Denver, CO - Twenty-seven Corps Members and Team Leaders from the AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) Central Region will be flying to Tampa, Fla., to work on Hurricane Charley recovery efforts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They will leave for their 30-day deployment on a flight from Denver International Airport at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, August 18.

This group of NCCC members from the Central Region will join with 13 members from the NCCC campus in Perry Point, Md., AmeriCorps state workers in Florida, FEMA, and the Army Corps of Engineers to help Floridians stricken by this disaster. AmeriCorps*NCCC members will construct tarp roofs on damaged houses to prevent further harm to them, and will help with debris removal.

Corps Member Morgan Hughes said, “I hope to help by doing whatever people need to restore order, to restore their lives back to normal. It’ll be a real challenge, but I’m looking forward to helping people who really need it.”

One staff member from each of the responding NCCC campuses traveled to the FEMA operations center in Atlanta last week, prior to Hurricane Charley’s strike, to begin preparations for its aftermath.

An additional 30 Corps Members from the Denver campus and 13 members from the Perry Point campus will be supporting the American Red Cross call center in Fairfax, Va., which is providing relief information to Florida residents via a toll-free number. Nineteen other Central Region Corps Members are on disaster deployment in California, fighting the wildfires near Redding and assisting with wildfire recovery in San Diego.

AmeriCorps*NCCC is a full-time, residential, national service program in which 1,200 young adults serve each year. Corps Members work on teams of 8-12 on projects, usually lasting 6-8 weeks, that improve the environment, enhance education, increase public safety, address unmet human needs, and assist with disaster relief. The Central Region campus in Denver, Colo., is one of five campuses in the United States; the others are located in Perry Point, Md., Washington, D.C., Charleston, S.C., and Sacramento, Calif.

AmeriCorps*NCCC Members, all 18-24 years old, each complete 1,700 hours of service during the 10-month program. In exchange for their service, they receive $4,725 to help pay for college, or to pay back existing student loans. Other benefits include leadership development, team building skills, increased self-confidence, and the satisfaction of knowing that they have made a real difference in communities across the country. AmeriCorps*NCCC is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. For more information about AmeriCorps*NCCC, visit the website at www.americorps.org/nccc.

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