rhythm, rain, and CCC blues

                      

Well hello there! How time flies when you are working hard...(and playing too hard to keep up with the blog)

So let's catch up where we last left off, long ago at the end of week 3: We've had 2 amazing weeks since, full of after-work adventures and ISPs, drum circles and dull machetes, malicious mop buckets and themed team dinners...it's hard to think that there's only two weeks left of this project, and then we say goodbye to the orange groves and the old folks, and to the many friends we've made here in Highlands County.

Week 4: To the beat of our own drums: We started the week with a bang, on drums that is...at Primal Connection's Community Drum Circle in Highlands Hammock State Park. The local non-profit hosts the event on the 3rd Sunday of every month, providing a variety of drums and percussion instruments for kids and adults alike to play and experiment with. We enjoyed learning various tribal rhythms from around the world, and hope that the people we met enjoyed learning about our 'tribe' of AmeriCorps members from all over the country.

We actually ended up spending a lot of time at the Highlands Hammock that week, meeting with a CCC storyteller at its Florida Civilian Conservation Corps Musuem Tuesday night, and volunteering for the park after work on Wednesday and Friday: Funny thing is, we were doing invasive species removal of exotic species we just learned the CCC planted there 70 years ago (they didn't know any better at the time...). The team enjoyed doing environmental work for once, and the hands-on service learning that the CCC musuem provided. Thanks Darryl! (pictured below, with team in blue CCC uniform parts).

         

Service that doesn't stop: Aside from Rhea and April (who escaped the Florida heat for a few days), the team celebrated Memorial Day weekend by helping paint a local shelter Saturday, followed by a rigorous night of "Taboo".

Habitat repeats itself: We started week 5 by fast and furiously nailing off, setting the trusses, and "drying out" another home. Everything moves quicker once you've done it before and at this point we are repeating a lot of steps (though we still hit our thumbs just as much!). With all we've learned, Rhea will surely be able to build her own house when she grows up! And something else we learned this week: don't drive onto unidentified gravel roads! They sometimes lead you into a random pit of sand...and by the time we realized this, we were already stuck (it's inevitable for most teams). Our wonderful Construction Manager Alan came to the rescue, pulling us out with his truck. 

We finished the week with a break from building at the empty site of a house removal (it was moved to another property); working with several potential Habitat homeowners---plus a snake, several lizards, and one giant grasshopper---we cleared leftover debris and concrete, took down a picket fence, and hand-loaded two dumpsters, just like the good ol' days in Baltimore. After work, we were pleased to meet Nancy, the Family Services coordinator for Highlands County Habitat. She spoke with us about the family selection process, resources provided to potential and current Habitat homeowners, and examples of the substandard living conditions Habitat is working to eradicate. Knowing more about the administrative side of the organization helps us understand what our construction efforts are really for. 

To learn more yourself, visit this link.  

For general Habitat info, go here.

In other news, we are proud to announce that we are partnering with the Highlands Art League for a day of house-renovating service. Eagle Five and Highlands County Habitat are working together to re-floor, paint, and clean one of the local non-profit's buildings this Friday, June 6th. The finished house will be used for children's art classes and summer camp programs here in Sebring, Florida.

Eagle Fivers at the community drum circle on May 18th:

Coming up next week: Youth groups, pool parties, hurricane season, and wisdom teeth removal!

Top photos: Seth and James finding roofless shelter from the rain, April with a big drum, and Tracey painting trim at a weekend ISP

Third week’s a charm...

Though Highlands County, Florida is oft referred to as "the heartland", it's not the easiest place for people our age to love. The 18-24 year old 'AmeriCorps demographic' is scarce, as is recreation without fear of gator-tacks. But we found new ways to have fun this week, and a newfound appreciation of this quiet retirement community we currently call home.

Sunday: Most of the team ventured out to Highlands Hammock State Park for an afternoon hike through several trails of 'the real Florida'. While there we visited the Florida Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum to learn more about the organization that our program (the National Civilian Community Corps) was based upon, and even encountered a family of alligators from the safety of a raised bridge above their swamp. (A bridge that was most likely built by the CCC...)

Monday: After work we attended our first Habitat home dedication ceremony and watched 3 separate families get the keys to their newly finished homes. We were impressed by the great turnout from the community, and by the gratitude for Habitat and its volunteers expressed by the proud new homeowners. The experience helped motivate us for the rest of the week by showing us what an impact our daily hammer-swinging makes.

On the ride home, we stopped to deliver some 'roadside service' to a woman whose belongings started blowing off the back of her truck. She pulled over when she realized that papers were flying all over the road, and was pleasantly surprised to see ten uniformed strangers file out of a gold passenger van to help pick it all up...

Tuesday: The team split up between two sites and enjoyed working in somewhat cooler weather (only like 87 degrees!). 

Wednesday: With all team members back in action (2 were out sick Tuesday) we quickly built up the wall-frames for the Heppner Ave site (the site we poured concrete for on our first day!).

Thursday: We continue framing the Heppner Ave house (quicker now that we've done it before); Rhea and April visit Lake Placid High School to share AmeriCorps information with students; and the team gets some great afterwork exercise kayaking and canoeing courtesy of the Lake Placid 4-H camp (video coming soon...).

Friday: We get ready and pumped to install roof trusses again, but are stopped when site supervisor Frank realizes that the pre-assembled trusses are the wrong size (oops). We redirect our energy towards Tyvek-wrapping the house and building interior wall frames for the rest of day. AND we get a visit from News-Sun reporter Matt Murphy: Seth, April, and Sarah get interviewed for a follow-up article to his April 18th piece on the Denver NCCC team that served with Highlands County Habitat before us. That night we explored the local mall, lakefront seafood, and 'Chronicles of Narnia 2".

Saturday: Though the highly anticipated Blueberry Festival was cancelled, we still went out to Lake Placid's Henscratch Farms for free food, bluegrass entertainment, fresh strawberry milkshakes, and roaming free-range hens. Later in the day, Rhea, Tracey and Sarah went back to Highlands Hammock to spread the NCCC word during a "Music in the Park" jam-band event (with over 400 guests), while other members of E5 celebrated the end of a successful week with cosmic bowling.

Seth and Amiee talk about the State Park, Summer of Service, and her pageant years, with a slideshow at the end:

Also check out Joel Harmon's video "Blackwater Burns" about his wildland firefighting experience.

Week 3 Acknowledgments: THANK YOU Alan for the juicy watermelons, Nadia for your advice and weekly visits, Matt for coming out to meet us, the Sebring Historical Society for all the info and literature, White Fox tattoo for being right across the street, Panera for the free wifi, the Young Women's Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the generous lunches, Highlands Hammock State Park for being amazing, and a special shout out to Lake Francis alligators for letting us swim in peace Thursday afternoon:)

Did you know...

• Actors Walter Mathau and Robert Mitchum were both members of the CCC?
  
• Potential Habitat homeowners must complete 400 "sweat equity" hours?
• E5 Team Leader Sarah Mahan spent 3/4 her last stipend on scrapbooking materials?
• Corps Member James Ruppert dives like a dolphin-ninja?
• Boiled peanuts (which taste like beans) are a popular snack in Florida?

Well now you do. 

blisters, headaches, sore feet, and heat rash

(...and splinters, too! Just some of the many battle scars from Habitat house-building.)

But in the face of week 2's adversity (dragging our heavy steel-toes through a sand-filled work-site, toolbelts full at our waists, lovebugs all up in our face, with the Florida sun beating down at 95 degrees and rising...) we prevailed, with a fully framed home--not just our calloused hands--to prove it.

Here's a breakdown of what we did at one worksite last week, building 'from the ground up': 

Monday: Atop a bare concrete foundation, we started the week constructing door-frames and wall-ties, and using blueprints to mark the placement of the exterior walls and windows.

Tuesday: Put exterior wall-frames together and bolted them into the foundation. Had all 4 walls up and paneled with plywood by the end of the day.

Wednesday: Pre-assembled roof trusses arrive. With some guidance from our wise site supervisors (and acrobatic skills from some of our braver teammates) we install the lot of them and have a half-built home.

Thursday: Install hurricane-ties on trusses and windows, start laying plywood over roof trusses and hammer like crazy...

Friday: Finish laying plywood on roof, nail down and attach felt layer. With the framing done and roof at this stage, the house is ready (and rain-proofed) for interior work.

Other highlights of week 2: Visiting the Sebring Boys and Girls Club, shopping and mural-gazing in Lake Placid, gator-safety lessons, Seth's leopard-print tattoo...and our newly created video blog:

Seth and Eric talk about the week (with photos at the end),

See more video updates on our YouTube channel here.<<--two team members per week!

And in other news: Amiee and April will be leaving the team for part of round 3 to serve as Crew Leaders for NCCC's Summer of Service program in New Orleans, LA. Crew Leaders lead groups of high school youth in service projects in and around NOLA for 4 fun weeks (July to August). More details TBA!

Ps. Hi Mike! hope you like your Ameri-mail...

Hellooooo Florida...

"It's on like Donkey Kong"

Yes, we've safely arrived and are proud to announce the beginning of...

Round Two: Highlands County Habitat for Humanity in Sebring, Florida!

Week 1: Monday: A day of rest, relaxation, and getting to know Sebring after our two days on the road. 

Our housing (a spacious volunteer apartment above Habitat's Home Supply Store) is located just a few blocks from a public beach on Lake Jackson, as well as many cute shops and restaurants in the downtown circle nearby (though everything closes pretty early here, it is after all a mostly retirement community...). Some of our other amenities include YMCA passes, a piano in the kitchen, and tennis courts down the street; this is bound to be a fit and musical second round....

Tuesday: Our first workday we were thrown right into the 'mix' of house-building, getting to stand shin-deep in wet concrete to help lay the foundation of one home site, and digging the 'footers' for another. Though the sky was overcast, we still got a good glimpse of what doing construction in the Florida heat will feel like. 

Wednesday: Installed foundation stakes at the site we dug out the first day, after starting the day with a tour/orientation of Habitat's work in the Highlands County area. Driving around Sebring and Lake Placid, we were shown various sites, both finished homes and undeveloped land donated to the organization. Larry, our sponsor's PR guy, tells us that this Habitat chapter is in the top 5% of Habitat builders in the nation---due to the Florida climate (they can build all year round) and to their high amount of volunteers, "snowbirds" specifically (Northerners who escape to the south each winter).

The highlight of this Highlands tour, though, was meeting a Habitat homeowner whose pride and gratitude towards here new home shined brighter than the sweat glistening off our faces after helping build one. It is families like hers, who were once sleeping on a floor together in lack of affordable housing, that Habitat helps the most. Meeting them reminded us that Habitat is in the business of "hand ups, not hand outs"...and we are happy to lend our hands to help:)

Thursday: At one site we broke apart pieces of a removed chimney to salvage reusable bricks, climbed orange and kumquat trees, and took out heat ducts from under the house; At another, we caulked baseboards, painted doors, and prepped a house for vinyl siding.

Friday: We learn a new type of roofing, with metal sheets (instead of rubber as we conquered in Baltimore...), and get sweet Habitat tees.

Saturday: The team volunteered at the Humane Society 

of Highlands County, walking and bathing adorable dogs in need of a good home. If only we could take one...or seven.

We obviously got to do a variety of construction tasks on a variety of house sites, but we are excited for next week when we will start building from the ground up!

***To send mail/packages to the beautiful members of Eagle Five (without going through Perry Point first...), 

mark "Attn: AmeriCorps" and use this address.