Muddy Mixings

I’ve been so covered in mud this week, I’m starting to have flashbacks to our project in Louisiana…but it’s been great. We were finally able to start mixing and pouring concrete for our retaining wall! It’s pretty slow going, since we can only mix half a bag of cement at a time, but it definitely gives me a great sense of accomplishment, seeing the wall actually come together after days and days of form building and rock hauling. On another note, last week we received 15 baby ducklings in the mail, which we have been raising for the camp. They’re fluffy and adorable and growing by the day!

This is definitely my favorite project so far. David and Steve (our sponsors) are incredibly friendly and supportive; I’ve already learned what seems like a hundred things I never thought I’d learn (e.g. how to use a transit, a backhoe, a jigsaw, and a tractor) and I’m learning and doing new things all the time. It certainly feels great to be outside working hard after being inside doing taxes for a few months. And our shuffle team is full of great people. The camp itself is beautiful…all in all I’m having a fantastic time here.

However, I am still really looking forward to Spring Break, which starts tomorrow. Although I love this program, it’s definitely exhausting, both physically and mentally, and I’m ready for a little break. Jeremy and I are going on a canoe trip on the Buffalo National River, which is supposed to be amazing, so I’m wicked excited; it should be tons of fun. A few people on our team are flying home for break, a few are taking road trips, and a few are hanging out at camp, but everyone seems pretty excited about their plans. Looks as if it’s shaping up to be an awesome weekend all around.

Safe Travels to all my fellow Water Four members! (And everyone else too, of course).

~Jo

Denver and the Children

Hey Guys! I missed you all! I am in Denver working with the Denver Children's Home (DCH) and it is by far my favorite project ever. There are so many different things to do while at work and most awesome of all, the kids that we work with are absolutely amazing. So good to a point that I have thought about being a counselor or a teaching aide in a school! It’s pretty cool. The kids have so many great qualities it is almost impossible to not become attached with them. Whenever I am in the Denver area in the future, I would love to visit the home and work with the children. The school is on spring break, actually I think the whole district is on break, since DCH is a part of the education system. Anyway, while they are gone, we have the opportunity to be a part of something at DCH that will help these kids out soo much. They have been doing renovations to the right wing of the building and we have been helping them out with tasks that would've otherwise taken them forever to complete! So far we gathered books around the building for the library and alphabetized them and put them into three categories, moved furniture, picked up trash, washed windows, and did a few other things that needed to be completed. Before the break, the kids here at DCH were taking an examination all week called the CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) and I was with 11th and 12th graders. It was pretty cool. This project makes me soo happy! I am happy to come to work everyday (even if it means waking up at 5:30) and help out doing something that I love.

I did however title this blog Denver and the Children and I must talk about Denver. Denver is amazing! I can't believe how interchanging Denver weather is! One minute the weather is 70 degrees and the next minute, we have extreme blizzards!!! I guess that's what they call spring in the Rockies!!! I have been to a couple different activities here in Denver. For example, I went to a Michael Buble Concert!!! It was the most amazing show ever! He has an AMAZING voice and he's funny too!!! I am also planning for my spring break to take a visit to Aspen, Colorado to go on some skiing excursions. I can't wait!! Our last day of work before vacation is this Thursday! I AM SO PUMPED!

Ha, one of the other things I did this week was go on a 'raw diet'. A raw diet consists of eating nothing other than raw uncooked fruits and vegetables and drinking lots of water. It is designed to boost your energy and immune system I believe. Either way, my love for culinary delights led me to leave the competition after 48 hours. I only consumed the diet foods for breakfast and lunch. So it wasn’t something that I needed to do at that moment. I needed energy! After all, the kids at DCH keep me on my toes!!! I played two hours of kickball and also played two hours of Life (they were separate days) with them!!! I signed up to be apart of a Connect Four competition after break! Isn't that awesome? I can't wait to play. As for my shuffle team!!!! I am so amazed to how great the team dynamics are with this team! Everyone is soo amazing I almost want to adopt them and add them to my original team! I do miss my team however, terribly! We are a unique group, but we love each other. That's what's important. Anyhow, I must rest up, as I must wake up early to take care if some work at DCH before the electrician arrives. Talk to you all later!!!

~Shawn

Il fait bon vivre

It's wonderful to be back in Lafayette, Louisiana! It's unfortunate not being with my team, but it is a wonderful thing to be a bit selfish and do a project, or be in a place, that I completely want. :)

It has been a very eventful week and a half. I suppose being here before has empowered me to try new things and be more involved in the community, since I'm a bit familiar with it to begin with.

Firstly, the first two and a half days were dedicated to finishing-touch-up-work for the three homes Water 4 and I were working on when we originally came here in November. My shuffle team was split up to do lots of little individual tasks. I painted doors, helped install washing machines and dryers, and finish the counter tops.

On the Saturday after returning to Lafayette the three houses had their dedications and my new team, Water 3, was able to partake in the celebration. I'm not going to lie. I cried--a lot. It was a beautiful thing. It was closure for me, knowing that my work in the beginning would be finished and appreciated.

After the dedication we worked on the houses on our street that were put on hold in their construction in order to build the three houses within their funding deadline, March 30.
On Sunday most of Water 3 and a good group of University of Louisiana AmeriCorps members went to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park to do some trail building and maintenance work (ISP). The drive there was an adventure! We missed a turn without a GPS for good while and ventured on back roads through small towns. It was a treat to see the different communities around Lafayette. When we got there we were divided into two groups, trail building and maintenance. I volunteered to clean the bathrooms, which actually entailed spraying the exterior wood of the building with a pressurized water hose. It was satisfying work, solitary, and a bit wet and a bit more cold, but results were obvious. :)

Tuesday, five of my teammates and myself went to a swing dancing lesson hosted by a group of university students. We are all excited to apply our newly learned skills at Randol's on Sunday! Hopefully there will be more boys, because of the six of us, only one was a boy. :/

PT has been a joy! The weather is so lovely these days. We also discovered Girard Park, which we frequent often. I'm still terrible at Ultimate Frisbee, but am getting better at running. What's also great is that Borden's Ice Cream is on the way home from the park... mmmm praline pecan.... mmmmm.

That was the week minus the grandest highlight... Mr. Dale! He was with a group of State Farm volunteers that came out to help Habitat for Humanity. He is the sweetest man! He danced to the radio, taught me phrases in Cajun French (That I regretably cannot remember--I'm so sad), recommended a dance hall, and described me as a "real Cajun girl with olive skin and dark hair."

A happy day. A happy week. Il fait bon vivre!

~Leia

'N-Trips' in Fern Cliff

Lil Rock, Ar-Kansas. It's been awesome so far. Being able to work out in the sun and provide maintenance for the camp has been something I've definitely come to enjoy. We've been driving tractors and "gators" (wide four-wheelers) all around the camp and up steep terrain to the top of some of the buttes surrounding the camp.

I first started off painting the pool house with Cat, Tina, Ellen, and Alex and we worked on....

[pardon the interruption] but a little neighbors' dog (Dempsey) just ran through our cabin, started going through our garbage pail, and played tug of war with my "Live United" T-Shirt. Found that rather humorous! Ha ha! Apparently Dempsey will be the comic relief during this blog update....

So anyways, the five of us ended up finishing painting the whole pool house in about four days. It required staging (figuring out how to set up two-story scaffolding) but there definitely was a sense of accomplishment after we finished the project. I'm working with Ellen, Jeremy, Keith, and Jo on collecting rocks from the hills with tractors to build a 130-ft. retaining wall. I love physical labor and I've been feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Spring break is coming up next week and my girlfriend, Meghan, is coming from NH to see me. I've only seen her over Christmas break since I started with NCCC on October 15. I'm beyond excited!

I'm loving the new shuffle round team but I'm definitely looking forward to catching up with the old team in the 4th round. Definitely missing them! Catch you later!


~Derek

X-treme Gladiators

Working with the Denver Children's Home has thus far been a great experience. Last week we sat in class with some of the kids to get to know them and their schedules. Friday was a snow day, and our first taste of how... unique the weather in Denver can be. Because this week the students will be taking standardized tests, we used Friday to come up with fun activities in which they could participate and unwind after a hard morning of testing.

My weekend was moderately eventful. Saturday evening, I went with some local friends to the "X-Treme Challenge Gladiator Fusion Arena," which was as fun as its title suggests. The arena supplied a variety of inventive activities, some of which involved teamwork, others competition, and others still personal strength and will. I only knew a few of the people there, so it was a little weird trying to introduce yourself while jousting with giant padded sticks, or while racing for a foam block of cheese. I can only imagine how enjoyable the experience would be with the whole team

Monday afternoon was our chance to put the activities we had planned earlier into action. Many of them worked well, and the students were excited to participate, though a few of the games took a toll on their attention spans. From this experience we've gained insight as to what games and activities we can plan for the students in the future. So far this project is shaping up to be excellent, and as we grow to know each of the kids better, the service we provide them can only do the same.

~Shiny

Little House on the Prairie

So here I am, in good ol’ Missouri living on a prairie in the middle of nowhere with not one Water 4 person in sight. It’s strange being away from my Water 4 team, but it’s been great getting to know my new team, Water 6, for shuffle round. We’re working with the Missouri Department of Conservation where we’ll be performing prescribed burns and invasive species removal. The tallgrass prairie currently occupies less than 1% of its former range in Missouri and North America, so our work is important to help preserve and restore what’s left.

This past week we started working on blowing fire lines to prepare the land we need to burn this upcoming week. It’s hard work; we have to carry these 15 lb. leaf blowers on our backs blowing these lines out through the woods, up some very steep slopes. And yes, I was the first one on the team to take a spill going up a small, yet very steep slope. =) It’s a lot of physical work, but it feels good to be outside working. We had our fire training on Friday so our entire team is level one fire trained and we’re prepared to start burning, hopefully this next week.

This weekend we went to Columbia, where the University of Missouri campus is, and did some shopping and walking around. Unfortunately, the first day of spring brought us a gross rain and snow mix, so it was rather miserable walking around. I decided to hang out with Molly and Zoey in a little frozen yogurt and tea shop and read my book.

Our housing is small, about the same size as the house in Lafayette, but it’s very cool. I like to call it the Little House on the Prairie, since we are living on the prairie. It’s cozy and I enjoy having my own little top bunk to relax in.

I’m excited to see what the next few weeks have to bring us. We’ll hopefully be able to start burning this upcoming week, but because of the weather this weekend, we’re unsure if we’ll be able to burn because the ground needs to dry up.

~Jenna

Hello from Ferncliff Camp in Little Rock, AR

To start off, I would just like to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day. It is definitely one of my favorite holidays of the year and I wish I was back in Chicago to celebrate. I just arrived in Little Rock for my shuffle round project. I am sad to leave Water 4 for the next two months, but I am not alone because Jo, Christina, and Derek are also on the project with me. The four of us along with Ellen, Sam, Alex, Keith, Cat, Ben, and Savanna make up our new team known as Water 7. Our Team Leader for the round is Jess and she has been amazing so far. It is a cool experience for her because she has been working in the office for the first two rounds as a Support Team Leader and now she has an opportunity to get out and lead a team in the field. It is going to be a very fun round with her at the helm and we will be getting a lot of things done.

AmeriCorps NCCC teams have been coming to Ferncliff Camp for a few years now. The camp is one of the fastest growing Presbyterian camp and retreat facilities in the country. It offers summer camps and a year-round conference center for adults and retreat facilities for youth. It also hosts many non-Presbyterian groups and provides outreach services such as special camps for low-income children, homeless children, and disabled adults, and it has an on-site disaster relief assistance facility. Currently, they have been preparing thousands of packages for Haiti relief. So, they do a lot of great things at the camp. For the next two months we will be completing numerous jobs around the camp that will allow it to remain in tip-top shape. Our sponsor is David and he is very enthusiastic about us being here. It’s nice to know that the work of AmeriCorps NCCC is so greatly appreciated. He has made us feel very welcome and I can’t wait to talk to him more. Steve is our On Site Supervisor and he knows his stuff. He will be a great asset to our team. It seems that we will be doing a lot of construction work around the camp, including building a new “green building.” The good thing is that the majority of our team has had experience in that field during the first two rounds of projects. The first jobs that we started were painting the pool area and beginning prep work for reinforcing a wall with layers of rock, which will help prevent flooding of one of the buildings on the camp. A lot goes into a project like this and it will take us a while to complete, but the finished product is going to look great. Steve has come up with a schedule for us and we have many different projects to complete during these two months, so it will be nice to have a variety of work.

Ferncliff Camp is a beautiful place. Right now we are staying at a retreat house that has five bedrooms and a huge field. This weekend we will be moving into two cabins on the camp’s lake so we are all very excited about that. We have free use of the camp and it will be nice to be outdoors this round as the weather warms up. We will be able to do things like biking, hiking, canoeing, sand volleyball, and other sports. I am also looking forward to getting around Arkansas which is known as the Natural State.

The four of us do miss our team greatly, but, we are excited to see what Water 7 will accomplish this round. I will be keeping in touch with everyone from Water 4 and I know everyone is looking forward to meeting up again for the final round. I hope they all enjoy their current projects as much as I think we will here at Ferncliff Camp in Little Rock.

~Jeremy

Water 4.2

Plus of being a local team: You don't have to pack for Spike!

I do have to admit, watching the vans leave the parking lot, knowing that I won't be seeing Derek, Christina, Jeremy, Jo, Leia, or Jenna for a couple months, was a very strange feeling. I was a little sad but mostly excited for all of them because I know they are going to have an amazing experience. I wasn’t sad to leave Ian…. I’m kidding Ian!!! Even though I already saw him yesterday since he is only in Boulder… I really am going to miss him being on my team as well. I'm so glad I still have Sarah, Shawn and Shiny on my team and the rest of my shuffle team is awesome. I think it's going to be a great two months with them. They are all really enthusiastic about the project and every day this week I have been more and more impressed with their overall attitude and work ethic.

It’s been a great week so far. Starting a new project is always fun and last night I got to see Band of Horses at the Ogden Theater in Denver with Daniel (another Team Leader). It was an amazing show! Today is Wednesday and I'm half-way through my first week at the Denver Children's Home (DCH), which supports children and families struggling with the effects of poverty, abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, and chronic mental health problems. I'm so happy with this project; I feel like I am floating on air. All day I had to keep reminding myself that this is my "job," playing basketball with kids? I know it's much more than that but I still feel so lucky to have an opportunity to work with such an amazing organization. Our sponsor, Deb, has been incredible. She is one of the most supportive and dedicated people I have ever met and she truly is the heart and soul of DCH. The rest of the staff is just as amazing and they have all been very welcoming.

After orientation and finger printing we were able to dive right in and work with the kids. What a great idea.... to give us hands on experience before going through the rules and regulation training. That way we had specific questions, and a better idea of what actually goes on at the home. DCH has residential and day treatment students, as well as kids who just attend school there without therapy. On top of their typical therapy programs they also have a lot of alternative therapy like yoga, art, pet therapy, and music therapy. Today we even got to sit in on a music class that is held in the DCH recording studio and help the students record their own song. The Flobots, who are from Denver, not only donated this space and equipment but they also volunteer at the home every week when they aren't touring. Today the kids were learning about what makes up a song…melody, harmony, tempo, beats, etc. They wrote lyrics to their own song and they also got to play all different types of instruments. I think it so incredible that the Flobots are using their celebrity in such a positive way and you can tell that it is such a useful and powerful outlet for the kids at DCH. A lot of other musicians have jumped on board and now volunteer there as well. You can tell that there is an overwhelming amount of support from the community. When we first took a tour of the home the staff pointed out many things that have been donated over the years: their playground, basketball courts, rock wall, a brand new kitchen for the culinary classes, and they are in the process of renovating an entire wing of their school for a student learning center, most of which has been donated, including the labor that we will be helping with. This student learning center will have a library, computer labs, as well as a coffee cart that the students will run themselves. By the time the students leave the home they will all have barista experience which will be so useful for finding full- or part-time work. DCH is committed to providing their students with life skills to help them become more self sufficient. I think this is a brilliant idea and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

Our team will be working with many different aspects of DCH. We will be working in the classrooms; next week we will be proctoring their CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) tests and then running teambuilding activities in the afternoons. We will also be mentoring and helping the students with job searching, learning to take public transportation, etc. Some of us will be working with their marketing and event coordinators to help plan other service projects, and a few of us will even get a chance to learn more about the behind-the-scene aspects of DCH like fundraising and grant writing. DCH has so much to offer and this is truly going to be one of the best learning experiences of my life.

I can’t wait to hear about the other projects and how everyone else is doing. I miss them all so much, but from my experience last year, shuffle round feels like it goes by the fastest, so I’m going to soak up the Denver sun while I can and look forward to the Water 4 reunion in May.

~Ashley

Transition, Sweet, Sweet, Transition!

Hey Guys!

It has been almost a week back in Denver for transition and what an amazing week it has been! This week was filled with lots of interesting things. What I liked most about this week was that even though we were always supervised and monitored, we were led by our peers this week. This was our first Life After AmeriCorps week and it is designed to help with making decisions on what our lives will be like after we graduate in July. There were many different workshops we were able to check out. For example, I went to a meeting called 'Finding Your Passion in the Non-Profit Sector' which was aimed at discussing what we want to do with a non-profit organization and how we want to make ourselves shine while doing so. There were many other workshops that ranged from resume building, finding jobs in a difficult economy, and help with college and financial aid to studying abroad.

The other half of the afternoon was meant for us to visit different non-profit organizations around Denver. I went to the Alliance Center which was so cool. It is a LEED certified building, where there are over 28 non-profit organizations that share resources, ideas, and work together for one common goal: to advance economic, environmental, and social sustainability in Colorado by building cross-sector alliances and networks. We had an opportunity to hear from different organizations in the building. One of my favorites was E-Go Car Share which is a non-profit car sharing organization that provides alternatives to individual car ownership, and you only pay for when you drive it! Isn't that amazing? That was one of many great organizations that the Denver area has to offer.

Later on in the week we had our routine baseline workout that tracks where we are health-wise. It is great to see myself in the beginning and then see myself now, statistics wise. We also had a first-aid refresher course which was peer-facilitated and was designed to remind us of procedures of CPR and first aid. Lastly, one of our sessions that was also peer-facilitated was Alcohol Awareness. It was a unique approach that enables everyone to come together and talk about alcohol issues without any judgment. The peer helpers on campus did a great job with running the discussion.

Oh yeah I forgot! We have new teams this round! Denver campus has shuffle round which allows the teams to reshuffle and get the opportunity to work with other CMs and TLs. It is exciting! Our new Shuffle Teams are leaving for third spike very soon and I can't wait to get started with the Denver Children's Home! Wow, sometimes I can't believe that we are already in our third spike! This year has had its ups and downs but overall, I think it is running rather smoothly.

Later!!!

~Shawn

Transition week

The focus for transition weeks are the projects, past and upcoming. The first half is dedicated to debriefs about the projects we just finished. On Tuesday, we presented ours to our unit leader, some other AmeriCorps staff, and Water 5. It went well; we didn't keep the other team as long as we did in our last debrief. (We had a "really quick" section on food highlights this time.) To lessen the seriousness of transition week we had a few fun unit activities. On Monday, during our unit meeting, we were assigned targets for a game called "sock assassins." The intent is to “kill” your target with a pair of clean socks. When you make a kill you acquire your victim's target. The last living assassin wins.... Unfortunately I died within the first 6 hours. A girl stood outside waiting for me to leave the building for supper... :/ I hope we play again; I'll be better prepared.

After our debrief on Tuesday we had unit time. We went to a nearby roller rink. The team was super psyched! After volunteering at the roller derby, and having a mock "running derby" for PT, we were all excited to exercise our skills. Ian, Jenna and Shawn looked like pros. I fell only once! :) (Excluding when we had a roller limbo game...:( ) After skating we officially met our shuffle round teams. I'll be on Water 3, and will be heading back to Lafayette, LA. My new team is completely new to me; none of my Water 4 teammates are going with me. It will be interesting, essentially starting over.

Tuesday was pretty eventful now that I think of it. Wednesday was dedicated to Life After AmeriCorps. I attended two seminars; one on college prep and one on managing finances, both of which were very informative. In addition, we each had to sign up for a mini excursion to a nonprofit organization in Denver. I went to Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I found out that you have to be at least 20 to be a "Big." I hope while I'm in university I will be able to manage being a Big. :)

~Leia

P.S. Since we’ve been back I've had a huge craving for Czech potato dumplings.... I hope I can find a place to satisfy this!

Goodbye Tucson, We Will Miss Your Warmth

Today marks the end of our second project. First,
I want to talk about our last nights here in Tucson. On Tuesday, we had a recruiting event at the University of Arizona’s Peace Corps Convention. Jo, Leia, Shawn, and I had a great time and were able to talk to a lot of interested people. It felt really good because I was talking to a contact for over a month trying to secure a table at the event, and it couldn’t have worked out any better. It was also interesting to walk around the convention and learn about the opportunities with 40 other countries that were represented at the event.

The next day Ian and I were able to spend some quality guy time together at the U of A baseball game. It was a perfect day outside and the Wildcats won in extra innings. It was a fitting way to end our time in Tucson. I love watching games at the ballpark. It makes me upset that I won’t be able to go see any White Sox games this summer. However, I am really happy that Ian and I got to spend the day together before we go our separate ways
for the third project.

Well we are getting packed and cleaning our a
partments while a few people do taxes one last time. It’s a bitter sweet moment for all of us. I really enjoyed doing taxes and I feel lucky that I was able to have a project that pertains to my degree in Finance. The experience I gained from just working in that type of business environment will really help me in the future. United Way is a type of place I can see myself working somewhere down the road. Looking back at the project as a whole, I would have to say that we were very successful. We were able to provide a much needed free service to lower income families that simply can’t afford to get their taxes done by a paid preparer. The stories and smiles we all have encountered made the project worthwhile.

As for what’s next, I will be heading to Little Rock, Arkansas with Jo, Derek and Christina to work on a summer camp and retreat center. I have heard nothing but great things about the project. I am excited to get there and see our house which is right on a lake. I will save all the details for the next time I blog. Lastly, I just wanted to say that it’s sad that the original Water 4 is splitting up for the next two months. They will all be missed and I know when we get back together for our last project it will be our best project yet.

Later Tucson!



~Jeremy

Spanglish, Ice Cats, and 500 Screaming Kids

I woke up early Saturday morning and rolled out to the Quincy Douglass Library for some tax preparation with Sarah, Shiny, Leia, and Christina. We arrived to find the Internet not working and a long line of people wanting their tax returns… not an ideal combination. Things turned around quickly: the Internet kicked on and we were off. We probably filed about 20 people’s taxes in total. I actually got to do taxes for 3 Spanish-speaking couples. It is always awesome to work on my Spanish… even if, at some point during their respective returns, they all laughed at my ‘Spanglish.’ It turned out to be a great site. It was fun getting to know Ben, the site supervisor, and the other handful of volunteers there. We packed up and headed back home.

We relaxed for a little and then headed out to go downtown. Ashley, Sarah, Jeremy, Leia, Christina and I had tickets to see the University of Arizona Ice Cats take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was a cool little stadium that filled up quick to see the big rivalry game. The cheering was pretty vicious between the two Arizona team’s fans. We cheered for the Ice Cats and it was an exciting game… but… 40 seconds into the sudden death overtime, ASU squeaked a goal past the U of A goalie. It was a very anti-climatic ending, but a great night all in all.

Later, I went home and watched a replay of the Syracuse v. Villanova college basketball game with Sarah. My ‘Cuse DEMOLISHED ‘Nova in front of 34,616 fans. This absurdly large attendance set the NCAA on-campus record. Wish I could have been there!
We woke up Sunday morning to a downpour of rain. It was coming down in sheets. Jeremy whipped up an incredible breakfast for everyone and we lounged around. The rain slowed in the afternoon and we headed out to Mike and Brad’s community center. Mike and Brad are the amazing couple we met while working for Red Cross in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. They invited us and Sun 1 over for a small party. We went swimming, played shuffleboard, and had a Thanksgiving-esque smorgasbord of food… it was endless and delicious.

Monday was an extremely early wakeup. We were in the vans by 6:45 a.m. and on our way to Christina’s mom’s school, White Elementary. They recently lost funding for their music and arts programming and we came in to lead students in some fun activities. Throughout the day, we interacted with almost 500 Kindergarten through 5th graders. Derek and I had a station where we helped them write their own songs and perform them. There was an art project station and also a P.E. station. The kids had an awesome time and we loved working with them.

After working at the school, we vanned over to Christina’s house. Her family had an amazing goodbye barbeque for us. There was ribs, chicken, burgers, salmon, veggies and a ton of other great food… the company wasn’t bad either.

It was a great weekend and it’s back to taxes tomorrow. I cannot believe we only have a couple more days left in Tucson and we’re at the half way point of our AmeriCorps NCCC term... crazy stuff.

~Ian