Welcome Packet

Good news!! There wasn't a warrant out for my arrest! Whew! What a relief!

 I received my welcome packet a couple days ago informing me that I have been cleared to serve with AmeriCorps. I will be leaving for Sacramento on January 28th! The welcome packet included letters from the region director and the member support specialist congratulating me on becoming a Team Leader. It also provided an overview of what I will be doing during my term of service. My team will be dedicated to FEMA deployments in areas of logistics, community relations, individual and public assistance and recovery. We will provide support in areas ranging from working directly with disaster survivors to supporting disaster recovering centers to sharing mitigation information with the public.

This packet provided me with a standard packing list informing me that I must fit 11 months of clothes into one military style green duffel bag. 11 months of clothes! For all kinds of weather! Into one duffel bag! (Did you get all that?) That shouldn't be difficult at all! Not only that but I would be provided an array of extra clothing to make up my uniform. Once we arrive we will be issued a smaller red duffel bag that we will use to pack our uniform and street clothes in when we go out on spikes. (Spike is the term used for when we are on service assignments away from campus. Average length: 8-11 weeks) Good thing I have training in packing a lot of clothes for all weather into one bag from my Flight Attending days!

Our campus is on McClellan Air Force Base in Northern Sacramento about 13 miles from downtown Sacramento. While at the campus I will be living in dormitories with one or two roommates. I will be on campus for a little over two months at the start of my service before going out on our first deployment. During this time, our training is run in a military style fashion. We will wake up before the sun comes up for PT four times a week and have random room inspections. We will be in training (classes) all day with scheduled meal times and sometimes some free time at the end of the day. Then wake up the next day and do it all over again.

I am not sure how often I will have access to the Internet to check Facebook, email, etc. So it is encouraged (and very much welcomed!) to communicate through good ole fashioned snail mail. Any letters I receive will be forwarded to me once a week if I am away from campus. Any packages I receive will be kept on campus until I return and there is never any set times that will be. But if you would like to write to me, my address will be:

Kacie Marcus, Class 20 NCCC-FEMA TL
AmeriCorps NCCC
3427 Laurel Street
McClellan, CA 95652

Just a month away from moving to the other side of the country! Even as I sit here writing all this out (and catching up on my DVR) it still hasn't really sunk in yet! One day at a time I guess!

Sacramento here I come!!

Seven months ago, in May, I was doing some research on what opportunities there were out there for the field of work I am interested in. Which is social work, community service, non profit organizations, etc. I ran across a program called AmeriCorps and after further research I found the NCCC and FEMA corps program. I spent some  time reading about it, reading blogs, and getting in touch with an old friend who was currently serving with AmeriCorps. So after about a month I decided that I am at a point in my life where this would be a perfect time to embark on an amazing adventure like this and it wouldn't hurt to fill out an application. I tried not to get my hopes up too much, I was just going to let the cards fall where they may.

Fast forward several months later; I received an email. The email was asking if I would like to interview for a team leader position, so, naturally, I said yes! A few weeks later I received another email telling me I had been conditionally accepted to serve as a team leader with AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps Pacific Region (which is in Sacramento, California) starting in January 2014 

 

So here I am today, a little over a month before my start date. I have filled out all the necessary paper work and am currently waiting for it all to be cleared. And unless there is a warrant out for my arrest that I am unaware of, I don't see that being a problem. Sacramento here I come!!!

This will be an 11 month service where I will be a team leader for a group of 18-24 year olds. I will start my service in Sacramento with about a month of training after which, me and my team will travel across the country via a 15 passenger van responding to natural and man made disasters. We could travel to any location in the country and we will stay in one location for 4-6 weeks before continuing on to the next. I could not be more exited to start this adventure!

I am starting this blog as a way to keep anyone who is interested up to date with my journey over the next year. I will try my best to update this as often as possible. Below are links that will help describe what AmeriCorps is and give you a better understanding of what I will be doing. If you have any questions or want to contact me please don't hesitant to do so!

http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/fema-corps

http://www.fema.gov/fema-corps