Post AmeriCorps Service

The AmeriCorps Pledge

I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer,
smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together
to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy,
I will take action.

Faced with conflict,
I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity,
I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment
with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member,
and I will get things done.

In the oath we took at the beginning of my AmeriCorps service, I committed myself to a lifetime of service, beyond my years in AmeriCorps. Time to put my money where my mouth is, and since I don't have any money, that's my hands :). I volunteered today in Braddock doing light renovation on a future foster home and planting an orchard with peach, plum, apple, and pear trees. I was contacted to do this through AmeriCorps Alums. The majority of people there were currently in AmeriCorps keys, but there was also a Vista alum who served in Seattle and currently works at Reed Smith in Pittsburgh, and some of his coworkers who also volunteered. Mayor John also actively participated in the project. We cleared all debris out and around of a house under renovation, and then moved to the orchard site. The ground was so hard and full of rocks and brick that even using a pick axe was hard going. So the Braddock fire department gave us a little help softening up the ground by spraying it down. It was hard work, and my back is feeling it now, but I got to run under the fire cannon water, play in the mud, and use a firehose, so over all, pretty good time!