A Long Thanksgiving Season

Working at the food bank so far has been exactly what I was expecting to do with AmeriCorps. This has been the longest and most rewarding Thanksgiving I've ever experienced. Two weeks ago Friday my team assisted in a turkey drive and collected an incredible 6600 turkeys. The goal was to collect 5000 and was pleasantly surprised to receive so many more. The event was well publicized by KCRA (a local Sacramento television station) and a few of my team members were on the local news. Unfortunately I was out of town that day and missed what my team considers the best day of work thus far.

Last Monday and Tuesday were turkey distribution days at the food bank. 2500 turkeys were allotted each day for distribution and the remaining turkeys were given to other non-profits in the Sacramento area to assist in preparation of a hot Thanksgiving dinner to those that do not have access to a kitchen. Monday was one of the most eye-opening experiences I've ever had and I'm sure the memories will stay with me for a long time. KCRA did a great job of publicizing the large number of turkeys we had to distribute and when we arrived at 6am to begin distributing turkeys, people were already lined up around the block, many of which had slept there all night. I was given the responsibility of "traffic control" and I stood on a street corner and made sure that no one crossed the street until I gave them permission to do so. This turned out to be a great job. I got the chance to speak to almost all of the clients that came to pick up a turkey that day and what I observed was incredible. Almost everyone I spoke to told me this was their first year relying on the food bank for Thanksgiving dinner and most of them have only recently begun utilizing the services at the food bank. One man was a WWII veteran and that was really upsetting to see. One woman told me every year until now she was the one donating turkeys but her business took a turn for the worse this past year and she found herself in line for a free donation. That story became too familiar and I heard it multiple times throughout the few hours I spent distributing turkeys. At one point a crowd of people surrounding me started discussing the economy and how things have never been so bad for so many people. Of course I know the unemployment rate is high and the status of the economy but it really sinks in when I was surrounded by so many people relying on donations for a Thanksgiving meal that I always took for granted. So many people thanked me over and over after handing them their Thanksgiving meal and couldn't be more appreciative of our assistance.




This is only a portion of our freezer after some of the turkeys were already distributed.





On Tuesday I helped a Food Bank employee (also a former AmeriCorps NCCC member) collect donations. It was awesome to see how many people were donating clothing, food, turkeys, and other miscellaneous items while so many people were in need. Everyone was in high spirits and it was really great for them to see the people they were donating to.

Thursday was the Food Bank's 16th Annual Run to Feed the Hungry. It is the largest Thanksgiving day run in the country. My team along with about 20 other AmeriCorps NCCC members volunteered to help set up for the race and clean up afterward. I helped control traffic before the race and helped pick up trash afterward. (I also received 2 free t-shirts which is always a big plus!)

One of our sponsors from the Food Bank invited my entire team over for Thanksgiving dinner. She was an award-winning cook and baker and her kitchen wall was covered in 1st place ribbons from county fairs. Her family was extremely generous and it was really nice to spend Thanksgiving with my entire team. It was definitely strange not being home for Thanksgiving for the first time. For the remainder of the weekend I went to Lake Tahoe with a few friends. The ride there was quite adventurous and took 5 hours instead of 2 due to an unanticipated blizzard. We had to pull off the freeway to purchase and install chains on our tires which is something I've never experienced before. It was a great weekend of hiking and lots of card playing. Most of all it was nice to step off the base for a few days!

Needless to say, this was the most meaningful Thanksgiving I've experienced. One of the employees at the food bank told us we would remember this Thanksgiving 30 years from now and think that it was the best one we've ever had. I can already tell that she's right.

here's a link to a few pictures of the food bank during the distribution
http://www.sacbee.com/photos/gallery/2343099.html

first day of work

Today was our first day of work, but before I discuss that I'll tell you a few stories from the past few days.

Last week I went to the Base Exchange on the Air Force Base. Basically it's like Target, but it's duty free, which is awesome. When we walked in the store, an employee asked me and my friend if we wanted to win free jewelry. Of course, we said yes, and were sucked into an explanation about the various jewelry from a woman that wishes she was on an infomercial. The woman held up different jewelry and the customers raised their hands if they liked it, and I was really wondering why I was wasting my time listening to this. She then did a raffle and I won! I won't forget to mention that there were only 10 people in the running, but as far as I can remember, this is the first raffle I've ever won! (It's actually kinda ugly, but that's besides the point).

So then on Saturday I did an ISP (Independent Service Project) at a community garden. We hung out in a park during our lunch break and all of the kids asked us if we were soldiers. When we said no, they asked if we were park rangers. I guess 15 20 year-olds wearing khaki cargo pants and steel toed boots looks like park rangers. It gave us a good laugh.

So today was our first day at the Food Bank. It's an impressive organization since it offers 9 different services. We get to help participate in the turkey drive (they expect 3000 donated turkeys!), turkey distribution as well as The Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning. Everyday will be different and we get to participate in a variety of different projects.


After work today we went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner for the rest of the week. My team is secretly happy I'll be gone for a few days this week so they can eat meat and not feel bad that I can't eat it (I'm the only vegetarian). Actually, they weren't so secret about it, but I don't mind.

Most of the teams left for their projects this morning. This leaves just 6 teams on base in Sacramento. It's weird, the kitchen and dorms feel especially empty, but I still have 2 roommates. Thanks for reading, I know this entry is a bit random.

I found out yesterday that the project on Catalina Island will consist of deer counting in the middle of the night. How awesome is that!

The End of Training

Tomorrow is induction and we will become official AmeriCorps NCCC members! This has been one of the longest months ever. Waking up at 5am almost everyday makes the days last forever and I feel so much more productive. Last weekend I went with some friends to San Francisco which was a great time. It's really nice to leave the base in Sacramento and re-enter the "real world".

Training is now coming to an end. This morning we had a baseline physical training test so we could see if we've improved during the last month. I was really happy that I improved my 1.5 mile run by over 1 minute and I'm sick, so I'm especially proud of myself. This afternoon my team has a briefing in front of the staff to explain our expectations for our first project.

So after this weekend we will begin our first round projects! From now until our winter break beginning December 18th, I will be staying in Sacramento working for the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. At first I was disappointed to be staying in Sacramento while other teams are going to the gulf (all of Gold Unit will be there) or other states in the western region, but prior teams have said this project was their favorite. We will be assisting with many special holiday events for Thanksgiving and I think this is a meaningful time to be working with this organization. The SFBFS offers many other services in addition to providing food, such as donating clothing, tutoring youth and childcare. There should be a variety to the tasks we will be completing, but I won't know what I'm atually doing until we start the project next Monday. Also, 6 other teams will be staying on base working on various projects throughout Sacramento, so it will be nice to be able to hang out with them on nights and weekends.

Now comes the exciting part! For 3 weeks in January I will be living on Catalina Island!!! This will be an adventure for sure. We will be doing environmental work for the Catalina Island Conservancy. There is a 15 year waitlist to bring vehicles onto the island, so after we take the ferry from Long Beach onto the island, I'm not sure what kind of transportation will be available for us. We'll be having "luxury camping". This means there will be limited electicity and hot water. I don't think I'll have cell phone reception or internet access unless we go into Avalon which is a few miles away. Prior teams have said they had campfires everynight and the sponsors provided free kayaking and snorkeling for them! We will be living with a few other volunteers, but this will be a great experience for my team to learn to live together! I went to Catalina this summer and it's so bizarre to think that I'll be living there in January!


Everyone has a specialty role on our team. I am the peer helper which is the position I wanted. I get to act as a "team psychologist" and assist team members with any issues they are having. This will be an especially important role while in Catalina.

I'll try to update next week once I actually begin working!

Alex :)

Return from the Woods

I had such a great time camping in the redwoods! The first night we were there was Halloween so the team leaders had a surprise for us. They spread out throughout the forest and we went up to them with our teams and had to do "tricks" to get candy. Here's a picture of my team spelling out our team leader's name "Tonye".














The food was so good at the camp and it was so nice not having to cook for a change. It was just like summer camp, we did team building games all day on Sunday, including a ropes course and zip line. There was a large wooden board that tilted to the side when you stepped on it. Our goal was to have all of our team members stand on the board and balance it and then have one of us cross the board without letting it touch the ground in under 15 minutes. It was intense. I was chosen to the slide across the board to the other side on my stomach and we did it in 8 minutes. I was very proud of my team. This was the first time we really worked well together and everyone was really focused on the task and voiced an opinion. For PT (physical training) we ran through the forest at 530am. It was actually really enjoyable blindly following people through the forest because it was too dark to see where we were going.













The second day we spent working on our service project. My team painted an old cabin. I never realized how much fun painting can be. I did get some white primer in my hair, which will probably never come out. At least it's on the tips so I can cut it out. We went on a hike through the woods and found a huge redwood tree. Here's a picture of my team in front of it so you can see how large it is. On a side note, if it looks like I'm wearing the same thing in all of these pictures, it's because I am. You probably won't see a picture of me wearing normal clothing for the next 10 months.
















The last night camping a few friends and I decided to sleep outside. We set up our sleeping bags around the remains of the campfire and it was probably the best sleep I've gotten in the longest time. I had forgotten how much fun sleeping outside can be! We missed merging onto a different freeway on our drive back and ended up driving 1.5 hours out of the way, but we did get to tour wine country which was awesome!

I slept until 1030 today which is the highlight of the day when you're used to waking up at 530 am. We leave for our first project in about 10 days and rumor has it we'll be finding out where we're going tonight! I'm really excited!