AmeriCorps Page

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AmeriCorps Pitches In

Photo of AmeriCorp Green Six team.

kneeling: Catherine Balsamo; middle row: Nick Hericks, Amanda Smith,
Maureen Oscadal, Jon Barnard; back row: Sarah Gibbs, Team Leader Phil Martin, and Daniel Spada.

Baseball teams depend on their bullpens for relief when their regular pitchers tire, when specific opponents require specific skills for problem-solving, and to complete certain steps so the game’s overall goals can be achieved. AmeriCorps *NCCC members are Rebuilding Together Pasadena’s relief pitchers for 2005 projects.

RT Pasadena worked on 7 homes on the Spring 2005 National Rebuilding Days, with volunteers primarily working on two Saturdays: April 30 and May 7. For the second consecutive year, an AmeriCorps team came to the rescue. Green Six team members not only passionately worked in and helped direct volunteer efforts with a maturity beyond their ages on the two Saturdays, but before, during, and after the weekends as well, doing some of the preliminary work necessary on weekdays so volunteers could start their tasks. This included moving furniture, wiring, and drywall installation and patching.

Additonally, AmeriCorp members had the unenviable tasks of completing some of the unfinished jobs, and did much of the finishing work of our remodeling projects: moving homeowners belongings back in place, reattaching fixtures and switchplates, touching up paint jobs, and adding baseboards; all jobs done with agreeable enthusiasm in the face of
numerous challenges.

Rebuilding Together Pasadena’s 2005 projects were ambitious, long-term projects and continuing successful steps toward completion are the direct result of Green Six’s hard work and good humor. RT Pasadena extends a warm thanks to AmeriCorps and wouldn’t trade our wonderful experiences working with each and every member of Green Six for all the Chicago dogs at Wrigley Field . . . or sushi at Dodger Stadium.

Photo of AmeriCorp volunteer helping paint in New Orleans. Incidentally, when RT mobilized volunteers from across the U.S. to rebuild 3 hurricane-damaged New Orleans homes the week of November 16, 2005, RT called AmeriCorps the week before to get help and they sent a team that met our volunteers to help the whole week. In fact, that's one of the AmeriCorp team members in the photo to the left.

Also, Ben Lewis, an AmeriCorp volunteer is prominently mentioned in a Operation Photo Rescue blog. OPR is an effort by photojournalists using Photoshop and many volunteers to rescue hurricane-damaged photos for Pass Christian, MS residents that has expanded to help all Gulf Coast hurricane victims recover photos.