Bay Area Food Bank

We are in the final weeks of our year in AmeriCorps. Some may say it went by fast but I don't really think it did, to be honest. HA. We drove from South Carolina to Mobile, Alabama yesterday to our final project at Bay Area Food Bank. We will be one of many teams that has worked with the food bank, especially just a year after the BP Oil Spill. The food bank has received a great number of donations since the oil spill and we will be helping to process all of that food.

Today was our first day of work. We boxed 360 boxes of food to be sent out and we processed several boxes of food that was recently donated. It was a really fun but exhausting day. I really enjoy this type of work because it is systematic and organized. I think it will be really great to see immediate impact of our work.

LAST weekend I flew home to Boston to surprise Jilisa for our anniversary and her senior day softball game (which was postponed due to crappy Boston weather....per usual.) It was an amazing weekend! The surprise went great and it was really nice to spend 5 days at home. I was able to see my parents and extended family as well as my sister for a few minutes at the airport. I'm excited to be home and settled and stop traveling around.

Our last week at Camp Spearhead was really great. The overnight went really well and we had a lot of fun, and we were able to complete 130 feet of boardwalk before we left. I was sad to leave, but that happens to be the nature of this job, unfortunately.

On a final note, I have decided that I will be attending Arizona State University in the Fall for graduate school! I am REALLY excited but extremely nervous and overwhelmed at the idea of moving across the country. I think it will be really great for me, and for Jilisa and I.

Here are some photos from camp and the food bank!

Round 4 Photos

Here are some photos of our bunkhouse, high ropes course, the special olympics, and baseball game!

Camp Spearhead!

Day 222: So we have arrived at the site of our last project, Camp Spearhead in Marietta, South Carolina. I LOVE IT HERE. The camp is absolutely beautiful, newly built camp for adults and children with special needs. The camp has been around for a long time, but this will be its final resting place. It was established my families in Greenville County who wanted a place for their children to have somewhere to feel at home. The community raised over 12 billion dollars to help fund the construction of the camp.

Since arriving here our team has had the opportunity to work at the Special Olympics and attend a Red Sox Minor League baseball game with the campers from Camp Spearhead. They are an amazing bunch of people. So fun and full of life! This is a population I feel very passionately about, as all of you know, and this project is really what I’ve been waiting for this entire year. I’ve been waiting to see the impact that we make in the community we are working with, and understand what our work means. I’ve also been waiting to really immerse myself in the community and get to know them, which has been amazing so far. This weekend we will be hosting an overnight at camp where about 100 campers will come and do various activities as well as stay over for the night. I’m really excited about this because we are planning some really great things (gardening, making/painting picture frames to hang photos of campers in as well as a dance party and volleyball game!)

Some of the project work that we will be doing while on site: building a handicap accessible deck and boardwalk at the high ropes course, hanging swings from the old camp, establishing a primitive campsite, and completing a nature shed. I’m really excited to work outside in the beautiful weather and build some things that will be here for a long time. Plus, our sponsors are great and we have met some awesome people so far, so I am excited to impress them!

Other than that I have been trying to decide where to go to grad school. I was accepted into UMass and now have a very difficult decision to make. They are very different schools, with very different pros and cons as well as drastically different attendance costs. My heart and my head are saying 2 very different things. I have a little more time to figure it out but any advice would be great!

Will update with pictures soon from Special Olympics, baseball game, overnight and completed deck ☺