City Slickers: A Day in the Wild with the City Year NH AmeriCorps program

On Friday, May 29th, volunteers from City Year New Hampshire visited Bear Brook State Park for a great day of service with the NHCC.

Despite rainy conditions, six enthusiastic crews of City Years Volunteers, each led by an NHCC Corps Member, set out into the park to do some cleanup and restoration of park trails. These crews tackled a wide array of projects, including one crew that worked exclusively on pulling down hazardous trees with a grip-hoist. Other crews worked on building water bars and clearing trail corridors. Thanks to this joint-effort, a lot of much-needed work on some of Bear Brook’s most popular trails was completed in a single day. After the trail work was completed, the eager City Year Volunteers completed projects in and around the NHCC Main Lodge. Volunteers helped repair screens for summer cabins, removed brush from surrounding fields and even split and carried firewood.

Although hard work and service was the overwhelming theme of the day, there was plenty of great bonding and friendships developing between the two Corps. Many City Year members got a jump-start at getting to know their SCA counterparts by arriving on Thursday night for a sleepover at Bear Brook. It was a night of delicious snacks, fun games and great conversation. The sleepover served as a wonderful icebreaker for the next day. By the time the rain had finally cleared on Friday afternoon, all that was left to do for the two crews was to exchange contact information and hugs before saying goodbye. All in all, an amazing day of service turned into a terrific bonding experience between two of New Hampshire’s strongest volunteer programs.

 

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The mission of SCA NH is to build the next generation of conservation leaders and inspire lifelong stewardship of our environment and communities by engaging young people in hands-on service to the communities and land of New Hampshire through conservation service projects that enhance and protect natural areas and to provide environmental education to promote the understanding and stewardship of these natural areas. SCA New Hampshire (SCA NH) is one of SCA's oldest residential corp programs. The Interns are housed in historic cabins at Bear Brook State Park where they share the joys and struggles of rustic life while dedicating a year of their lives to performing direct service. These highly motivated 18-25 year olds enhance and protect the state’s natural areas as well as provide extensive environmental education. Benefits to corps members include a living allowance, health insurance, an AmeriCorps Education Award and the development of their own leadership and team-building skills. The overall experience develops a strong ethic of active citizenship and practical conservation techniques. Projects served by the SCA NH corps touch the lives of tens of thousands of people. Since its incepting SCA NH has been partnered with the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation and Volunteer NH (AmeriCorps). Over the years the partnerships have expanded throughout the state to include the White Mountain National Forest, St. Gaudens Historic National Park, conservation commissions, and more. Corps Members spend much of the winter months providing environmental education and service learning programs to elementary and middle school students in Manchester, NH as well as several community nonprofits. During the summer, the members are engaged in conservation service in the form of trail construction and maintenance, campground rehabilitation and historic preservation as well as further environmental education through the NH Park Interpretive program, Discover the Power of the Parks.

contact the SCA NH corps office at six-zero-three -485-2191

or email: Teresa McNamee

TMcNamee "at" thesca "dot" org