Perhaps the best part about finding out my team was knowing that I would be on Blue Unit which thus meant we got to go to
Camp Mendocino first!
For those of you who aren't going to take the jump, Mendocino is a Boy's and Girls Camp that serves campers from ages 8-14 from the greater San Francisco Area. AmeriCorps NCCC Pacific Region has had a long standing relationship with Camp Mendocino as there are projects done there pretty much every year. The camp is perfect for teams to bond in traditional summer camp style and there as a Not-for-Profit, it camp always has work to be done.
Our purpose of going to Camp Mendocino was to obviously do service, but also and perhaps more importantly, to bond as a Unit and as a Team. Before I begin debriefing Mendocino, I realize there's been more AmeriJargon thrown out that needs explaining.
Each AmeriCorps NCCC campus is divided into units. This is done to obviously streamline the communication process and to help better manage 300+ corps members and 30+ team leaders. The Pacific Region is split up in to 4 Units, Blue, Gold, Green, and Silver. With Blue (my unit), obviously being the best. Each unit is headed up by a Unit Leader who is the the second chain of command of Authority. That chain starts with our Regional Director, moves to the Unit Leader, and then the Team Leader. So, now that we've got logistics out of the way, let's talk Mendo.
While at Mendocino we had a day of training, a day of ropes course team bonding, camp clean up duties, a work day, and lots and lots of camp fires. But rather than bore you with words, I thought I'd share some of the shots I took before I caught the Swine.
(yes, the only down side of Mendocino was that the cold 40 degree weather in open air tents rendered 70% of Blue unit with some from of flu like symptoms, 3 quarantined from Swine and other with less severe strands of H1N1 and various other flus. But once you see the shots you'll realize it was worth it!)
