.
We met more volunteers from all over on this assignment too. There was James Brown, and his group from his church in Florida, Chris from Mississippi, a couple from Georgia and some from West Virginia. They had been here a week and still were shocked at what they saw. They had great presence though and were extremely upbeat about the difficult job that we were doing.
In these lots, there were boats everywhere. We aren’t completely sure where they came from. Some tell us that there was a boat sales/repair shop close by and some said that they could have come from the lake in town. Either way, it is incredible to see these boats somewhere clearly that they did not start off at.
Toward the end of our work day, the gentlemen who owned the lot where we were cleaning was there with his blueprints ready to build better than the original house. In this area that often had no hope in it, we could still see people beginning their lives again. Like the man who was rebuilding on the lot we were cleaning, there were already other houses on their way up as well as homes where the damage was fixable, it was getting done. People are intrepid and it was definitely visible in this hot June day.
This is Marlene. She is one of the American Red Cross Volunteers that have been here for the majority of the time since the storms on April twenty seventh. As we were cleaning up lots on Thursday, she was going around from worksite to worksite encouraging volunteers to take breaks and get water in them. When she came by where we were working, she scared Alyssa to death with her megaphone.
On Friday, we ran back into her when we went to help an Americorps team take down and clean up a shelter that is originally built as a community center. In between being drilled with questions by Alyssa about the Red Cross, and her drilling Alyssa on questions about when will she meet her son, Marlene invited us to dinner with her team of volunteers. This would be their last dinner together before they all went back to their respective homes. Of course Alyssa and I went to sit among all this knowledge and insight over the last month and a half.
This group of volunteers was from all over. Marlene is from Michigan, and she definitely brought the Midwest to this group. There was also a woman from Wisconsin and a couple people from Ohio. One of them, Sandy, has been volunteering for eleven years. She told us about her first Disaster Relief (DR) assignment and that was September eleventh. She was sent to ground zero that following January and talked about how still, four months later, the tension and need was so great for everyone there. She felt then, helping so many people in need that she truly had a place volunteering at the American Red Cross.
Next to her was Jason who was from Kentucky. This was his first DR and he is getting the instructions of where he is going next this morning. He can’t wait. From what Alyssa and I gathered sitting there with him, listening to him talk about what had happened in Tuscaloosa, he’s ready for the next assignment.
Next to me was Greg who handed us our lunches that day. He is from Alabama and like Jason, this was his first DR too. He was in the kitchen for the duration of his assignment in Tuscaloosa but is vocal that his next assignment will be driving the assistance van with Marlene.
Keep in mind that the age ranges of these volunteers are all over the place. There were a few that were in their twenties and thirties and then is just went up from there: Anyone can be a volunteer. It was a remarkable moment to spend with these individuals and see the bonds that were made through this incredible disaster and to know how each of them has helped to make things a little brighter in Tuscaloosa. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with American Red Cross, then check out your local chapter and they can get you started with training classes.
For our first day, we were sent to the Phifer warehouse where the Salvation Army had set up shop. All donations sent to Tuscaloosa from all over the country got sent here where then volunteers will unload, seperate, repack and the make accesable so people who need the goods are able to come in and pick up what they need. It is amazing to see the donations that arte sent from everyone all over the country used and being brought directly to the people who need them.
It has been a great first day of volunteering. We were at the warehouse where the Salvation Army is taking in all of the donated goods from all over the country, sorting through them and then redistributing them. I even had the chance to drive the forklift. I will have video up in the morning from that impactful day.
Later today, we went to our new friend Russell’s project in Hurricane Creek. One of the places of destruction was this area called Hurricane Creek. Is is this beautiful natural habitat outside of Tuscaloosa and has been almost completely wiped out of it’s tree population. I have pictures and will share more about that tomorrow also. As for now, I will leave you with these pictures from when we first arrived into town yesterday. There is still so much work to do. Take a moment to recognize what it is in your life that you’re thankful for.
Before we even arrived to Tuscaloosa, we could see the damage from the what had happened during the storms in late April of this year. We need to make sure that as a nation, far away from this, that we remember that it does not just go away. We are responsible for each other.
As I have been getting everything ready for the big trip to Tuscaloosa, AL , I have gotten a couple “I wish I could volunteer for something like that” comments. In addition to that, I have received a few emails asking how I am finding different volunteer opportunities as I travel. I have been just looking at community boards and Google searching much of what I have been doing but recently I have come across a website that matches you with the right volunteer opportunity…. Volunteermatch.org
One of my goals for Project Kinect is to make this huge community board where you can see what I have done, who I have volunteered with and other organizations that have popped out to me while I’ve been on this journey. I want you to continue to check that out, but realistically, those are only opportunities that were in my eye sight; Volunteermatch.org gives you a much wider spectrum of what is out there and gives you options that are more suitable for your interests.
We all want to volunteer, but the hard part is finding the opportunities. Volunteermatch.org completely helps you out with that. With that said, I hope you’re waiting with baited breath for the Tuscaloosa trip.
It wasn’t until I heard my friend tell me a story about her visit to China while she was in the graduate school on a cruise ship that I really began to digest what I have been doing for the last three months. If you haven’t been following me and Project Kinect, here is a rundown of the first three 
months. Writing this down also helps me comprehend what I have done and where this year is going.
I started out the end of February in Las Vegas. There I met with the Human Feng Shui Project, witnessed my god daughter’s baptism a
nd got a good look at the economy of Vegas and what they are doing to try and grasp the magnitude of their situation.
From there I was in Texas. I spent a good amount of time in Austin with my friend Jess. There I helped with the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations (APASO) conference, witnessed the South by Southwest Interactive portion. I also got see some extremely innovative theatre and learn about the ATX equation. Austin led me to San Antonio, a thriving city, and then to Beaumont, which is a barely hanging on city.
With the assistance of my friends Alyssa, Levi and Megan, we journeyed to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile and onto Saint Petersburg. Outside of 
Mobile, AL we checked out Dauphin Island and how it has coped with hurricanes, the BP oil spill and the constant erosion that is inevitable for an island in that location of the gulf.
In the Tampa/Saint Petersburg area, I learned about what is being done to fight against the high rate of pedestrian accidents. I spent a night in the Gram Place Hostel and met Jo and Valoree who are contributing to their communities in great ways. After the hostel I met Stacy, a friend of a friend and we got to talking about technology in schools and what that looks like as an educator. 
Stacy brought me to the train station and I went to New York with a fifty degree change in weather and an incredibly empty pocket book. In New York
I met with the Central Park Conservancy, The True Colors House and a whole bunch of different people adding their gifts into their communities. New 
York was amazing because I had a chance to see what ten years of healing looks like after the travesty of September Eleventh. New York came and went so fast that I feel like I hadn’t accomplished any connecting but then look at my picture from the today show and remember what great strides were made.
From New York I went to Connecticut, more specifically Mansfield, CT and hung out on the University of Connecticut
(UCONN) campus for a few days. I chatted with some graduate students about how their lives had changed at UCONN and sat through the technical rehearsal of Urinetown which is a musical that has so much relevance to our society right now.
I then was in D.C., had a great sit down at the EPA, realized how amazing it is that majority of the Smithsonian Museums are free, and just took in our nation’s capital in a way that I had never done before. Washington D.C. was pivotal for me though when I realized I had connected an idea from one community, Yoga for youth, to another community. That was when I realized what I was doing was actually getting people to think about what is happening in their communities and what they can learn from other communities that don’t cross their train of thought.
D.C. brought me to Baltimore. In Baltimore I learned about what a city with such a bad representation with crime does to change the opinion of an entire nation. Baltimore’s most significant addition that I saw was The Circulator that is a free bus. It has three routes that venture through much of the city and prides itself on ten minute services until nine in the evening. When I return, I will look further into the managing of this by the local government and how that bus system got budgeted in.
I then arrived into Milwaukee where it was raining, snowing, hailing with thunder and lighting and I was whipped around like a le
af from a leaf blower. My friend Melanie picked me up and got me safe to Rockford where I gathered for her birthday, painted a wall and spent some time with Dana from the Weed & Seed Kishwaukee Corridor.
Dolly came and got me from Rockford where I went home for a week, spent some time in Madison getting some follow up news on the Governor Walker Protests in February and March. I had a quick look at Porchlight and the AIDS Network while I was there but I really wanted to spend some time with family before I was off to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, other work had to take priority but I still got a chance to talk with the film maker Katherine Brooks and her summer project Face 2 Face where she is going to spend the summer meeting fifty of her facebook friends and filming it. How amazing is that?
From LA, I flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul and went to an organizational meeting for the creation of a new nonprofit that will be dedicated to the goal of connecting LGBT youth so they have an even larger support system which will ultimately help to lower the rate of teen suicide. To be on the ground level of such a purposeful endeavor was trul
y a gift.
I then went to hide out at my father’s house in Eau Claire, WI. I spent some time up at our cabin, and then attempted to get caught up on editing and developing the next three months. I had a chance to inquire into my Circle K club from college and to find out that this once small service club that I was once the president of is currently the second largest club of the entire international organization. That is a ton of service hours helping to benefit the world that we all live in from an enormous group of selfless young people.
I then made my way back to St. Paul and the Minnesota Aids Walk with my friend Danny’s kids from St. Paul’s area Gay/Straight Alliance clubs. The following day was a huge rally at the capitol building where I interviewed people who were fighting for the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry. The week gave me a chance to see four different people from extremely influential moments in my life. It was a great week of reflection and then two fantastic female Lutheran Pastors drove me back to Wisconsin Dells where I am now preparing for a month helping out the schools that were destructed in and around Tuscaloosa, AL.
As I proofread this, it reads as if someone else has done this. I sit and digest that this is my journey and I think how it is missing so many great details. If you are reading this and this is your first introduction to Project Kinect, then please read what you’ve missed. Something may inspire you to look at the communities in your life and involve yourself in a new way.
If you are a faithful follower of what I have been doing, then please continue to follow and PLEASE share this with your friends. My project doesn’t work if it isn’t shared. I need people to continue emailing me, commenting and adding what they feel when reading and watching what is happening. It is a group effort and in this group, everyone counts.
Well, next is Tuscaloosa. I’m going to go get dirty with my friend Alyssa for a month and really try to help a group of people who lost everything. I’m teaming up with The Forsaken Generation but still need your help. Larger sponsors haven’t joined on yet so I’m still depending on the last of my savings and donations for living. If you have been wanting to donate and haven’t yet, now is the time: Now that my fourth month is starting, there is really no turning back…
When in San Antonio, I was staying with my friends Bri and Mark. On one of the days, Bri and I took their two sons to the San Antonio Humane Society to check things out and do something with the boys. While we were there, I talked to the staff and played with a bunch of the dogs to find out what the struggles are in different communities with the Humane Society. In San Antonio, they tend to be doing ok and aren’t running out of room. Of course funding is short for them too but with a strong constant amount of volunteers, they find that they can stay successful while providing a great educational outreach into the community.
When wanting to find a great way to volunteer in your community, an easy and enjoyable way is to check out your local Humane Society and find out the best ways to volunteer. This is also great ways to volunteer as a family. Some of the ways that you can volunteer are to be a pet photographer, Dog/puppy socialization and cat/kitten socialization. You can help out at the front office with administrative work or be a part of the Education Outreach team. Volunteering with the Humane Society is so important because that is how they do most of the work that needs to get done: through volunteers.
To volunteer, there are few requirements. You must take an orientation class that has a fee. This may vary in different cities. You must be at least 12 years old (with a parent or guardian) or 16 with out. That is basically it so if you have a love for animals, and really can’t have one at the moment, this is a great way to get that need out.
While I was there, I fell in love with the cutest Chow Chow puppy ever. Unfortunately I can’t take her with me because of the fact that I’m on the road, but if I wasn’t, I would have snatched her up in a heartbeat.
