Disasters like Hurricane Sandy not only cause physical damage, but they can leave confusion and anger in their wake for weeks and months. So it must have surprised FEMA Corps Team Leader Cassie Murray to be declared “an angel” only a few hours after she was angrily confronted by one of the storm's survivors.

Murray and her team were sent to New Jersey's Long Beach Island as part of the FEMA Community Relations team soon after the area reopened to residents. As she walked up to one home on the island, the resident saw her FEMA gear and declared, “I don't want you here, FEMA. I don't want to talk to you,” believing the agency had denied his assistance claim.

She convinced the man to show her a letter he received from FEMA and explained that it wasn't a rejection but a request for more information before the process could continue. At that point he told Murray that she needed to explain this to his neighbors, too.

Before she was done, Murray spent two hours explaining what the letters meant to a group of community residents and how they could get help. When she finished, one of the men listening put his hands on her shoulders and said, “I had no idea when I woke up today that an angel was going to walk through my door.”

The experience showed Murray the power of active listening and how important information is to people recovering from a disaster.

Inspired to Serve

Murray was inspired to consider national service after participating in an alternative spring break in New Orleans during 2011 where she mucked and gutted a home damaged by Hurricane Katrina. She applied for FEMA Corps before her graduation from Colorado State University with a degree in music education.

Like many AmeriCorps members, the future educator has learned a few lessons during her assignment with FEMA Corps – especially about the impact this experience has on young people like herself.

“I am made of stronger stuff than I thought I was. That's been the most valuable takeaway,” she said. “Learning that I can be successful when resources are low and stress is high. With the concerted effort of a dedicated group of people, you can make a tremendous impact in other people's lives.”

She appreciates the investment this program is making in young adults because she believes the return will be multiplied beyond the work members are doing serving disaster survivors, educating children, helping the homeless, or building nature trails.

“National service provides young people opportunities to connect with the country as a whole and feel like you're making a difference in the world,” said Murray. “Through serving others you learn the most about yourself.”

The cliché is that opposites attract, but we’ve learned that some members of our national service family found enough in common to build relationships that led all the way to the altar. These are their stories.
 

The chance to get in on the ground floor and build something new attracted recent college grad Ben Barron to the FEMA Corps AmeriCorps NCCC unit. Last fall his class went to work with the Hurricane Sandy relief and recovery effort in New York, where he learned a lot about himself and the strength of the human spirit.
 

We continue to track news coverage of the role national service participants have played in the Hurricane Sandy relief and recovery effort for the last few months. This week, our collection of stories includes one about two AmeriCorps members who spent their holiday away from home, helping people in New York and New Jersey recover from the storm.
 

This week, nearly 100 AmeriCorps members boarded planes from Sacramento, CA, to New Jersey and New York where they will help residents affected by Hurricane Sandy rebuild homes, remove debris, and manage volunteers. Southwest Airlines’ decision to donate travel to these young leaders made this deployment possible.
 

We’ve been tracking news coverage of the role our national service participants have played in the Hurricane Sandy relief and recovery effort for the last few months. Here are some of the latest stories, including two personal reflections by AmeriCorps members.
 

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to live a different experience than most. My parents were treasure hunters and I spent a majority of my childhood on their boat traveling in the Bahamas. Looking back, I almost feel as if I took those years a bit for granted; I never would have thought that the very boat I grew up on would be lifted and dropped in someone else’s yard. But when Hurricane George came through in 1998, that’s what happened. Little did I know, 14 years later, I would be on the other side of disaster recovery.
 

Millions of Americans will be making the journey to their respective hometowns this weekend to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. Today and tomorrow, a 26-member AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team will leave Denver, CO, for the East Coast to spend their holidays helping families recover from Hurricane Sandy.
 

When AmeriCorps NCCC member Melissa Ettman was assigned to lead a Sacramento, CA-based team to help with the Hurricane Sandy cleanup in New York and New Jersey, she was familiar with many of the areas affected by the storm. In fact, her 87-year-old grandmother on Long Island was affected by the hurricane and had to live without electricity for a week.
 

Civic leaders, community groups, and elected officials joined the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today for a dedication of the new AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) Atlantic Region Campus in the former Sacred Heart of Mary School of Baltimore, MD.
 

The Hurricane Sandy recovery continues with more than 1,660 national service participants deployed in response to the storm and 715 currently serving on the ground and working with the storm’s victims. At this time 407 members of FEMA Corps, an AmeriCorps NCCC unit, have deployed or are being re-routed to New York and New Jersey to support FEMA Emergency Response operations in those areas.
 

As the Hurricane Sandy recovery continues, the Serve.gov blog will highlight some of the best stories from the field. Today we have a personal reflection from AmeriCorps NCCC member Nicole Wojcik, who is serving with team Delta 10 and staffing a donation hotline in New Jersey.
 

President Obama visited with members of FEMA Corps, a unit of AmeriCorps NCCC, during his November 15 trip to survey the Hurricane Sandy damage in Staten Island, NY. A small contingent of the 428 FEMA Corps members currently serving in New York and New Jersey met the President at a Staten Island Disaster Recovery Center as the scene was broadcast across the nation.
 

My name is Rebecca Lange and I am a proud alumna of the second class of AmeriCorps NCCC. I served at the Central Region campus in Denver, CO, from 1995-1996, a wide-eyed high school graduate looking for an adventure, a unique way to serve, and beyond excited to begin what I hoped to be an awesome life.
 

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to meet the second group of the inaugural class of FEMA Corps during their induction ceremony in Vinton, Iowa. Soon, this group will join their fellow FEMA Corps inductees in regional offices and joint field offices around the country. Similar to the induction ceremony in Vicksburg, I couldn’t help but come away from this ceremony energized, knowing this group of young people is sharply focused on making a difference in their world – particularly in the lives of disaster survivors.
 

When I served on Disaster Response assignment with AmeriCorps NCCC in 1998, I had no idea that I was starting on the Emergency Management career path. That one month on assignment in the San Francisco area was an amazing experience. Helping with their flood response in the area of logistics taught me about all of the coordination that is needed in a disaster response.
 

I am truly humbled and honored to receive recognition as a Champion of Change. My first lessons regarding the importance of service to both the nation and local communities came observing my parents.
 

For Tina Kiehn, an AmeriCorps NCCC member in Aurora, IL, the morning of September 11, 2001, started out as a day like any other. She was at her service site, helping a class of first graders adjust to the new school year. With summer just behind them, Kiehn and her team expected a normal daily schedule: classes, recess, homework help.
 

Olive Eckstein was making copies of her resume at a Kinko's in Queens on the morning of September 11, 2001. After serving for a year with AmeriCorps NCCC, she was looking for a job in her native New York.
 

The London 2012 Summer Olympics opens tonight, and we’re feeling the Olympic spirit. With that in mind, we asked visitors to the AmeriCorps Facebook page which events would be included in an AmeriCorps Summer Games. As you might imagine, we received some mighty interesting responses.
 

On a daily basis, the employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency look into the eyes of disaster survivors and convey a calm strength and compassion to assist them on the road to recovery from disasters. Similarly conveying strength and resolve to make our nation stronger are the thousands of Americans who are part of AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
 

A new chapter in the history of national service began today with the announcement of a partnership with FEMA to strengthen the nation's ability to respond to and recover from disasters and expand career opportunities for young people. The five-year agreement provides for an additional 1,600 AmeriCorps NCCC members annually to supplement our current NCCC force.
 

Yesterday, five AmeriCorps alums received the most prestigious honor given to youth leaders by the United States Congress – the Congressional Gold Medal Award. This year, 250 were chosen as honorees and five were AmeriCorps NCCC alumni but of the 1,000 Bronze, Silver, and Gold medalists that are chosen each year more than 1,000 are affiliated with AmeriCorps.
 

In the wake of the nation’s deadliest tornado in six decades, more than 80 AmeriCorps members are working night and day to assist first responders and victims in the recovery efforts in Joplin, MO.