AmeriCorps Making a Difference

Well, lots of exciting things have been happening in Bourne. Our last two service projects have been really cool. We worked at a tree farm and were able to plant some trees. A lot of the time, I feel like we are killing a lot of plant life but not putting much back. Which I do understand has to be done in order for newer plant life to grow in, but it was nice to actually physically add back some life to the planet. The other project that we did that was cool was building and installing benches for a park. We were able to go through the whole process. We built the benches from plans, dug holes to place them in, and cemented the benches to the ground. It was hard work, but a lot of fun. This past Saturday, I worked at a Drop and Swapping Recycle Event. People would drop off stuff they did not want any more to the Recycling Center and then 'shop' for new stuff. It was very interesting to see what people dropped off and even more interesting to see what people wanted to take home. "One person's junk, really is another's treasure." People dropped off toys, clothes, household stuff, Christmas stuff, dishes, everything you can think of.

The beginning of the bench



Next step in bench building

Drilling in screws, almost done


Megan and I sitting on the bench we made


The bench installed in the ground
My IPs continue to go well. The Ways to Water projects is really moving forward quickly. I feel like I have so much stuff to do and not enough time to complete it all. Within the last week, I have taken on two big projects which I am excited to be able to work on. Both involve cleaning up public access points to ponds. For the one project, I will be helping to landscape the area near a boat landing. I am learning how to draw landscape plans, determine costs, and find the correct people to do the actual work. The ultimate goal for the other project is to increase the accessibility to a pond located near a high school and seniors' center. I have to talked to people to see what their visions are for the pond, do a conditions assessment, determine what can actually be done, put together a packet for the Conservation Committee asking permission to do work (Whenever you want to do work within 100 feet of water, Cape Cod requires that you get permission), do a presentation in front of the committee, and than once I have permission make arrangements for the work to get done. It is going to be a huge learning process, but I am looking forward to it.

Hmm, what else has been going on. I am learning to crochet and teaching the seniors who live next door to us to use computers. I am currently sharing my car with another girl in the house because her car is in the shop. Can be tricky at times, but we both work right near each other so it has been pretty easy to share. Well, I am going to head to bed. I'll try to be better about writing. Sorry I don't have pictures of me at the tree farm or at my IPs, I lost them some how trying to put them onto a CD. :(