Reflection - A Typical Week in the Life of a Care Force Senior Corps Member

by Florence Capinding

Projects to be completed for this event: Construct an outdoor classroom, 5 benches, 2 cubbies, and 2 bookcases; Paint 3 classrooms, 3 hallways, 10 canvas murals, 2 outdoor wall murals, and 10 indoor wall murals; Assemble new furniture and new electronics for classrooms.

Day of Travel:

Hour 1 - Arrive at Boston Logan International Airport at 7 am East Coast time. Flight delayed.

Hours 3, 4, & 5 - Crying baby in the plane seat behind me.

Hour 12 - Arrive in a Midwest city at 9 pm central time. Drive to the hotel.

Hour 13 - Go to bed.

Prep Day 1

Hour 1- Wake up at 7 am. Eat breakfast at hotel. Eggs and bacon. I love bacon. Drive to service site.

Hour 2 - Arrive at service site. Service site is old. Faded. Underserved. Care Force circles as a team
and performs a readiness check—Timberland boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in.
Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude—then we meet the staff at the community center. Staff   thank us for coming. They all have big smiles and are very excited for the work we are going to perform there.

Hour 3 - Tape fixtures and tarp floor so paint will not get on them.

Hour 4 - Unload wood order from Home Depot for our construction projects. 400 pieces of lumber to be exact. Who needs the gym when you can just move pieces of lumber for your day job? Measure wood. Cut wood. Shop for groceries to make lunch for the week.

Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch.

Hour 6 - Measure and cut more wood.

Hour 7 - Measure and cut more wood. That’s right. More. I’m thankful for my team. Committed and hard working.

Hour 8- Kids arrive at center. They ask us what we are doing. We tell them we are preparing for a day of service. They smile and go to their afternoon programs.

Hour 10 - We end the day early. We debrief the day. Rose: I love the staff at the community center. Thorn: didn’t finish cutting wood. Drive to hotel.

Hour 11 – Team and I explore the city. Amazing city. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Taco Tuesday. Yum-o. Drive back to hotel.

Hour 15- Go to bed. Tired.

Prep Day 2

Hour 1 - Wake up at 7 am. Eat breakfast at hotel. Eggs and bacon again. But I love bacon so it’s okay. Drive to service site.

Hour 2 - We circle as a team and perform readiness check. Boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude.

Hour 3 - Finally cut the 400th piece of wood. Hooray!

Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch.

Hour 6 - Start sketching murals on walls. Lots of murals.

Hour 8 - Talk to the youth during their afterschool program. Play a round of kickball with them. Nice kids. Kids’ team beats my team at kickball. We share a glorious round of high-fives.

Hour 9 - Sketch more murals. Some in classrooms, some outside.

Hour 12 - Day ends late. We debrief the day. Rose: Playing games with the kids at the community center. Thorn: no thorns. Dinner at a BBQ restaurant. Baked mac n’ cheese, BBQ tips, and cornbread never tasted so good. Drive to hotel.

Hour 14 - Go to bed. Very tired.

Prep Day 3

Hour 1- Wake up at 7 am. Eat Breakfast at hotel. Don’t they have anything other than eggs and bacon? Oh that’s right. Sausage. Eat eggs and bacon. Drive to service site.

Hour 2 - We circle as a team. Boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude. Sketch murals again. This time on canvas.

Hour 4 - Start dividing paint for all the murals.

Hour 5 - Sandwiches for lunch. You can never get tired of sandwiches.

Hour 5.5 - Talk to the Staff at the community center about their programs. Great people. We share stories of running activities with youth. We share laughs about youth running us.

Hour 8 – Sketching complete. We begin sorting tools and materials for the big day tomorrow.

Hour 10 - Youth leave center. Move all 400 pieces of lumber to various locations for the different construction projects tomorrow. Gosh I’m going to have really muscular arms by the end of this year. Team agrees with me. I’m going to have really muscular arms by the end of this year.

Hour 13 - Drive to a department store to shop for furniture and electronics. Eat dinner in the food court inside the store. Salty pretzel hits the spot. We debrief the day. Rose: Everyone’s Can-Do attitude. Thorn: I smell bad. Drive back to hotel.

Hour 16 - Arrive at 11 pm. Go to bed. Exhausted.

Event Day

Hour 1 - Wake up at 5 am. The team and I go to IHOP because the hotel doesn’t start cooking eggs and bacon until 6. I order coffee. Lots of coffee. Drive to service site.

Hour 3 - We circle as a team and perform readiness check. Timberland boots. Black or white socks. Pressed pants. Shirt tucked in. Belt. Nametag. Heart. Mind. Smile. Soul. Can Do Attitude. Finalize moving all the tools/materials/furniture/electronics/paint to their final destination.

Hour 4 - Volunteers arrive at 9am. Greet volunteers. Perform physical training—Front, Side, Back, Side, Front. Jumping Jacks. Foot Fires— and begin a powerful day of service.

Hour 4.5 - Show my team of volunteers to the room they will be remodeling. Paint room.

Hour 6 - Paint 2nd coat.

Hour 7 - Lunch break. Check in with Program Manager, see how other projects are progressing.

Hour 8 - Assemble furniture. Assemble more furniture.

Hour 9 - Volunteers discuss where furniture should go.

Hour 9.25 - Mediate volunteers discussions before it is too late and newly assembled furniture is accidently thrown out the window in a brawl.

Hour 10 - Clean beautiful, newly remodeled room. My team of volunteers and I debrief the day. Some reoccurring roses I hear: “working with co-workers outside an office setting,” “making a difference in the community,” “volunteering can be fun,” “having the chance to get their hands dirty.” Some thorns I hear: “I’m going to be sore in the morning,” “I smell bad,” “I wish I could participate in a event with City Year more often.”

Hour 10.5 - Watch youth enter room and become overwhelmed with joy. More high-fives are shared.Watch staff and community members enter room and become overwhelmed with joy. Watch staff cry from joy.

Hour 11- Say sad Goodbyes to all the wonderful people I have met—community members, youth, my team of volunteers—in a brand new, enchanting city I have never visited before. Clean up any remaining messes around center.

Hour 13 – Dinner at a steak house. I order a salad. Too tired to eat a 16 oz steak. Get in some last minute sightseeing. Drive to hotel.

Hour 16 - Sleep like I’m dead.

Next Day

Hour 1 - Arrive in a Midwest city airport at 8 am central time. Flight delayed.

Hour 3, 4, 5 - Snoring person in the plane seat behind me.

Hour 10 - Arrive at Boston Logan International Airport at 8pm east coast time. Go home to my apartment. Happy, I get to sleep in my own bed.

Next Next Day

Hour 1 - Wake up at 7. Refreshed and rejuvenated.

Hour 2 - Commute to City Year Headquarters of Idealism.

Hour 3 - Begin researching the next event. Excited and with a heart full of grace.

Care Force Chronicle- Washington, D.C.

CSX Volunteers participating in Physical Training (PT) 

By Aundrea Dean

Partner: CSX

Volunteers: 50

Service Partner: Anacostia Watershed Society
When: March 22-25, 2011

TCF: Aundrea Dean; Project Manager Hugh Harlow

Reserves: City Year Washington D.C. Corps Members: Craig Tinker, Peter Christophersen, Whitney Parnell, and Michael DeAugustinis

After working six and a half hours in the office on April 7, 2011, Hugh Harlow, a Project Manager for City Year’s Team Care Force walked over to my desk and says “Dean, it’s time to go!” I quickly changed out of my uniform and I was ready to go. So I thought. I forgot to pack another pair of shoes. Normally this would not have been an issue; I could just wear my Timberland boots. But this trip we were going to dinner with Tori Kaplan, the Director of Corporate Citizenship at CSX. Great, just my luck!

We decided I would buy a new pair of shoes once we got to Washington D.C. we gathered our stuff and head to the airport. Our plane departed the Logan Airport around 7 p.m. Because we were stuck flying behind a slow moving jet and abnormally high winds, what should have only been an hour flight to Washington D.C. turned out to be an hour and a half. This trip started off on a great foot.

CSX Volunteers clearing trash along the Anacostia River

Once we landed, gathered our things from baggage claim, and rented the car, we met up with Hugh’s sister, Magueritte, for dinner. It was nice being able to meet Hugh’s sister and hear all of the embarrassing childhood stories she was willing to share.

Friday April 8th, Hugh and I arrived at the City Year D.C. office to pick up Craig Tinker, Peter Christophersen, Whitney Parnell, and Michael DeAugustinis; City Year Corps Members that were assisting us with the event. We drove to Bladensburg Waterfront Park where we met with Eric Sibley from the Anacostia Watershed Society.

Eric enlightened our team about the importance of having the CSX volunteers participate in the river cleanup as part of the Earth Day Celebration. The Anacostia River has been polluted with sewage, storm water runoff, and litter for decades. The Anacostia Watershed Society continues to host events such as these and partakes in other initiatives with the purpose of restoring the Anacostia River and its watershed communities. Eric explained that service events such as this promotes awareness of the rivers issues and continues to build local support.



CSX Volunteers hard at work cleaning up the river



Saturday April 9th at 7:45 a.m. CSX employees from the surrounding D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas begin arriving to participate in the river cleanup. At 8:30a.m. more than 50 CSX workers participated in City Year’s Opening Ceremony and began service. The volunteers were divided into three teams along the riverside. Two teams covered the farthest east and west’s points and one team in between. Equipped with safety goggles, gloves, and plenty of trash bags volunteers walked up and down the watershed collecting as much trash and recyclables as possible; many of them even went into the water to pickup trash.

After several hours of cleaning up the trash and debris from the river, volunteers were able to clearly see the results of their labor. Hundreds of full bags of trash were collected and removed from the river, making this a successful event. Feeling very satisfied with the work they just completed the volunteers were able to enjoy live music and grilled food as a part of the Earth Day Celebration the Anacostia Watershed Society was hosting at Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

The trip started off a little rocky for me, between forgotten shoes, a slow airplane, and a long work day. However, the trip was an overall success because the volunteers enjoyed themselves, the project was transformative, and Tori had fun!



Care Force Chronicle- Miami, FL

By Dan Nemiroff 

Hillel Volunteers hard at work building benches

Partner: Hillel

Volunteers: 85

Service Partner: Northwest Boys and Girls Club, Kline Boys and Girls Club, Kendall Boys and Girls Club

When: March 22-25, 2011

TCF: Aundrea Dean and Dan Nemiroff
Reserves: City Year Miami Corps Members: Kristi Demartino, Marvin Toliver, Vanessa Christiansen, and Drew Campbell; City Year Miami Senior Corps Members: Dan McGinnis, Chris Cartagena; City Year Miami Staff: Noah Youngstrom and Aaron Gougis

Aundrea Dean and I had the pleasure of touching down in beautiful Miami on March 20th after a few long, freezing months in Boston! That day, we got settled, made a few runs to stock up on supplies and got some rest.

On Monday morning we finally got to meet our team of awesome City Year Miami Corps Members, after weeks of emails and phone calls. We had a lot of work to do to get prepared for the Hillel students who would be coming the next morning to perform physical and human services with three different Boys & Girls Clubs in Miami. Throughout the day, the team cut wood, organized tools, sketched murals, and primed walls at the Northwest Boys & Girls Club. The Northwest Club, located in Opa Locka, provides great services to the community, and is a safe haven for the students that it serves. Their staff, headed by Unit Director, Mr. Wilcox, was very welcoming to us, and super helpful in assisting us as we prepared for the exciting week ahead. That evening, Aundrea and I met Michelle and the other Hillel Staff members to talk about the week’s plan and get on the same page.


The Northwest Boys and Girls Club

On Tuesday morning, the Hillel students arrived at the Northwest Club and got off of the buses ready for service! The day started with some Physical Training and a warm welcome from Mr. Wilcox. Before we knew it, the teams were dividing up and getting to work! The work continued until a much needed lunch break. Once lunch was done, the Hillel students split into two teams and headed out to the Kline and Kendall Boys & Girls Clubs to help with the afterschool programs there. After two fun hours of playing, reading, art, and sports, Day 1 ended with a debrief and reflection about the day.

Wednesday and Thursday flew by, and the Hillel students provided amazing energy and hard work. Led by their City Year Project Coordinators, the students painted, built, organized, and cleaned in areas all around the Northwest Boys & Girls Club. Thursday also represented the students’ last days volunteering with the afterschool programs at the Kline and Kendall Clubs. Though bittersweet when saying goodbye, the volunteers seemed thrilled to be working with the afterschool students, and did an awesome job at helping out the wonderful staff members at those Clubs.



Newly Completed Mural Benches



On Friday the Hillel students came ready to put the finishing touches on all of the projects that they had worked hard at all week. By Friday afternoon the volunteers had finished painting 20 decorative panel murals, building, painting and installing a new entrance sign, painting 4 wall murals, repainting the art room, repainting the snack room, building 5 art tables, 2 bookshelves, 5 cubbies, 2 picnic tables, 8 backless benches, and 8 mural benches! A fantastic amount of work!

In all, the week was great. The Hillel students, from Binghamton, University of Maryland, UC Davis, Kent State, and Univercity of Illinois Urbana/Champagne were flexible, hard-working, energetic and really passionate about service. For Aundrea and I, this was the first project that we were able to lead on our own. We loved being able to plan out all of the details of the event, and learned a lot throughout the entire process. We also gained a profound respect for the work and leadership of all of the Care Force Staff members!

A special thank you to everyone from Hillel, especially Mimi & Michelle who were incredibly supportive in planning the week. Also, a huge thank you to the prep team from City Year Miami!



Dan and Aundrea with the City Year Miami Prep Team!

Care Force Chronicle- Miami, FL

Hillel Volunteers at Gould's Park, Miami, FL.

By Steadman Graves

Partner: Hillel

Volunteers: 20

Service Partner: Camp City Year

When: March 15-18, 2011

TCF: Steadman Graves and  Georgia Lawrence

In November, Georgia and I found out that we were being given the opportunity to plan an alternative spring break for college students involved with their campus’ Hillel organization. Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich Jewish people and the world.

In February, Georgia and I started preparing for the Hillel event that we would be leading in March by having weekly calls with Caryn Lavernia, the Program Director for City Year Miami, and Miriam Rozmaryn, the Assistant Director of Immersion Experiences for Hillel. The more time that passed the more I realized that this event would be different from a typical Care Force trip. Hillel Alternative Spring Break trips are an opportunity for students to volunteer for an entire week in a new city, instead of our usual one day event. Another major difference for us this time was that there was no physical service involved, and instead we would be leading the Hillel volunteers through Camp City Year, run by City Year Miami. Camp City Year is an annual camp for kids on spring break so that they have somewhere safe and productive to be instead of home alone or on the streets. I thought that it would be a cool experience because we do not usually work with children, but I was apprehensive about leading such an unusual event.

Georgia and I flew down to Miami on the 13th of March and as soon as we landed the weather was a complete 180 from Boston. Boston had seemed to have been hit with a curse this winter and it had snowed a lot. Miami was warm, it was beautiful and it was just the right place to be at the right time. On Tuesday morning, 20 Hillel volunteers arrived at Goulds Park, which is a recreational center located in South Miami-Dade where Camp City Year was held. Their energy really boosted my energy. They were eager to meet Georgia and I, and also excited to meet the kids.

Throughout the week the Hillel volunteers filled three positions, Team Leader, Program Coordinator, and Logistics. The roles that the Hillel volunteers filled were very essential to make camp run smoothly. Team Leaders worked with a set team of youth all day and they transitioned from activity to activity with their team. Program Coordinators were in charge of running the sports, arts and craft, education and theatre activities for the day. The folks on the Logistics team were in charge of cleaning up, sorting supplies, preparing lunch, assisting with registration and signing students in and out of camp. We wanted the Hillel students to get the full experience; and participate in each role, so we created a block schedule where each volunteer could fill each role for the same amount of time. Creating that block schedule had not been easy, and at times, was frustrating to figure out. However, when we got to Miami and placed the volunteers with their team, things ran smoothly, proving that “hard work pays off” is an accurate statement.

I saw so much growth in the Hillel volunteers that week. At first they approached this experience without being fully aware of the issues facing the community. When they realized this, they had the courage to step out of their comfort zone, and learn about students with lives far different from their own. Their eyes were opened to problems that they had never seen before, and they did not turn their backs to it, they embraced it. They became more aware of the poverty and lack of education and resources that affect that part of Miami and other communities like it. As City Year corps members we get that experience over the course of ten months. It was amazing to see the change that happened in them over the course of four days. It was inspiring to learn that they wanted to continue giving back to those less fortunate and be a positive figure in children’s lives.

I want to thank City Year Miami, for hosting us and the Hillel volunteers, during their annual Camp City Year. I also want to thank City Year Miami for being flexible and allowing us to switch things around when we needed to. Additionally, I want to thank Hillel for the experience that it gives its students and the opportunity that they gave to me. I was able to witness the growth that occurred in the students and I hope that they continue to grow. I encourage the Hillel volunteers to continue to put themselves in squishy* positions, and serve in places where they are needed, because they are agents of change.

*City Year Putting Idealism to Work #66: Do three "squishy" things a day. You know you are truly leading when you do at least three things a day that make you a little bit uncomfortable.

Care Force Training Video: Taping and Tarping

Click below to watch the official Care Force training video and learn how to properly tape and tarp a room before painting!



Care Force Stone Soup

Each Wedenesday at City Year's Headquarters of Idealism, everyone in the building is invited to a "Stone Soup Sweet Wednesday" (SSSW) breakfast. City Year corps and staff members from every floor mingle, eat light breakfast foods, and drink coffee. 

The name "Stone Soup" is an allusion to one of City Year's founding stories. The Stone Soup story begins with a traveler, who is tired and weary from a long journey and happens upon a village. After asking several villagers for food and being denied, the traveler starts boiling a pot of water, put a stone in it, and passerbys become interested in the "stone soup." Members of the village begin contributing different ingredients to the soup, and soon there is a feast for a whole village. The story is a great reminder of how powerful it can be to engage and organize resources for everyone to share.

The Stone Soup tradition at HQ was founded in the fall of 2004 by Charlie Rose, Sean McDevitt and a few other dedicated bakers, and was inspired by staff member Philippe Taieb. It is a great community building initiative and a fun way to make connections across departments and teams. Throughout the year, different departments at HQ volunteer to host a SSSW, creating a theme and bringing in food and decorations.

This past Wednesday, April 6th, Care Force sponsored SSSW. We transformed the third floor into Care Force Studios and held live screenings of "Minute to Win It" and "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Our very own Program Manager, Ken Wakwe, acted as our host, Guy Fieri. Visitors enjoyed omelets, home fries, corned beef hash, pastries, and fruit kabobs and also took part in sixty-second challenges. It was a great time for everyone involved!

Check out the video below for the live footage of the event!

Preview: Care Force Training Video

You thought you knew how to tape and tarp a room....

You thought you were an expert on ladder safety....

...Until now!

Care Force is proud to present a preview of their first ever Taping and Tarping Training video.

Watch below to see a sneak peek of our final production coming soon!