[Community-service] {Disarmed} Fwd: Corporation for National & Community Service Tumblr Blog | NationalService.Tumblr.com Update

Tue Aug 30 17:57:16 UTC 2016

I figured I would send along this neat story.

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> From: "Get Connected: Tumblr" <cncs at delivery.nationalservice.gov>
> Subject: Corporation for National & Community Service Tumblr Blog | NationalService.Tumblr.com Update
> Date: August 30, 2016 at 10:05:24 AM PDT
> To: president at nfbcommunityservice.org
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> Yakima Valley volunteers call Louisiana flood devastation overwhelming <http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTYwODMwLjYzMTM1ODIxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE2MDgzMC42MzEzNTgyMSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTA4MjM5JmVtYWlsaWQ9cHJlc2lkZW50QG5mYmNvbW11bml0eXNlcnZpY2Uub3JnJnVzZXJpZD1wcmVzaWRlbnRAbmZiY29tbXVuaXR5c2VydmljZS5vcmcmZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&102&&&https://nationalservice.tumblr.com/post/149660895127>
> 08/29/2016 02:38 PM EDT
> 
> By: Kate Prengaman Reblog | Yakima Herald
> 
> 
> Record-setting floodwaters have receded but the disaster continues for tens of thousands of southern Louisiana residents whose homes were inundated earlier this month. And, the corresponding need for help is overwhelming, according to federal officials and young volunteers from Central Washington who arrived this week to help out.
> 
> “The first thing I always see is front lawn covered with garbage and debris. You can actually see the water lines around the houses and know how deep it got,” said 20-year-old Yakima resident Samuel Sanchez. “When you get inside, it’s either (cleaned out) or there is lots of mold everywhere.”
> 
> Sanchez, a Davis High School grad, has been going door-to-door asking homeowners if they need help.
> 
> “People are so glad to see us,” he said, adding that while most people he has met are living with relatives whose homes were not impacted, others are stuck with no place to go but their damp, damaged homes.
> 
> His conversations are the first step toward enabling an army of young people — estimated at more than 500 from various AmeriCorps programs around the country — to help residents get back on their feet.
> 
> Leaders from the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC), the natural resource and disaster response focused branch of AmeriCorps in the state, were the first to arrive last weekend to organize program efforts.
> 
> The WCC has a long history of responding to disasters including wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, and floods. This year alone, 61 WCC members responded to flooding in St. Louis this winter and two crews spent July in West Virgina running logistics to help local and visiting volunteers address devastating flooding that killed 24 people.
> 
> In Louisiana, the crews will be collecting work orders from residents, coordinating food, lodging, and supplies for other volunteer groups, and helping to clean out flood-damaged homes, said Laura Schlabach, WCC outreach coordinator.
> 
> FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has praised AmeriCorps volunteers for making disaster response more flexible and bringing a positive energy to communities in need. In Louisiana, their efforts will be supported by a $4.5 million assignment from FEMA, according to the AmeriCorps website.
> 
> It’s Sanchez’s second flood recovery assignment in his year with WCC, after spending February in St. Louis clearing rotten carpets and molding drywall from homes. On that trip he and fellow corps members learned the ropes of disaster response that have helped them hit the ground running in still reeling Louisiana communities.
> 
> It’s emotional work.
> 
> “Back in Missouri, I didn’t know what to say to people,” Sanchez said. “Now, I know. When they are emotional, it’s because they are under so much stress and they don’t have flood insurance or couldn’t afford it.”
> 
> He said his favorite part is getting to know the homeowners he’s helped.
> 
> “They have such great stories, it’s really touching, and I just like listening to people talk about their lives,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s great that they can share emotions with us and if we can remove that debris out of their homes. It’s less stress for them, it takes a crew a week instead of months if it were just them.”
> 
> It’s challenging work too – stripping out houses and hauling debris in hot, humid weather.
> 
> Sanchez said he and his Yakima-based colleagues, who spent the summer planting wetland plants for restoration projects and helping local residents clear brush to reduce fire risks, aren’t afraid of hard work but the humidity has been a shock.
> 
> But it doesn’t stop the crews from working hard and long —10 hours a day, six days a week — while compensation and accommodations are minimal.
> 
> “Honestly, I’m living in a gymnasium at a community center,” said Sanchez, not seeming to mind. And he added that his crew leader, Josh Perry, is a great cook whose job during this deployment is to turn donated food into meals worth looking forward to.
> 
> The WCC members volunteered to serve in Louisiana but while working for the program they earn minimum wage and receive a $5,775 scholarship for future educational expenses
> 
> The benefits go far beyond that. Sanchez said WCC has provided his first-ever trips outside the region and he’s just excited to be able to put his skills to use helping people who need him.
> 
> That’s part of the ethic of the program — be it helping to fight wildfires here in Washington or flood response across the country — to provide hands-on job training and experience to the next generation of natural resource professionals, Schlabach said.
> 
> And for young people in need of some personal or professional direction, it can change lives, said Ernie Farmer, leader of an Ellensburg crew who is now coordinating the flood response.
> 
> “It’s pretty phenomenal when you can get a group of 18- to 25-year-olds together to do this work, to put their phones down, sleep on the ground, and work this hard,” he said in an interview before the recent deployment.
> 
> The WCC is recruiting new members in Central Washington for the work year starting in October.
> 
> Sanchez, who applied after his crew leader came to talk to young people at Rod’s House in Yakima, said he strongly recommends the opportunity.
> 
> “I’d tell anybody, if you can’t find a good job and you’ve been turned down for stuff because you just have a high school diploma, you need to go to WCC,” he said. “I’ll never stop thinking about this job.”
> 
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