AmeriOrps Week!

my title is spelled wrong intentionally. there was a HUGE typo on one of our recruitment flyers....so now it is just an inside joke among our house. i guess you had to be there....
ANYWAY.....AmeriCorps Week has come & gone....& it was actually great fun & an ever greater success! Last Monday was the big kick off day at Taylor-Bray farm and we had the whole corps there working on some different projects, as well as some school groups. Our big task for the week was to construct an 180 ft. boardwalk out to the marsh. We had a bunch of members measuring and cutting wood to construct A-frames, and other community volunteers with carpentry experience putting together the dock pieces. It was a long process, but we eventually layed down the first few sections of the boardwalk on Monday afternoon. To enjoy views at the end of the boardwalk once it was complete, phragmites (an invasive species) needed to be cleared, so we had some corps members working on that as well. It is a tiring & repetitive task, but it had to be done! I helped with that in the afternoon (I was registration in the AM) and unfortunately ran into some shrubs over run with poison ivy. I now have arms covered with patches of red, itchy poison ivy, as well as on the left side of my lower back (random, but I think its from tucking in my shirt). We had school groups learn about composting and then helped mulch the blueberry patch on the farm. The last project was construction of a raised garden bed on one of the community garden plots. It was all such a big undertaking, but I am proud to say that everything got done during the week (almost). We are currently in the process of finishing the railings for the boardwalk, but we did install all of the docking by Friday and even dedicated it to our program director, Darlene.
On Friday afternoon was our 10 year celebration. We invited alum, service partners and even a MA senator (not Kennedy....but O'Leary) to come and celebrate our decade of service. It was not the most stellar of weather, but we had a great turn out of supporters. It was also great to hear alum talk and see how they are still really close with their fellow corps members still, even though they have been out of the program for awhile.
Saturday night was the "Alumni Dinner", which we were required to attend, even though we are still members. It was mingling and eating and then sort of a "where are they now?" presentation about alum & how the program has impacted their current life. We also got sweatshirts......(we love free clothes)....& a sweet picture of the NEED building where we have our retreats. I love goodies!
Here below is my facebook photo album of the whole AmeriCorps Week for your viewing enjoyment!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296877&id=26700157&l=dac4132ef3

peace!