Millions of Americans will be making the journey to their respective hometowns this weekend to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. Today and tomorrow, a 26-member AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team will leave Denver, CO, for the East Coast to spend their holidays helping families recover from Hurricane Sandy.

The Denver group will join more than 100 others who chose to forego their winter break to continue serving communities devastated by the storm. These teams include members of the AmeriCorps HOOPA Tribal Civilian Community Corps, Washington Conservation Corps, Minnesota Iowa Conservation Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team, Montana Conservation Corps, St. Bernard Project, YouthBuild, and Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) staff.

Half of the Denver NCCC members are slated to serve in Atlantic City, NJ, assisting with sheltering operations. Other Denver team members will muck and gut damaged properties in the Rockaways region of New York. Assignments are flexible, and it's likely the teams will tackle additional service needs in the area during their stay.

Coleen Healy, an AmeriCorps NCCC Team Leader who will be part of the Denver deployment, said, “I'm excited to be able to assist in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. It means a lot to me to provide help so close to my home in Pennsylvania. The experience of leading a group of young adults who are eager to help during the holiday season makes it even more special.”

More than 1,700 national service participants have been deployed as part of a coordinated multi-level response to Hurricane Sandy by the CNCS in New York, New Jersey, and other affected states. Our AmeriCorps members and other CNCS volunteers are helping run donation-management centers, operate shelters, remove debris, and connect citizens to available resources.

My name is Rebecca Lange and I am a proud alumna of the second class of AmeriCorps NCCC. I served at the Central Region campus in Denver, CO, from 1995-1996, a wide-eyed high school graduate looking for an adventure, a unique way to serve, and beyond excited to begin what I hoped to be an awesome life.
 

Stephen Packard, 24, could have taken his degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut and found a comfortable desk job. Instead, he opted for a more adventurous path when he joined AmeriCorps NCCC. Never did he imagine he'd one day be working on the front lines of Colorado's biggest wildfire in history, sleeping just feet from the flames.
 

Recent wildfires have threatened communities across Colorado and the Southwest and national service has been working day and night to help put out the flames and support survivors.
 

In October 2010, I began my first year of service as an AmeriCorps member with the Community Building Partnerships for Youth in Transition program in Denver, Colorado. I was placed with the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver in the Community Programs Branch at Bruce Randolph School and tasked with mentoring ten youth over the course of the year – a job I found both intimidating and exciting.
 

More than a quarter of Colorado's third-graders are not reading at grade level, a concerning statistic as early childhood literacy is one of the most important predictors of school success and high school graduation. Stakeholders across diverse sectors including federal, state, and local governments, educators, nonprofits, business leaders, and foundations have teamed up to improving childhood literacy as a top priority for the state.
 

As America's heroes return from deployments abroad and transition back into civilian life, many are facing challenges in finding employment. With the unemployment rate among recently returned veterans hovering around 12 percent, these men and women who volunteered to courageously serve our country should not have to return home with bleak opportunities in sight.
 

Hispanic leaders in Colorado, like so many in the United States, are committed to addressing challenges and improving opportunities for their community. They want to work with the Federal government to understand policies, access information, leverage resources, and build collaboration that will help provide solutions to pressing concerns. In Denver, I saw this commitment first hand.
 

When our armed forces return from combat, the impact it has on their lives is lasting, though not always evident. For many, they are returning with invisible wounds, that left untreated, can turn into scars.