News AmeriCorps NCCC Oak 3’s Year in Service

By: Ross Peterman

This National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) service year has been filled with a myriad of experiences for the Oak 3 team, based out of Vinton.  The first project for the team was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where they worked to better the county parks and build trails, including an ADA-approved riverside trail.  Next for the team of adventurers was a project on the south side of Chicago, rehabilitating flood damaged homes.  Then the team was sent to Sherman Lake YMCA Camp near Kalamazoo, Michigan to serve as camp counselors and positive role models for area youth.  After that stint, Oak 3 went to Des Moines, Iowa to work for the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity.  This past round the team was sent to Sioux City, Iowa where they became certified Wildland Firefighters performing various prescribed burns in Iowa’s largest remnant prairie.  The ten person team’s travels have spanned the Midwest, and will soon take a turn south.  No, this will not be a turn to negative town, but instead to the vivacious community of New Orleans, Louisiana!  Their work in “The Big Easy” will be focused on disaster relief construction in the Lower Ninth Ward, rebuilding where hurricanes Katrina and Rita took such a deathly toll.  Team members also look forward to volunteering to aid with clean-up of the oil disaster.  Throughout this year and all of the team’s travels, Vinton has become more then a headquarters, it has become a home, and for that the team is forever grateful.  The team often finds itself wondering, is this heaven?  Where we soon realize, no, it’s Iowa!