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.

The Denver group will join more than 100 others who chose to forego their winter break to continue serving communities devastated by the storm. These teams include members of the AmeriCorps HOOPA Tribal Civilian Community Corps, Washington Conservation Corps, Minnesota Iowa Conservation Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps St. Louis Emergency Response Team, Montana Conservation Corps, St. Bernard Project, YouthBuild, and Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) staff.

Half of the Denver NCCC members are slated to serve in Atlantic City, NJ, assisting with sheltering operations. Other Denver team members will muck and gut damaged properties in the Rockaways region of New York. Assignments are flexible, and it's likely the teams will tackle additional service needs in the area during their stay.

Coleen Healy, an AmeriCorps NCCC Team Leader who will be part of the Denver deployment, said, “I'm excited to be able to assist in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. It means a lot to me to provide help so close to my home in Pennsylvania. The experience of leading a group of young adults who are eager to help during the holiday season makes it even more special.”

More than 1,700 national service participants have been deployed as part of a coordinated multi-level response to Hurricane Sandy by the CNCS in New York, New Jersey, and other affected states. Our AmeriCorps members and other CNCS volunteers are helping run donation-management centers, operate shelters, remove debris, and connect citizens to available resources.

In celebration of my two years of service with AmeriCorps coming to an end, one of my friends took me out to dinner. As we sat around the table reflecting on all that had happened over the two years since we graduated from college she asked me, “Was AmeriCorps worth it?”
 

In October 2010, I began my first year of service as an AmeriCorps member with the Community Building Partnerships for Youth in Transition program in Denver, Colorado. I was placed with the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver in the Community Programs Branch at Bruce Randolph School and tasked with mentoring ten youth over the course of the year – a job I found both intimidating and exciting.
 

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