Getting the Hang of This!

Hello friends and family!

These past three weeks have been very busy and I have a lot to fill you in on. On November 8, we ended the month long training with a formal induction into AmeriCorps. The day was bittersweet, as we said good bye's to all the friends we made because it was also the day everyone leaves for their first project. Some teams ended up finding out they were going to be sent out east in response to Hurricane Sandy relief, so we had company for a few extra days. 

On Veteran's Day, my team went downtown for a 3rd annual Veteran's Day Parade. We set up for the parade and watched everything come together. Marching bands, mustang convoys, corvette convoys, old fire trucks, Miss California, Miss Los Angeles, Republic of Vietnam Veterans, and of course American veterans were all in attendance. After the parade, we cleaned up and went to the capital where there was a ceremony and free pizza for volunteers! I also had the honor to meet Nicholas Popaditch. In 2003, his unit was a part of the invasion of Iraq and tore down the statue of Saddam Hussein. He is known as "The Cigar Marine" because there is a very famous picture of him smoking a cigar in celebration of the statue removal and his 12th wedding anniversary, both occurring on the same day. He is missing his right eye after he was hit by an RPG in his second deployment. Instead of a pupil, he has the eagle, globe, and anchor Marine logo in his eye. He received a purple heart for his duties, and is a true American icon. 

(Nicholas Popaditch and myself after the parade)

As mentioned in the previous blog, my team's first project is with Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS). Our first day (November 8), we were introduced to the staff and given the layout of what was expected of us. We were told they have a very busy upcoming three weeks and that we should be ready to get some real work done. Some of the events are the Turkey Drive, Turkey Distribution, and Run to Feed the Hungry Marathon, all hosted by SFBFS. 

The turkey drive was on Friday, November 16. We were up at 5:30 and helped out all day in the parking lot of SFBFS. The turkey drive is a huge deal in the Sacramento community, as they're goal is to serve around 6,000 families. Throughout the morning, we experienced a news group, a horse carriage (Wells Fargo), two story shopping cart with a 420 HP motor, official Nascar of some dude sponsored by NAPA, a convoy of corvettes, and a dodge truck overloaded with chrome! My job for the day was to tell cars where to pull up in line 3 to drop off their turkeys. So Ariel, one of my teammates, and myself waved cars in by "pulling" on an invisible rope. When a car would drive towards us, we would lunge forward, pretend to grab the rope, and pull back as if we actually had the rope around the car. I know I know, we're dorks but we had a lot of people laughing. We also listened to the same 31 songs for 13 straight hours. The total amount of turkeys that were donated was 6,300 or so. Meaning 6,300 families will be able to have a free Thanksgiving meal courtesy of SFBFS and the sponsors. 

(Ariel and I posing with the Rivercats mascot. Rivercats are the AAA minor league team for the Oakland Athletics)

(Corvette Convoy. Each corvette had turkeys in the trunks)

(My personal experience of "Big Red". Pretty sweet, huh?!)

For turkey distribution, which was on November 19, our day wasn't as long. My job for the day was greeting people by the entrance, telling them "Happy Thanksgiving" and to have their ticket out and ready. Overall, I probably interacted with over 4,000 people. Almost everyone had a great smile on their face and were so grateful for what we were doing for them. After lunch, I covered the exit for a few hours. I'd continue to tell them "Happy Thanksgiving" and to please keep the line moving. One lady, in her 30's, was coming out of the exit when I told her to have a great day. She stared at me while walking and ended up running into a lady in front of her. She then told me how I had the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen. After blushing hardcore, I told her that she made my day. She then said that everyone at SFBFS made her day and she was extremely grateful for what we are doing. This is just an example of how positive the attitude was that day. 

On November 23, the highly anticipated Run to Feed the Hungry finally arrived. My team, along with 25 other Corps Members from AmeriCorps showed up at 6:00 AM and began helping out with the set up right away. Since Hunter and I were running, we were told to rest before the race. When we were walking around, we had to fight our way through the crowd of 27,000 other runners. The 5K (3.2 miles) began at 9:00 and I ended up running it in just under 22 minutes. Along the route were numerous blues bands. One band sitting outside a church was just warming up so I yelled out "Freebird!" Another band near the finish line was an Elvis impersonator. I actually ran faster when I heard him, not because I was motivated by the music, but because it was awful and wanted to get away from it. Afterwards, I changed into my AmeriCorps uniform and volunteered for 3.5 hours. More information on the run: The Run to Feed the Hungry is one of the top 3 marathons held on Thanksgiving day in the country! They raise 1/3 of their money just because of this event. Thanks to everyone back home, I helped raise $245 for this amazing organization! Thank you all so much!! I really appreciate it. 

I have been very busy here in Sacramento, California. I am the teams Physical Training Coordinator, Project Outreach Liaison, and Vehicle Safety and Tools Secondary. Volunteering at churches and gardens on the weekends to fulfill my 80 hours of independent service is also keeping me busy. I am very happy with what I am doing, and I know that the Ameri-life is the life for me. I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store for my team and we are all excited to get more hands on with individuals. I will keep you posted in the facebook world with all my teams activities. 

Can't wait for winter break!! 

Love Always, 

Connor

First Month Adventures!

Hey everyone! I have a lot to tell you, so quickly run to the bathroom or grab a snack because it’s about to get crazy.

As most of you may have heard, my unit had to chance to go camping in the redwood forest! We took a journey into the heart of the forest to the Boys and Girls Club of America-Camp Mendicino. The forest was amazing. My team participated in a high ropes course there, and I got to climb 30 feet up a redwood tree. So up I went, trying to act confident and ignore my natural instincts of freaking out with heights. I took my first step onto the cross wire and nearly had to change my pants. It took me about 4 minutes to walk 20 feet. When I finally made it across, I took a huge breath and said “No way am I ever doing this again.” The problem with that is the only way to get down is by going back across the wire. At the time, my face was probably as pale as it could possibly get. I barely made it out of the high ropes course alive. A few of my other teammates actually finished the entire ropes course, while I walked across one line. One step at a time, I suppose.

We did get to see a legendary redwood tree. It can fit 20 people around the trunk and is a complete beast! No one was exactly sure how old the tree was, but some were saying 600 years old. Could be more, could be less, but either way, the tree is amazing.

My team worked on digging a trench on the side of the road for water to drain down. Since the road is on the side of the mountain, the water would cause a lot of erosion and create mudslides. Basically, we did landscaping on the side of the mountain, which sounds a lot cooler when I put it that way.

I also took an awesome 24 hour adventure to San Fransisco with 6 other friends. We had a service project on October 27 until 5 pm. After wards, we all got together and took a 2 hour bus ride to the city. We stayed in a hostel on Broadway Street and saw many interesting people for the Halloween weekend. There were three police vans in front of our hostel, but that didn’t scare us away. The next day, we explored the city by going to the park, China town, and eventually made our way to the Golden Gate bridge. Then we walked halfway onto the bridge, and looked out onto the bay with The Alcatraz right in our sights. We had to make our way back to the Greyhound station, ending our 24 hour get-away to the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

Since I last blogged, I became certified in CPR, First Aid, AED (defibrillator), and Flood Control. I am also the Physical Training Coordinator for my team as well as Vehicle & Safety Training Coordinator.

My team has been very busy, as we are just a week away from graduating Corps Training and Institute. We are towards the end of classes, and getting into a lot of the hands-on activities. We have had about 4 projects where we would go out into the community and clean up the parks or help with gardens. The people in this line of work are so amazing and have a huge heart. They appreciate the work we do, and we appreciate the work they do.

My team just learned about our first project! Also known as a spike, a project lasts about a month and a half. We will have roughly 4 spikes for this term. Our first spike is working with a Sacramento Food Bank! We will be helping them with their personal garden, stocking their pantries, and their education program, helping adults receive their GED. We are one of four teams on campus (out of 28 team’s total) that will be staying on campus. There are a lot of benefits of staying on campus. We have the laundry room open, kitchen open, and a lot more personal space. My team will be commuting to the food bank every day, and we will get to know the Sacramento community a lot better. We are all very excited and can’t wait to get started!

Things have been going very well here in California. I’m going to miss my close friends from other teams when they leave for their spike, but I will have a great opportunity here in Sacramento. I can’t wait to get started with the food bank and help out the community.

That is all, folks! Thanks for reading, stay safe and Go Packers!

Much Love,

Connor

First Week of AmeriCorps!

Hey everyone!

Before I start, I hope you had the chance to read my first blog. In case you didn't, click here!

So here I am, in sunny Sacramento California. I left on October 10, 2012 and arrived in Sacramento around noon. Both of my flights(Milwaukee-Minneapolis and Minneapolis-Sacramento) went fairly smooth, as I was a first time flyer! When I arrived at the Sacramento airport, I met some of theT.L’s (Team Leaders) and made our way to the legendary 15 passenger vans. On that car ride towards campus, I was finally witnessing the California life in person. Palm trees are everywhere, brown grass, crazy drivers, and of course, very UNHAPPY cows.

As we arrived to campus, we went right to work. I received my government issued identification and had the keys to my room within 20 minutes. From there, I began conversing with some people that I have been talking to over the Facebook. It’s kind of ironic how Facebook changes people.I have felt very comfortable since the moment I’ve been here because I’ve been talking to people on Facebook about this experience. But anyways, I met up with friends Mckinley and Ryan and we hung out in my room. My roommate didn’t arriveyet, so Ryan was lying on my roommates bed, myself on my own bed, and McKinley on the floor. We sat there talking for quite a while, laughing how my roommate would react if his first impression of us would be Ryan lying on his bed. Since I didn’t know my roommate before hand, I thought this would be a good ice breaker. Soon enough, in walks my roommate, and my plan worked very well! My roommate, Hunter, joined our little party making it even more enjoyable. Quick bio on Hunter: He is a vegan and a hipster, and also a very cool, chill dude from Albany, New York who has a peculiar taste in music.

There are 280 Corps Members here on campus. They are divided into 4 units: Gold, Silver, Blue, and Green. In each unit, there are 7 teams consisting of about 10 members. So in my team, which is Blue 4, there are 10 members and also the Team Leader. Hunter and I are on the same team, so we have no choice but to get along with each other since we’re roommates AND teammates for the next 10 months.

As I said before, there is no messing around here. Our first full day of training came bright and early, getting up at 6am and going through training. We got our uniforms on Thursday, and had a lot of introduction classes throughout the day. On Friday, it was basically the same thing, going through a lot of basic introduction classes and further bonding with my teammates and the rest of the campus. We had a van distributing work boots on Friday as well. I found out the largest boot size they had available at thetime was size 15. They did not fit me. They have to special order size 16 boots just for me. Yes, I do feel very special.

Saturday was actually a much anticipated day for me becausewe had to run 1.5 miles. Since sitting in a classroom for about 6 hours a dayisn’t really my thing, I had a lot of energy stored up. So me and my roommate gotup at 5am and headed outside. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on this campus who thinks 50 degrees isn’t that bad. I was wearing shorts and a thin running shirt. As a result, I ended up running the 1.5 miles in 10 minutes, 33 seconds. I have some work to do, but I’m glad I get to see where I’m at.

On Sunday funday, Ryan, Hunter, McKinley, and myself added two more members to our AmeriGang. We headed to downtown Sacramento for a dayfull of sketchy fun! Actually, it wasn’t that bad, as we ended up visiting the Capitol and picking real oranges from a real orange tree. We also visited Old Sacramento, where they have ferries, horse drawn carriages, and a brick road.Very cool atmosphere in the heart of the city. 

This week, I became certified in Disaster Relief, First Aid, CPR, and AED (defibrillator). Working out every day has become routine for me and healthy eating has become a great new habit.

I have also recently learned that next week, I will be camping with my unit in the redwood forest, 4 hours north of Sacramento. My excitement level is currently through the roof. I will have no internet or cell phone service, but I will definitely be taking pictures.

So that’s basically a summary of my first few days on the AmeriCorps campus! I absolutely love it here, as the weather is amazing (75 degrees average) and the people are even more amazing. Everyone on campus ishere for the same reason I am, and that’s to make a difference in people’s lives and help build stronger communities. I never have a problem finding someone for a pickup basketball game, or going to the grocery store, or just talking. I have even had about 4-5 different jam session involving a guitar,drum kit, and piano!

 I’m known for my love of cheese and snow. I get picked on a lot for my “Wisconsin accent.” Apparently there is such a thing, but I beg to differ. But that won’t stop me from sporting my Jordy Nelson jersey around campus. I will never forget where my heart truly is, and I catch myself bragging about my goddaughter and family alot. I miss all my friends and family, but I should be able to see you in December!I hope everyone is doing well, and if you really find yourself saying “Gee, Ihope Connor is ok right now, maybe I should send him a lot of food and some crazy cool stuff!” then I can helpyou out. Just simply send it to:

Connor Daniels Class 19, Blue 4

AmeriCorps NCCC

3427 Laurel St.

McClellan CA 95652
                                              

Thanks again for all the love and support. Special shout out to Arinne, Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda, Aunt Marilyn,mom, and dad, for the amazing cards and gifts, I truly appreciate them!

I love and miss you all!
Love,

Connor

The Beginning

Intro:

For my parents and other "elder" family and friends. What you are current reading is a blog. This is where I will be updating you on my progress out west. (In other words, this is like a faster way of mailing letters, plus it's free.) I know, I know, "You kids and your electronics!" But hey, it saves me money and time. Plus you won't have to get your magnifying glass out to read my small handwriting...Ouch...

Now that we have that cleared up, I would really like to say thank you for all the support you have all given to me so far. Taking a year off of school was very hard to do, but I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I embraced it and am now holding it up like the Lombardi Trophy!

I will be leaving for 10 months. Long time? Yes. But in the grand scheme of things? No. I have explained to almost everyone what I will be doing out west. In case you didn't hear about it, I will give a brief description and catch you up in "The Life of Connor M. Daniels." I have been accepted into AmeriCorps NCCC (Pacific Region, based in Sacramento, CA.) I will be putting in over 1,700 hours of community service, giving back to this beautiful country. I am not certain which states I will be visiting yet, as well as the projects I will be participating in. But I will let you know as soon as I find out! There is SOO much more to explain, but I think I will let the AmeriCorps website explain most of it. So click here to read more on that.

Still have questions about AmeriCorps? Feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do!

I received my flight information and duffel bag all within the past week, making this dream become reality very quickly! All my belongings for an entire year have to fit in this bag:

I'm just lucky to be a very simplistic packer. 

I also received my travel information yesterday and found out I'm flying out of the Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee at 7:10a.m. on October 10, 2012. From there, I'll be flown to Minneapolis/St. Paul Int'l Airport, where I will meet up with about a dozen other AmeriCorps members and fly together to Sacramento.

It's all coming together at a nice pace, and I'm very excited for October 10 to come. I'm still trying to get around and say my goodbyes to family and friends, which is the hard part. But like I said before, they support me the most, and that makes it so much easier for me to accept this journey.

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to ask!

Yours Truly,
-Connor

                      
PS:

I will also be making more constant updates on:
 1) Twitter-  @connordan92
2) Facebook- connordan