Gratitude

I'm thankful for:

• My wonderful and supportive family that accepts my crazy ideas and lets me roll with them
• That I have a job that I love, and that I have the opportunity to continue to learn and grow and work and have fun!
• My friends. I'm so thankful to have friends who support and care for me. I'm especially thankful for all the friends who want to visit and work with me and can experience what I'm passionate about.
• Sean, Alex, Jenna and my parents have all come to Charlotte to to build with me. I'm excited to host even more family and friends and share a fun work day with them.
• And I'm grateful to Logan and his family for taking me in this Thanksgiving.
• Dedicated volunteers who give up their time and weekends to work hard to make Habitat for
  Humanity's mission successful.
• Being healthy and able to work and play as hard as I possibly can.
• The sense of Community that I've found in Charlotte, at Habitat and at Okra. I cherish all the people I've met becoming part of these communities.

Progress

The past few weeks have been filled with fabulous, dedicated and hard-working volunteers! Synethia's house is at the drywall stage (we have three pieces to put up today an it'll be done)! And this past Saturday was the dedication on the Charlotte Church Partners houses! 

Green Building Conference

Yesterday we went to Asheville for a conference about Green Building and Sustainability hosted by their Habitat for Humanity. It was really interesting to hear about the upcoming System Vision standards for existing homes, and it seems like many of the items on the list are already being done here at Habitat Charlotte for our Critical Home Repair projects. It was also really intresting to hear about the Tiny Home Movement and to consider its ramifications in an affordable housing setting.

Habitat International announced that they are unveiling a Habitat Certified Construction Manager Program at the 2015 Conference in March. I'm very excited to participate in these trainings and see what "Core Competencies" Habita International finds valuable in Habitat Construction Staff and be able to hone my own knowledge and skills.

After the Round Table discussions we toured several in-progess build sites. We say what their attics look like after using spray foam insulation (which sounds dangerous to use and store, but looks like it creates a tightly sealed attic space). It was also interesting to note that their Homeowners in Process don't have any input about their houses, they don't choose their lots, floor plans, color schemes or anything. The finished houses do look amazing though with beautiful local cabinets, laminate flooring, and a light green hue seems to be their stock paint. It was interesting to talk to Robin, one of their site supervisors and hear that she does install laminate with volunteer groups, and the flawless paint job was also the handiwork of volunteers.

Trusses

This past weekend I had an amazing crew putting on the roof trusses at Synethia's House!

October 2014

I’ve been keeping so busy at work, and living the social life of dorm living that I’ve barely had time for myself the past two months. But this week and weekend I’ve managed to set aside some introvert time and refocus myself. I’ve started running again. Intensely. Today I ran 13.3 miles and while the last three were pure torture I feel great that I managed to keep going, make every mile count and that I was able to focus on one activity for so long. After that I had brunch with Logan so skipped yoga, which I may have skipped anyway from the aching muscles in my legs. Due to my crazy work schedule (roughly 50 hour weeks) my yoga practice has been suffering. I’ve been managing to go to 2 classes a week, after my shifts at Okra. And those classes have done much to restore my calm, re-center myself and reflect on my life. So after those classes I’m ready to hit it hard again the next day!

Yesterday we started building a new house. Isaac said I could be in charge of running this one totally, all the volunteer days, scheduling and checking on the subcontractors, inspections, and making sure the house is built and built to code. So we had a beautiful day framing and raising walls with a lot of volunteers from the community. The homeowner, Synethia, and her family came out and swung hammers alongside the volunteers. We got all the walls framed and braced into place, and the first sheet of OSB put up. Chanelle and Isaac joined me after running the their 2 houses to finish cutting and nailing in the cap plates. Michael Matthews (our resource manager who is in charge of ordering supplies and maintaining the Americorps apartments) joined us in the afternoon to do a bit of framing work. He had mentioned earlier in the week that framing was the only aspect of Habitat Building that he had never experienced so I invited him to join us, and he kindly stayed until the cap plates were completed as well! And Elhadji joined us after he finished his work for the day (he is one of the Americorps on a Home Repair team) to do cap plates and help clean up.

Other items from the past month I want to remember and recognize:

·         Gratitude to Jenna who came and visited me for her weekend and ended up working with me  two very physically taxing days. We did roof sheathing and shingling on Latasha and Angela’s houses and it was a blast! Jenna’s visit came at the perfect time to save my sanity from all the craziness running around my head, and having her see my work and my life reaffirmed what I’m doing.

·         Love, love, love to my parents whose visit coincided with Jenna’s. Being able to spend a week with them seriously helped me distress as well as make sure I was well fed. I enjoyed having them join me on the build site even though I made them do some of the work volunteer tasks- nailing in hurricane hangars and caulking! Their visit was during our blitz week which meant I worked about 60 hours and my weekend was nonexistent.

·         The Nascar Build! With the Bank of America we framed Samantha’s house  at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Nascar to generate media attention before the Bank of America 500. Nascar Drive Kasey Kahne showed up with us for a bit, and we were given tickets to attend the race! It was an interesting experience. We left the house up in the parking lot for a week, then returned to take it apart and move the walls to the site where they will be reassembled and completed!

·         The absolute joy I have in my team here at Haibtat Charlotte. Isaac is a great boss. Over the past few weeks he has been giving me a lot more independence and trust to complete tasks and his faith in my ability to lead Synethia’s house alone was really inspiring to me to work even harder. I love Chanelle and Logan and working with them is a blast. I feel like we have really gotten to know each other’s habits (like I need a giant cup of coffee the start the day, Logan WILL show up in flip flops and won’t take them off if he can get away with it, and Chanelle will boss him around if she can get away with it). I love how Chanelle will offer to give me my first hug of the day, and sometimes Logan will bring me coffee even if he is embarrassed about ordering it the way I like. I like how we have “Team Food.” For example if I’m eating a slice of pizza someone can just say “team pizza” and then everyone is entitled to have a bite of the pizza. This happens with any and all food items from water bottles to apples, pizza to lollipops.

·         I love my roommates at the apartments and how they make me seem like a neat freak in comparison. I pretend that I’m going to be glad to have the place to myself while they are in Talledega next week, but secretly after half a day the place is going to seem lonesome and empty. This place is always hopping with people hanging out, playing games, chatting or baking delicious treats. Although I find it hard to find “introvert time” I cherish my new friends.

Jenna helping to sheath the roof!

Chanelle conquering her fear and getting on the roof!

Logan with some Team Donuts in his mouth...Isaac ending up eating those donuts

Samantha's house at the Charlotte Motor Speedway parking lot!

Isaac, Kasey Kahne, me and Logan

Nascar race! 300+ laps of those cars driving in a circle

Synethia's house with the first few walls put up!

 

Synethia's house at the end of the day! All walls up and cap plated!

Finally! An Update!

The new term of service has started at Habitat Charlotte. We have a new crop of Americorps living and serving here and I've been working my tail off learning all the details of new construction as well as having more responsibility and leadership of the worksites. It has been alot of fun, but I end each day crashing into my bed exhausted! But I love that I wake up each morning enthusiastic and excited about the work ahead! The new group of Americorps is really fun. Everyone likes hanging out and getting to know each other. There is always someone around, or something going on.

Next week is the official start of our Blitz Build season, but alot of the projects are already underway. My team had two new starts last Saturday. Our houses are sponsored by the Charlotte Church partners and they've been sending out fantastic groups of volunteers to work together to build these houses. Yesterday we put the trusses on both the houses. They are looking fantastic!

Emma, Isela and Chasity on their first build day!

 

One of the new houses being framed!

Charlotte Church partner finish sheathing the house in the foreground while also putting up trusses on the house in the background!

Decision

Tuesday morning I had a meeting with the heads of construction, new construction and host site coordinator. They had scheduled the meeting with me the week before to talk about my service next year. I assumed that we would set goals for the year and talk about specifics on what I should focus on learning and how I could be a leader amongst the Americorps. Knowing that I had the goal of reapplying to be a Construction Fellow next year I assumed they would help me plan my next year with that goal in mind. I was struck speechless when instead I was offered a Construction Fellowship starting in August. After looking at the new construction goals for the next year and the increase in the number of families served they decided to hire three Fellows instead of two.

My initial gut reaction was to decline the offer. After accepting another Americorps term of service I’ve become really excited for all the positives about that experience. I was looking forward to the camaraderie of belonging to a group, going to Talledega for the Leadership Conference, going to Build-a-Thon in the Spring and having another year to become proficient at construction skills. I don’t think I smiled at all during the morning meeting as all these thoughts were racing around my head. After talking with my mom, current supervisors, and making a pro/con list with Caroline and Sean I had a lot of perspective on the decision before me. Spending another year as an Americorps would mean an additional year of experience and learning new construction. Becoming a Fellow would mean more responsibility and taking that position now would show a lot of growth.

My deliberations led to these final thoughts: I know that I love my job and the work that I am doing. I want to be able to do this and be happy for as long as I can. My thought process leads me to believe that having the experience of being a fellow would be best for my career path. If after the fellowship I can’t find a job as a site supervisor I still have an Americorps term of service that I can use to continue gaining experience. And it meant a lot of me that the heads of construction see a lot of potential in me and want to invest in me by offering me this opportunity. Ultimately I recognize that this position will be very challenging for me and I can’t wait to rise to the occasion and prove that they made the right decision.

New Goals

Professional:

• Read 1 professional book a month
• Connect with the homeowners we serve more, and create meaningful relationships
• Attend Family Selection meetings and HIP Orientation
• Become LEED Certified?

Educational

• Take the GRE
• Renew my Wilderness First Responder Certification (2015)
• Learn French
• Apply to Grad School

Fitness & Nutrition

• Lose the 10 pounds I've gained in Americorps
• Run the New Years Double Marathon
• Take a Yoga Teachers Training

Personal

• Call Gram every week
• Be a good friend to the new Americorps members, coordinating Birthday cards, initiating and regularly participating in Family Dinners and being supportive as members learn and grow in their service
• Buy a car
• Go to group runs/meetups
• Volunteer

Build-A-Thon

Last week all the Habitat Americorps travelled to one of three sites for a week of Blitz building. All the Habitat Charlotte Americorps travelled to Raleigh to build with the Wake County Habitat for Humanity. We spent the week building 5 new homes (3 from start to finish, 2 from drywall to finish), and 8-10 repair/Brush with kindness projects. I worked on the Brush with Kindness projects. My crew spent the first 3 days ripping off an old roof and replacing it. Because we usually subcontract out our roof repairs in Charlotte, it was interesting to see how you would do that with volunteers. We only tore one half of the house off at a time, papering and begining to shingle the first side before starting to demolish the other half of the roof. This allowed the family to remain in their home during the repairs. We had a great crew and stayed busy all three days. We also used harnesses to rope ourselves onto the roof. They were often in our way and we spent alot of time untangling ourselves. We spent the remainder of the week repairing decks, installing handrails, painting ad planting flowers to make families' homes safer and to beautify the neighborhood.

In the evenings we returned to the NC State campus where we were staying in one of the dorms. It was alot of fun getting to meet other people serving in different affiliates and hear about their experiences!

Friday after the home dedications and closing ceremony we drove back to Charlotte to prepare to build with the Bike and Build team riding through. Saturday we hung drywall and siding with this years' NC2SD riders. They were a fantastic bunch, energetic and passionate about the amazing summer they were embarking on! After work we had a barbeque for them where we mixed and mingled, and tried to convince them to continue in service by considering joining Americorps.

After a glorious Sunday full of yoga, runnng, reflection, and relaxation, Sean and I worked on the Veterans Build. This year we are building a house for a retired Navy Vet and his family in the Reid Park neighborhood. We had alot of media attention and alot of great volunteers who gave up their long weekend to kick off the build! With a condensed build schedule, that house is scheduled to be complete for the fourth of July.

Its been a great couple weeks of building and playing, reflecting and enjoying my time as an Americorps. And as of yesterday its official: I'm coming back to Charlotte to serve another term!

Natalie and Tom halfway through the roof repair!

Gary and his family standing in front of their newly framed house!

El Salvador

This weekend I returned home from our Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip to El Salvador. I went with 10 other people including Alex and Bettie (who works for Habitat Charlotte as well). We spent the week building a home in Sonsonate. The home was started the day we arrived. We were working in an area where several homes were being built. Don Julio oversaw our efforts for his son. His son and his family will be moving into the house when it is finished, but had to be away working all week in San Salvador so his father was there to greet and work with us. The house next door was being built for Don Julio’s daughter. We began Monday by starting to dig the foundation for the house, and finished the day by passing buckets of sand to mix into the cement from the street where it was delivered to the worksite. We spent a lot of the week moving sand, gravel, limestone, and cement bricks from one location to the worksite. By the end of the week we had managed to get the foundation dug, and all the cement mixed and poured (by sheer muscle power- no cement mixer included!) There was another Global Village group of Canadian high school girls who stayed with us and build on a site just down the road. Did you know Canadian bacon isn't a thing in Canada? And their money is plastic? 

Even though my knowledge of Spanish is limited I felt able to communicate well enough on the worksite and greet Don Julio. I also understood him when he told me it was hot outside and was able to exchange pleasantries. One member of our group, Maggie spoke Spanish really well. She’s currently in high school and tutors English as a Second Language (ESL) to adult students. She was awesome at connecting with the families and neighbors as we worked! We also had a few members of Habitat El Salvador staff to help us on the worksite. They not only helped translate the Mason’s instructions to us but also coordinated our travel, meals, and everything else we did. They taught us about the different Departments in El Salvador and told us about the local culture as we traveled.

While the work was more physically difficult than my normal work, building in El Salvador still felt like a vacation because mentally the work was less taxing. My only responsibility was to show up on time and work with my team. I had no other responsibilities to coordinate tasks, prepare meals, worry about transportation. Even the worries and stressors that I left in the US remained un-thought of as I concentrated only on the beauty of El Salvador and the work we were doing.

Our accommodations were gorgeous! The first night we stayed at a resort on the beach. We spent our first few hours in El Salvador getting to know our travel-mates, walking along the beach and eating. After that we travelled into the mountains, closer to where we would be working. The “resort” in the mountains was even more beautiful than the first! The area was so lush, covered in tropical flora. We all had beds in one of the cabins. We had 4 cabins between the 11 of us, and each had a toilet (that flushed) and a shower. The staff even changed our sheets every day! We also ate two meals a day there (breakfast and dinner) and it was always delicious! While I am tired of tortillas, I filled up every day on eggs, beans, vegetables, fruit, and even got to try papusas- a stuffed tortilla (usually with beans and cheese). Being able to go back to the resort every night and walk around, relax by the pool, journal, reflect, study, drink coffee (or una cerveza, por favor), was just fantastic. It was a great trip. I learned a lot about El Salvador, the people, culture, way of life, the local Habitat for Humanity, Spanish, and I met alot of great people! I highly recommend going on a Global Village trip, and cant wait to do another!

Palm Sunday Procession in the Streets

Don Julio

The finished foundation with rebar set!

Alex standing outside of our mountain cabin accommodations! 

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

This time next week I’ll be in El Salvador! I’m going on a Global Village trip to volunteer for a week with the Habitat for Humanity affiliate down there. I’m super excited for this experience and to spend a week serving in a community with a completely different way of life. It’s supposed to be 92 degrees the day we arrive, and I’m told the work we are doing will be very physical. The last group who came back from El Salvador said they spent a lot of their time carrying cement bricks up a hill.

Here in Charlotte my team is currently working on a huge repair project. The house was severely damaged in a fire. We’ve spent the last week, and the last few weekends doing demolition, and preparing the materials for the big rebuild. This week we are having two all-staff days to get the new roof on the house. Then, Friday is Realtors Cares day and we’ll be having a huge crew from their group shingling the roof. This project has given me the opportunity to do more new construction type tasks, such as building the ladders attached to the gables for the new roof, as well as some demolition work. Our first day on that site we led a crew of Homeowners-in-Progress (HIPs) knocking down the drywall and insulation out of the attic and cleaning it up so the lead remediation contractors could remove what remained of the roof. That crew of HIPs was so great we requested them the following weekend to remove the old baseboard to prepare the house for the electrical subcontractors to do the rewiring.

This week Caroline, Alex and I went to Fern for their weekly outdoor yoga class. I biked there right after work for a cocktail and appetizer. (Fern is this natural, local vegetarian restaurant!) The appetizer I ordered (Cauliflower Poutine) was awesome, and my kombucha-rum cocktail was delicious! The yoga class was awesome! The turnout was way smaller than I expected (only five people, which I expect is because it was the first event of the year) which meant we had a lot of hands-on assistance from the instructors. It was probably the most physically demanding yoga class I’ve ever done.

This is what the house looks like in the livng room-where the fire originated.

Me after a long day of demolition!

Alex and I doing yoga outside of Fern!

Photo Cred: Caroline

Volunteers

Yesterday we finished the house on Alleghany we’ve been working on. This house needed a large portion of the floor replaced. Termites had eaten about 17 floor joists and the band under the house causing the kitchen and bathroom to start caving in. The walls also had asbestos and had to be removed. We had a lot of volunteer groups come in to work on this project, spontaneous volunteers, the Wednesday and Thursday crews, a volunteer Meetup group, and a group of Hands on Charlotte. I’m super excited to have gotten to meet all these cool volunteers who came out to make a difference in their community. I weatherized the house with Liz from the meetup group and as we were installing the vapor barrier under the house she told me about the running group. It turns out she’s the run leader for the local Thursday night run I’ve been meaning to go to. Now that I know someone who will be there, the thought of attending a Meetup is a lot less intimidating! The group from Hands on Charlotte worked with us yesterday to paint the house and do the final cleanup. They went above and beyond, painting way more than expected, helping us dig a trench, caulk, clean, and they finished everything on the list by noon! When I first moved to Charlotte I went to the Hands on Charlotte new volunteer orientation, but I haven’t found any volunteer opportunities that appealed to me, fit in my schedule, and that I could get to. But working with this group renewed my interest, so I’ll keep looking, and hopefully find something this Spring!

The kitchen floor before

The kitchen after! New floor, walls, cabinets, and light fixtures!

Reflections and Resolutions

Things have been busy in the habi-bubble since the New Year began! This weekend we had a three day weekend, but I've worked the past two Mondays. Since we had some extra time Alex and I took the train to Maryland for a mini-roadtrip to pick up her car and bicycle. We're currently driving back and enjoying the sunny Virginia highwayscape. Work has been going really well. I feel like I've been able to take on a lot more tasks and responsibilities on our work sites and I'm really able to do alot of the tasks without alot of active instruction. On the current house we're working on at Old Steele Creek I led the volunteer crew in removing the bathroom floor, replacing the rotten joists, and installing the new floor. Usually that next my supervisor oversees, but I felt that this time I was really in charge with a little bit of consultation from him. I'm feeling very comfortable at my job and can identify what needs to be done and I'm comfortable knowing what to do to complete the tasks. I really love what I'm doing and look forward to waking up and going to work everyday. I also had a partner swap. Instead of working with Sean, I now work with Caroline. We have a lot of things in common and I think its really enjoyable to chat with her while we're working.

Now that January is nearly over I have some concrete goals in mind to work toward this year. My February goals are:

•Do "Fab Ab February" with Alex (work on my six pack)

• Maybe go to a meetup group run? (I can work up the mental courage to meet new people in that kind of group setting. Maybe)

•Get my computer fixed

•Update my resume and my Americorps online application

•Go to Yoga one extra night a week

•Get out of the house more 

•Blog every weekend

•Donate Blood

•Put money into my savings account

I've been getting ready for the upcoming Habitat Global Village trip to El Salvador. I've filled out all the paperwork and bought my plane ticket. Now I'm just waiting for my new passport to come and I'm ready!

Today Alex told me that our Americorps term is half over. I've been thinking about whats next in my life and I have three options that I keep thinking about:

• Doing another year of Americorps here in Charlotte

• Doing another year of Americorps at another affiliate

• Doing a year in Charlotte as an intern then doing a year of Americorps at another affiliate.

I also keep turning over in my mind the idea of spending a summer leading a Bike and Build trip. My experience with Bike and Build was absolutely life changing. My first trip made me fully realize my passion for community service and the agordable housing cause as well as expand my comfort bubble to include group living that has made my Americorps lifestyle desirable to me. I would love to be able to spend a summer facilitating that experience for other young adults and experiencing the beauty of the raw upclose country. That experience has shaped my decisions since, leading me to my current job, friends, and lifestyle. I really like the person I've become. Somedays the mere thought of spending another summer doing that much biking exhausts me. But most days the thought fills me with excitement, and meeting other alums and current riders making preparations renews my passion for the organization, and makes me a little jealous!