The last chapter

The end is near! The end of AmeriCorps, that is...not the end of the world, which ironically was supposed to happen this past Friday night at midnight...hmmm, big surprise...it didn't! Anyway, it's been a fun last week here in Vicksburg, hanging out with friends, lounging by the pool, going out to eat, and watching movies. I am super excited to start the next chapter in my life, starting out with a road trip back to Maine with my mom, Jonny, and Nate :) They leave Monday night to come down here for my banquet on Wednesday night, and graduation on Thursday! Yippee! I think it's funny that I am the only one on my team who has family coming to the graduation, and I am from one of the furthest states! What can I say, my family rocks 8-) I am sad to be leaving so many good friends, but we have tons of great memories and will hopefully stay in touch with all of this new age technology, as well as I am planning on a huge road trip to visit everyone I know in different states after I get my license this summer ;)
All I can say is that I am very thankful for such a great AmeriCorps experience and I have learned so many new things and experienced so much more than I ever would have if I had just stayed in my little Maine bubble forever, so I am really glad that I chose to jump so far out of my comfort zone for once! But on the other hand, I am really ready to just be home! I think that 10 months is the perfect length for an experience like this, for me anyway, because I don't know if I could have gone any longer being so far away from home, my friends, and my family, but I did need to be away for awhile to grow and learn as much as I have.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama in a Nut Shell

I haven't had internet access the past couple of weeks, so I apologize for the lack of updates...I will try to fill you all in on what I have been doing, but I might miss some things since it has been so long! My team and I headed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to do relief work from the F5 tornado that destroyed Tuscaloosa and where we worked in Holt. My team was there along with 3 other AmeriCorps NCCC teams from the Vicksburg campus, so sometimes we got to work with them and other times we just worked with our own teams. For the most part, my team was stationed at the Holt Relief Center, located in the middle of the worst-hit community from the tornados. We were basically in an old car garage that was still standing, but had 2 sides blown off by wind. It served as a distribution center for the community and by the time we left Alabama it was actually the only distribution center still up and running. It started out as a small project run by a family from Talladega, Alabama, but grew every single day and the woman who started it, Lorinda, was interviewed by CNN, Times Magazine, and many more impressive news sources. They really appreciated our team helping out and gave us a lot of responsibility to head up different areas of the center, so Neva and I were in charge of preparing meals and serving people who may not have eaten in days. We worked with the Salvation Army, led by an awesome guy named Kevin, who was always optimistic, uplifting, funny and kind to us, while also expecting us to keep up the pace and work hard with little to no breaks during our 12 hour work days. It doesn't sound like hard work to stand in one spot and scoop food all day, but let me tell you...my feet and back were killing me at the end of the day! We got to interact with a lot of people who had lost everything in the tornado...some people came to us with literally only the clothes on their backs, so we would show them around, get them some new clothes, toiletries, water, food, shoes, and other essential items. All of the things at the distribution center were donated by amazingly generous people, other organizations, and businesses. We also had about 20 other volunteers work with us each day through Samaritan's Purse, and some people came as far as Miami, FL, Texas, and other places far away just to help out for a couple days. It is truly amazing to see how close a community can get after such destruction hits. I encountered so many thankful people for just the few items we were able to provide for them and was so amazed by how they could still smile, laugh, and be thankful when they had just lost so much.
I could go on and on, but I will save some stories for when I am back home and can tell you all in person!
My team is back in Vicksburg now, we got here last night and have today off to kinda settle back in and rest before we get working on potential flood relief type work here. I can't believe graduation is in only 10 days! I am so excited to be heading back home to Maine!

Disaster Relief #2

My team has been called to disaster relief in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We will be heading out bright and early tomorrow morning and will probably be there until the end of the round (May 18th). Also, Mollie's composite team was called to disaster relief in TN, so she won't be joining us :( Today has been a crazy day, but I don't think anyone on my team is really that surprised about having to leave...it's mostly just a bummer because we feel like this would have been the best round, had we been able to stay and complete our project! But our help is needed elsewhere, and Alabama is really messed up from all of the tornados, so we must lend a helping hand...it's what we do!

Where In the World Is Brittany Bourgeois?!

My team has been all over the place lately, so I'm sorry for not updating sooner! First of all I would like to thank everyone for helping me make my surprise visit home so spectacular! It was a complete success and I had such a great time seeing everyone :)
My journey back to NC was interesting because my flight was supposed to get in at 11pm as it was, but it was delayed so I didn't get in until 12:30! Eric picked me up at the Greensboro airport and we got lost getting back to the house, so we didn't get in until 1:30am...thankfully we just got to stay here for the night and then head out to meet our team at 6:30 the next morning, instead of driving straight there and getting in around 4am...so that was nice! The next day we met our team at a warehouse, where we helped them organize and fold clothes that were donated by people in the area and will be shipped to Good Will and Salvation Army stores.

Then after work we got a tour of the area that was totally destroyed during the tornados...it was crazy and so sad how many homes were not standing anymore, but just a pile of rubble by the side of the road to be picked up by the city and thrown in the dump.

My team had some stories about meeting families that survived and I wish that I had gotten to meet some of the people they talked to, but I was also thankful for being able to be home for Easter. The next day of disaster duty also happened to be our last...we were back at the warehouse folding clothes (and we got to keep anything we wanted! So naturally I acquired two purses, a clutch, two pair of high top sneakers, and some shirts and pants...most of them were brand new with the tags still on too!) which wasn't too bad, I actually kinda like that kind of organizing work, but we only stayed for the morning then we were cleared to head back to Greensboro! I guess the community was picking up where we left off and we weren't really needed there anymore, which was a good thing, I suppose. Of course, Habitat was ecstatic to have us back, which was also my prediction when we left, I told them we would be back soon! So we worked with Habitat on Friday and Saturday, Saturday was a fun day because Drew, Norah and I got to be site supervisors at a house doing painting, but only 1 volunteer showed up haha, that's okay, it was still fun! And now it is Sunday, my team's first day off in nearly two weeks! Also, Mollie is re-joining our team again on thursday, which we have dubbed, "Cinco de Mollie!" and we are very excited to have her back!

And of course a shout out to my mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

25 days until I officially graduate from AmeriCorps...can't wait to be back home with everyone! Love you all!

Disaster Relief

My team was called to respond to the tornado damage in eastern NC (Bertie County, about 3 hours from Greensboro) today, so we will have to clean and pack up everything tonight to be ready to head out at 7am. We are all kinda bummed because we really enjoy this project, but we understand that in AmeriCorps you have to be flexible! It will be an experience I am sure, seeing all of the destruction from a few days ago and trying to get it all cleaned up quickly so we can get back to our project in Greensboro! Although most of my teammates and I are bummed to be leaving Habitat, we are happy that we can offer our help to those who desperately need it right now.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We ended our work week working on the crawl space some more, which was kind of a downer compared to working on the roof, but we were in the safest place during a crazy thunderstorm that hit...instead of a tornado! That is one scenario where I prefer a thunder storm! Saturday night the boys and I went to The Idiot Box comedy club, which was really fun! Then we went to a local pub, Natty Greens where I got a delicious chocolate raspberry cheesecake! Then we walked the mile home, but I was in shorts and it was pretty chilly! Sunday I slept in until about 11:30am, to try and make up for having to get up at 6am all week...and then we went to a Greensboro Grasshoppers minor-league baseball game at 4pm. It was a great day for a baseball game, nice and sunny, but not too hot, and the stadium was really new and clean and we had great seats for only $8! Now that is something that we on the AmeriBudget can really afford :) I also met up with my college friend who I played bball with freshman year at Gordon, Meredith!

She goes to grad school at Duke, which is only like 45 mins-an hour away, so it was great! She had never been to Greensboro before and she got to meet my team and we got to catch up, which was really fun :) Today we volunteered at Greensboro Urban Ministry, the boys were serving food in the cafeteria, Norah and Alleigh were sorting food in the food bank, and Neva and I were sorting and folding clothes in the clothing store portion of the building. It was a really cool place, and we are signed up to volunteer there every Monday so thats cool. I had such a bad sore throat last night that I wasn't able to sleep much, and this morning it was even worse, so standing up, folding clothes for 4 hours was kinda tough for me...but I think on a day when I am feeling better it will be really fun!

No Time for Lunch!

Today we worked on finishing the roof, because there is supposed to be a big storm tomorrow (but hopefully not!) We worked so diligently that we didn't even stop for a lunch break! Yup, that's right...we worked 9 straight hours today up on the hot roof! Crazy, I know! But we did manage to finish by the end of our work day :) And yes, I did get up on the tippy top of the roof!

It was actually really fun! I got a funky sun burn on the tops of my knees, but other than that it was a really great day! Oh and I was randomly picked for the monthly drug testing, so I had to go to a place in the morning to pee in a cup haha I wasn't worried about the results of the test, but having to pee on demand freaked me out, so even though I can normally pee anytime, I chugged a bottle full of iced tea before going in, so I could actually fill the cup :-p haha sorry, that's probably too much information! Anyways, it was an interesting and exciting day! I also just had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Mexico (how appropriate!) with Nate's cousin Amanda and aunt Deborah! It was really fun and we chatted a lot about traveling and the different places we have been...it was a wonderful night!