I must preface this entry by saying this is more of a personal story than other of the other entries I've posted in previous weeks. I began my involvement with Habitat for Humanity in September 2007, when I stepped into a ReStore for the very first time.
I have to admit I was shocked entering the door. The warehouse space was packed with brass and glass lighting from floor to ceiling, bathtubs and sinks precariously lined several rows, and volunteers buzzed about like bees sorting nails and screws.
Back in 2007, AmeriCorps members were still allowed to support the ReStore in everyday operations. Once I'd signed on the dotted line to become an AmeriCorps State member, I did quite a bit of everything including running to the back door to unload donations, running to the front register to check out customers, hauling down cabinets piled sometimes three deep on shelves and hauling myself upstairs to answer volunteer questions in my email. As the repetition might indicate, the blur of the first year and a half of my time as an AmeriCorps was spent running and lifting. I'd come home every night exhausted and more often than not with fresh bruises. But I slept very well at night knowing I was serving. I was "getting things done."
As an inititive of the Corporation for National and Community Service, AmeriCorps is a federal program, similar to a domestic Peace Corps. Members spend anywhere from 1/4 of a year to 4 years serving their communities and fall into one of several sub-categories including Senior Corps, VISTA, National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), State and National. Learn more...
When the 2008 Flood hit, we stood by the front windows of the ReStore watching the rain pour down. I remember very clearly saying to the other AmeriCorps member, who had just driven up from the Cedar Valley Habitat office, located near 3rd Street and 6th Avenue, "I wonder if the computers will be okay in the downtown office."
He told me they'd placed the computers up high on filing cabinets and was sure the water would never reach that far up the street. As it turns out, I saw our downtown office on the news that next day. Or rather, I saw the roof of our downtown office. The entirety of the small building where we'd kept all of our records, all of our history (except a few pictures I had borrowed to work on the ReStore second anniversary flier), everything had gone underwater. Weeks later a select few were allowed to return to the mold-filled office. We were able to retrieve some of the deeds and mortgages that had not been swept away. Those files had to be freeze-dried and sent away to be cleaned and repaired by professionals.
More than just homes and offices were destroyed. The psyche of the city was damaged. I never felt it more clearly than when I set up my small display board next to dozens of other area non-profits offering emergency services to scores and scores of homeless and flood affected folks. They shuffled by each table, each hungry to tell their story of loss and need.
My heart was torn that night.
Habitat for Humanity is a brand known all over the world as a beacon of hope - whose purpose is to create homeownership, to offer a hand-up to people in need. Our local affiliate had lost our own "home" in the flood and we were in no position to assist anyone.
In the weeks and months ahead, Habitat for Humanity International sent two "Legacy Leaders" to us from Georgia and I worked with them every day for many months recreating manuals, policies, and procedures. The board hired a new executive director. And then we got the call that the "AmeriCorps Build-a-Thon" was to be hosted in Cedar Rapids.
In 2009 and again in 2010, 500-600 AmeriCorps members from all over the United States came to Cedar Rapids to help build homes and hope. It felt incredible to me personally, seeing all of the people jumping off of the buses in their AmeriCorps gear, smiling and ready to go to work. I felt connected. I felt like we were "getting things done."
AmeriCorps members have a pledge they recite as part of their mission which I saw first-hand, the second the members came to Iowa. I still see it today, as we now annually have at least four full-time AmeriCorps State members serving with us:
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