'Twas 6 days before Christmas...

Yes, we corpsmembers certainly are counting down the days until Christmas! There have been so many projects at work that somehow involve wrapping paper, presents, huge lists of toys, Christmas dinners, little adorable red and green outfits, and heaps of cookies that it's hard to get the holidays off my mind. We've been working hard to make sure that everyone who comes to the Food Bank has a bit of a brighter outlook on the holidays. Today in the Del Paso Food Locker, we went through many, many pounds of food that had been gleaned from supermarket shelves. It's funny to see what sorts of products make it to the Food Locker. Tapioca pudding and fancy-pants imported Irish butter were two of the hot items today. There were boxes and boxes of each thing! As long as supplies held out, there was a bag each of dairy products, bread and pastries, dry goods, cans, and the lone vegetable to give to about the 150 people who came throug the line today. It varies from person to person, but some folks come to the window asking for food for their family of 2 adults and 5 kids. Regardless of how many groceries we give them or how many people they need to feed, they can still only come to the Food Bank once a month. It can seem rather daunting for some of these folks to feed everyone.

Most people that come to the Food Bank have jobs; the money that they make doesn't stretch for the duration of the month. Beginnings of the month are typically slower and more clients ulitize services towards the end of the month, say our project supervisors.

It's been very rewarding and very eye opening to work at the Food Bank during this time of the year. A few days ago, there was a rather bittersweet event in the Mother Baby program where I work that I thought would be worthwhile to share. A grandmother came into the program, a not so oldish lady, asking if we had anything for a newborn. She needed it all, from clothes to hats to coats to blankets to a bassinet. She told us that her granddaughter was born 4 days ago in nearby Davis, but she has temporary custody of the baby because the mom is in prison. She might be getting out soon, but apparently more and more time keeps getting added to her sentence. The baby's dad is in jail as well. Thankfully, the grandmom was there to take care of the baby because the father's family was completely unwilling to take care of this little girl. It was so nice to be able to help out this family (we helped them pick out a zillion little pink outfits) and they were really grateful for anything that we could give them. But at the same time, just thinking about the life that's in front of this little girl was hard. The odds are pretty much stacked against her, it seems. But being able to help the Food Bank offer assistance, whether it is in the form of clothes an diapers or educational classes and the beginnings of relationships with other people who are trying to better their lives, makes it possible to see the good and not get bogged down in the bad.

Getting into the swing of things

The third week of our project is off to a good start, with team Silver 6 working on a variety of projects. We're splitting our time between the Oak Park, Saca Center, and Del Paso locations of the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. We're everywhere... working in the warehouse, wrapping Christmas presents, playing with little kids, tutoring adults, providing crowd control for middle schoolers... we're pretty much got it all covered. The project is a really quite a good one and I think that the variety that sometimes makes us feel like we can't focus on one thing for long enough will be sorely missed when we have a more focused project. Hammering nails into a wall might seem a little plain after this assignment.

A few non-Americorps things to report back about... I went and saw a fantastic concert this past Saturday. Evelynn Glennie is a profoundly-deaf percussionist who put on an amazing concert at UC Davis. A teammate and I splurged and bought the expensive tickets so we've have good seats near the stage and I'm really glad we paid the extra few bucks. She played some beautiful music on instruments ranging from clay flower pots to the marimba to wood blocks to a snare drum. Check out a little video clip of a song we saw performed at YouTube.

I'll be back in Maryland soon to spend Christmas with my family! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, friends and family alike, spending time sleeping in my own bed, and enjoying a little Maryland snow (I've got my fingers crossed!!).

Off to work we go

Day number two of our SPIKE at the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services and I have to say, I love working for this organization. It might be due in part to the cinnamon rolls and other goodies that they feed us in the morning, but there are other good reasons, too. The variety of work that we have to do is fantastic. There are so many projects going on that it's probably impossible to do the same thing twice. Today, for example, I started out by working in the Women's Wisdom program. A bunch of ladies get together on weekday mornings to support each other in working through tough times in their lives through art and craft. Some of the ladies have been victims of domestic violence, some have had strokes, some have chronic health issues, some have disabilities. Everyone comes together to express themselves and enrich their lives (and sometimes their pockets... they have many pieces for sale) through art. They learn different techniques, Tuesdays being watercolor days, and have a fantastic studio to work in.
I didn't get to jump right into the fun stuff, though. First, I cleaned a bathroom, scrubbing drips of crusty paint off of most visible surfaces, and then sorted through big boxes of fabric. I helped one of the other volunteers fetch a snack from the warehouse and then started chatting with a lady named Veronica. Veronica is a sculptor and she makes some beautiful things out of clay. I told her that I have a serious love for building things with clay and she and I proceeded to collaborate on her bust of the Food Bank's president. It seems like she might be working her way through the staff and volunteers, making these great caricatures in clay of these folks. I got to do some pretty substantial nose work and getting my hands dirty. Talking and working with Veronica really made my day.
We're still in the middle of learning our way around the Food Bank and trying out the roles in all the different programs. We haven't been there but two days, but we're already quite popular. Volunteers are the engine that keeps the Food Bank running, so that automatically gives us an in, but we are also part of an Americorps legacy at the Food Bank. Maybe even a dynasty, if you will. Year after year, there have been kids in the fashionable grey tee shirts working hard and we're excited to be a part of that group.

The END is near! And I'm thankful for that.

Well, it was all building up to this. We sat through numerous training, we ran many miles, we learned all the acronyms that our little brains could handle... knowing that at the end of CTI (Corps Member Training Institute), we would begin our projects! We made it. Class 14 of Americorps NCCC officially completed training on Wednesday. We took our baseline physical fitness test that morning, a mile and a half run and the greatest number of push ups and sit ups we could do in 2 minutes, and saw our own improvements. We put on our Amerituxes (our dress uniforms!) and headed over for the induction ceremonies. We yelled our cheers said our pledges, listened to a very talented speaker who lives, sleeps, and breathes Americorps, and officially became members of Class 14! Or Class XIV, for all the purists out there.

And we graduated just in time, too. Thanksgiving was right around the corner, and after a long (much appreciated and anticipated) weekend of eating, being with friends and family, and relaxing, Monday brings with it the start of our first SPIKE. Other teams have to look forward to the beginning of a 5 day long drive to the Gulf Coast on Monday, but lucky Silver 6 is staying local. We're going to stay at picturesque McClellan Base for another 2 months while we work at Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. The Food Bank is an amazing organization that does so much to meet community needs in the area. I'm thrilled to be working for an organization that does so much good on such a small budget. Our project has a fantastic amount of variety built into it... we're going to be working in a number of different areas, including programs which teach English, computer literacy, and parenting skills, along with stocking the Bank's food lockers and clothing closet.

There's alot to be thankful for this year... wonderful, supportive friends and family, a wealth of new experiences, a unique chance to work for others, a great opportunity to travel and serve and learn... for all these things, and bunches more, I'm going to take a moment to reflect and be grateful as I dig into my pumpkin-tofu pie.


Yes, that's right, pumpkin-tofu pie. I made it myself (twice actually... I left the first one in the fridge!) Embrace the soy bean and give it a try....

Tofu Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
1 can (16 ounces) pureed pumpkin
3/4 cup maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice, optional
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch to firm up the pie filling
1 package (10-12 ounces) silken/soft tofu
1 9-in unbaked vegan pie shell

Directions:Preheat oven to 425 F. Blend the pumpkin and sugar. Add salt, spices, cornstarch, and tofu, mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 60 minutes. Chill and serve. Top with non dairy topping and it will fool any pumpkin pie lover.
Serves: 8 Preparation time: about 1 hour + chilling time

Belated Halloween pictures

While shopping at the wonderful Deseret Industries, the local LDS-owned thrift store of fantastic proportions, I found an outfit that begged me to turn it into a Halloween costume.
I'm not sure that this picture really gives the matching jacket and culottes ensemble justice, so let me describe... the wonderful squiggles and blocks of color that you see are really scenes of ladies golfing in spectacularly colors settings and outfits. When I first laid eyes on the fabric, I thought it was Ronald MacDonald playing the fine sport, but really, it's a lady with vividly colored hair. How fantastic! My friend Mariel found the shoulder-padded cheerleading sweater and skirt during the same wonderful trip.

And now to explain the outfit... during our morning runs for PT, we often sing dumb songs. One is a call and repeat and it goes like this: When my grandma was ninety-one, she did PT just for fun. When my grandma was ninety-two, she did PT better than you. When my grandma was ninety-three, she did PT better than me.... etc, etc. So, I decided that I could be the Grandma PT for Halloween and use my fantastic outfit. I caked my hair in a mixture of gel and baby powder, pinched people's cheeks, and showed them pictures of my grandkids. The best part was going to the bar that evening... and still getting carded.

Did you know?

In order to mark their territory, spider monkeys pee on their hands and then stick their little stinky handprints everywhere to tell other spider monkeys where their turf is.

I can share this little interesting factoid with you because yesterday's comminuty service project took me and my team to the Folsom Zoo and Sanctuary where we spent the day helping out the staff with building shelters, moving big rocks, making perches, wiping up pee, picking up mountain lion poo while the poo-maker hung out in his cage (!), and monkey-proofing a new habitat. We really lucked out with this service project... we had a great time while helping out a fantastic organization. Our help was really appreciated because some construction projects had been pushed forward by about a month. Instead of having a nice leisurely stretch of time to relocate the monkeys and macaws and other folks, the staff was scrambling to get temporary shelters together for their animals. Apparently, the prison crew who had come in a few days before was not nearly as helpful as we were. We were quite proud to hear this compliament.

The Folsom Zoo is different than most other zoos that I'm familar with. Instead of taking care of endangered or rare animals or having the goal of breeding in captivity, the Folsom Zoo acts like a rescue organization. They take in animals that have been injured or abused and nurse these animals backto health. Most of the time, the animals will spend the rest of their lives at the zoo; they don't have the necessary skills to survive in the wild. Some of the animals are a little mundane (squirrels?) but the zoo also takes care of bigger animals like two tigers named Missy and Pouncer, brown bears, a bald eagle, and some assorted farm animals.

True Life: I'm in Americorps

To disabuse you of the notion that we only go on scavenger hunts here at NCCC, this blog entry is dedicated to the other stuff that we corps members do. (I realized that I've really only reported back on the fun stuff so far.) We wake up early in the mornings for PT (physical training, which I constantly want to call FT), have numerous trainings on topics from CPR and first aid to community relations and conflict resolution, and have short service projects that teach us how to work together as a Siamese dozen and help out the community at the same time.
PT is the first thing that comes to mind because it's the way we start out every day. It's cold and dark at 5:30 in the morning, but regardless, we're all gathered up on Holmes Field to do calisthenics, running, stretching, and the occasional singing of silly songs. Myself, I like the running part best, but my knees are not appreciative of the courses that are laid out on roads and other concrete surfaces. I'm not sure how anyone could miss a herd of us running down the street, but just in case 75 sleepy kids are hard to spot, we all wear reflective orange vests for safety (and embarassment). After PT, there's a mad rush towards the kitchens and the showers. Things get a bit hectic and crowded in the kitchens... there's about 60 hungry and/or stinky corpsmembers trying to get some breakfast in a skinny little kitchen space. On a day like today, when our leaders have stocked up our kitchen over the weekend, there's food like kiwis and pineapple to go with the cereal and milk, but towards the end of the week, there's only Lucky Charms and Coco Puffs left on the shelf. You'd be suprised how many kids shape up their breakfast habits after a former Navy Seal (that's Willie, our PT coordinator) leads your morning run.
Our trainings take up the biggest portion of our time here. Our leaders try to make the trainings valuable and mostly interesting, but some topics are plain boring... for instance, the rules and regulations training. All I really need to know about life, I learned in this training... no kittens, no waterbeds, no porn in Americorps. On the other hand, some of the trainings have been really valuable. We had a good training called Hands of Peace, which teaches conflict resolution skills. When 12 people are pretty much attached at the hip for the next 10 months, there's bound to be conflict. We talked about ways to resolve some of these issues and set up team charters which list rules and qualities that are important to us as a group. I thought that some of the fun activities that we did were almost as important as the "serious" stuff, though. When you get people laughing and being silly during a game like 'Psychiatrist', you get to know your team and become more cohesive. So this Psychiatrist game...here's how it works. Everyone forms a big circle and one person is chosen to be the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist leaves the room and while they are gone, everyone else decides what sort of issue the group collectively has. For example, when my teammate Kara was the psychiatrist, we decided that the group was going to be her overbearing parents. So when psychiatrist Kara gets back in the room, she starts asking us questions. They could be as simple 'How was your dinner last night?' or 'Did you have a good weekend?' But here's the important part. We have the answer the psychiatrist's questions that somehow give hints as to who we are (her cranky parents.) So if the psychiatrist says, 'How was your weekend?', we'd say things like, 'Well if you weren't making me stay up all night worrying where you were, it could have been fine!' It's fun... I recommend it for your next party.
More about our community service projects next time....

Silver 6 maintains a professional attitude at all times.

Lookin' classy, Silver 6! We're in the midst of our downtown Sacramento scavenger hunt, hanging out on the steps of the Crocker Art Museum all properly uniformed so passersby can ask us if we're in the Boy Scouts.

My address

In case you might feel the need to send me a note or some sweet knee-high socks or some other love by snail mail, here's my address ...

Amy McIntosh/ Silver 6
Americorps*NCCC Western Region
3427 Laurel St.
McClellan, CA 95652

Silver 6, y'all

We've finally been sorted into our groups that we'll being living, breathing, working, and eating with for the next 10 months! I'm a member of Silver 6. There are 12 of us on the team and we're from all over the place. There's one girl who's a Maryland alum, which is pretty neat. We're all a little quiet as yet... still getting used to the idea that we need to get to know a new group of people right after we just finished getting to know our old group (our pod). But I think we have potential. Our team leader's name is Morgan and she seems like a great girl and a capable leader.
We had a funny scavenger hunt event yesterday afternoon to hype up the process of finding out our teams. Ours involved a phone call to a Korean guy who pretended that he didn't speak English, reading off a phonetically spelled Kor-English sentance to said guy, telling a joke to a roomate in hopes that we could make her laugh and get our next clue, and finally finding our team van! We're problem-solving right off the bat.

Just in case you were wondering what that prize-winning joke was... I've got it here for you, dedicated reader.

Why shouldn't you take a shower with a Pokemon?


Because he might Pikachu!


Pretty quality.... almost better than my Beethovan joke.


Today's adventures include van driver training and taking to the roads of downtown Sacramento and the highways that connect us here in the stripmall outpost of McClellan to the bustling metropolis. Saturday is what I'm really looking forward to though... there's an all-campus service day scheduled when we're going to be working in and starting community gardens around the area.

Do you have steel toe combat boots in your closet?

Because I do! My new black leather, steel toe boots are my favorite part of my Americorps uniform. Other than my feet, Americorps is also covering me with tee shirts and polos and some not-so-fashionable rip-stop khakis. There's a pretty strict code of conduct in place while we corps members are "wearing the A", as it's put, which includes no bad language, no politicking, and no visiting bars. Guess I won't be using the uniform to help me pick up chicks :)

After chatting about this week's experiences with my dad, an experienced military man, I learned that the paperwork and in-processing and shots and physicals might be called zero week. We're getting used to the rules and learning our way around town and breaking in our uniforms, but we still have plenty of free time to sit around and chat with all the friendly kids that are here. Nearly everyone I've met is super-friendly and approachable-- we have some funny converstations about what town everyone's from and what all we've done over the summer. I've also learned that there is indeed about 6 degrees of seperation between two given people. For example, I played pool last night with a bunch of kids and chatted with one guy who lived in Minnesota and went to school in Illinois. Not so many things in common between a cowboy-booted Midwesterner and myself, one might think. But as we came to find out, his family is all from Towson, MD and he goes back to visit them a few times a year! He's also a fan of exploring Loch Raven. Small world, indeed.

The way you wiggle your antenna...

...You know you give me such bliss,
Come on come on come on, banana slug,
Won't you blow me a kiss?

So goes the fantastic "Banana Slug Song," extremely popular with me and the fifth graders at the San Mateo Outdoors School. Before leaving for NCCC in just a few days, I took a little road trip down the beautiful California coast to visit my old roommate, Liane. She has one of the coolest job in the world, I'm thinkin'. She gets to live in the beautiful sticks of coastal redwood forests, hang out with kids, sing songs and dance around in costume, see banana slugs on a daily basis, and teach her 5th graders about the environment. Awesome!

Just a few more days left of fun and games in California before I get down to NCCC work. Catching up with friends and family has been wonderful and relaxing and now I'm ready to start working and serving. I have to say that I'll miss sleeping in, however. 5:30 AM wake-up call is going to be a bit rough.

And the adventure begins!

One small addition to my blog, one giant leap for staying in touch with mankind. Or at least my friends and family!


Thanks for taking a look at my blog, everyone. My plan is to post little bits of news and stories about my adventures in Americorps on this here website. Hope you'll come and check in with me on occasion and leave me love.

Until I have something to write about--

Amy