Inside this issue:

Specialty Role Updates

2

Ameri-Stars! 2

No Politics in the ‘A’

3

Raven 6 3

Disaster Update

4

Bursting the Ameri-Bubble

4

Volume XIV, Issue 24 October 8, 2008

Get to the Point Eastern Region Mission Statement:

Safety First, Standards Always, Selfless Service in Everything We Do.

Rep the ‘A’ to the Max.

Kudos to Badger 3 and Raven 7 who

left the Point on Sunday morning to

make the 25-hour drive to Austin, Tex-

as in two days!

Raven 4 participated in the Camp

Sunshine Pumpkin Fest this past week-

end in Cumberland, Maine. They did-

n‟t break the world record, but they did

help carve, light and distribute about

26,000 jack-o-lanterns!

Raven 5 did some “Outside the Box,

Inside the Box CAPping” this week by

posting signs about AmeriCorps inside

the Port-a- potties at their base camp.

According to Raven 5, “It has been

very well received and we have gotten

several comments about our “reading

material.”

Eagle 3 participated in a district-

wide pep rally at Pascagoula High

School called “Destination Gradua-

tion.” They had a CAP booth alongside

Northrup Gruman, the District Attor-

ney‟s office and several other business-

es and organizations. The event was

held to promote students staying in

high school and a community-wide ef-

fort to reduce the drop out rate.

Life After AmeriCorps

Ahhh! Only 36 days until graduation

and we are all homeless and jobless.

Don‟t worry, the Project Department

has your back. The Resource Library

here at B-15 is teeming with college

guides, test preparation materials,

books about job interviews and “knock

„em dead” resumes.

For those of you looking for a new

and interesting job, there are books and

guides about jobs in the non-profit sec-

tor, jobs abroad, jobs outdoors...

Your Team Trainer has a list of what

materials are in the Resource Library.

If you are applying to college, don‟t

forget to fill out the Free Application

for Federal Student Aid, better known

as the FAFSA.

Also, to see a list of the 78 colleges

that match the Segal AmeriCorps Edu-

cation Award go to:

http://www.americorps.gov/

for_individuals/benefits/

ed_award_match.asp.

To use that $4,725 Education Award

simply visit your page at:

http://my.americorps.gov.

“Be not afraid

of greatness;

some are born

great, some

achieve great-

ness, and others

have greatness

thrust upon

them.”

-William

Shakespeare

Per tradition, there will be a slideshow highlighting the entire Corps

shown at the Awards Ceremony on November 12.

Please e-mail any photos that you are dying to have in the slideshow to

Sophie at SBieluczyk@cns.gov or SBieluczyk@gmail.com.

Specialty Role Updates

Page 2

There are stars amongst us.

Tamra Helm and Justin Wolfe, both

of Wolf 1, had a reprieve from their

Corps Member duties in the

Okeefenokee Swamp in order to

take part in the marketing video

being shot as part of the new

NCCC outreach campaign sched-

uled to be unveiled during Class

XV.

Tamra and Justin were among

11 Corps Members, Team Lead-

ers and NCCC alumni

asked to participate in the

video. The NCCC cast

members, representing

the current campuses,

spent three days in a Bal-

timore studio reciting

lines under hot lights and

recreating ordinary NCCC

projects in a studio.

“It was pretty nerve

racking,” Justin admitted

on his blog, “but I got

things done.”

For an insider perspective, visit Jus-

tin‟s blog at:

http://justindwolfe.blogspot.com/

2008/09/movie-stars.html

Lights, Camera, Action!

CAP Representatives:

We are still missing CAP Final

Project Reports for Round 3 from

the following teams: Badger 6, Ea-

gle 1 and 6, Raven 1,3 and 7 and

Wolf 1, 4 and 5. Please FedEx or e

-mail these to Sophie or Janet

ASAP!

You are not required to complete

Formal CAP Events while on disas-

ter, but it doesn‟t hurt to talk up

NCCC to anyone who will listen!

We have not received any CAP

Event Summary sheets from any of

the teams not on disaster. Remem-

ber, schools are back in session and

we still expect three formal CAP

events from each team, especially

since it‟s fourth round and, by now,

everyone is a genius at recruiting

and telling the NCCC story of ser-

vice!

Media Representatives:

We are still missing Media Final

Project Reports for Round 3 from

the following teams: Badger 4 and

6, Eagle 1, 4 and 6 and Wolf 4 and

6. Please FedEx or e-mail these to

Sophie or Janet ASAP!

YEARBOOK entries and photos

for Round 3 were due Friday, Sep-

tember 12. All Team Leaders re-

ceived an e-mail listing the missing

items from each team this past

Monday. If you have not turned in

these items, please do so by e-

mailing SBieluczyk@cns.gov or

SBieluczyk@gmail.com ASAP!!

Reminder: The deadline for

Round 4 yearbook photos and en-

tries is Wednesday, October 22.

The remaining teams and due

dates for Team Spotlight articles for

Get to the Point are: Badger 7 and

Eagle 7 due Monday, October 13;

and Raven 7 and Wolf 7 due Mon-

day, October 20.

Attention Media Representatives!!

Headshots of each CM and TL in their formal T-shirt are due by October 22!

Please e-mail all photos to Sophie at SBieluczyk@cns.gov or SBieluczyk@gmail.com.

Members from the four NCCC campuses act in front

of a “green screen” for the new NCCC video.

Tamra Helm is shown on the monitor while

reading lines for the new NCCC video.

Page 3

Given that we are

in the final

weeks of a

Presidential

campaign, I

wanted to re-

mind everyone

to continue to be care-

ful and not discuss politics while in

the „A‟.

Political activity is perfectly ac-

ceptable while not on duty or in

uniform. But, please do not attend

a rally, hold a sign, wear a but-

ton...while on duty, wearing your

uniform, while using a government

vehicle...

It is the Hatch Act that governs

the political activity of government

employees at the Federal, State, and

local levels.

If a reporter/sponsor/community

member asks

something like,

“Who are you

going to vote

for?” and you

are wearing

your uniform, an

acceptable answer is something

like, “I hope whoever wins the elec-

tion continues to support NCCC

and national service.”

No Politics in the ‘A’!

All STLs and UDAs are now back in office! Call them if you need anything!

Raven 6

Raven 6 is living it up in the Gar-

den State, but let me assure you, it

is nothing like the movie. The team

wakes up every morning afraid to

crawl out from under our blankets

and sleeping bags, our only escape

from the cold New Jersey air that

engulfs us at Camp Sun N‟ Fun.

You can now see your breath inside

the open air cabins, and it‟s not

much better in the kitchen or the

bathrooms; needless to say, the

number of showers taken per week

by members of Raven 6 has de-

creased by 60 percent.

Other than the bitter cold, we are

thoroughly enjoying our time at

camp, especially around the fire pit.

All the pyros on the team (Cammo)

now have an outlet for their obses-

sions, though the camp is quickly

running low on wood. At any rate,

the fires are a nice break from the

cold, and they are really bringing

the team together. Cabin 10 is also a

favorite, hosting computers, a wire-

less connection, couches, mysteri-

ous liquids that appear over night, a

DVD player and a TV with cable

where Heather and Brooke find

their guilty pleasures in Gossip Girl

and 90210, where Amanda can

hardly separate her own reality from

that of One Tree Hill, and where

Liz demands Thursday nights for

Supernatural, regardless of whether

or not the vice presidential debate is

on.

The team spends one day a week

working at the camp, right now they

are setting up for the Halloween

walk, one of the annual fundraisers.

We spend the day being creative in

the themed cabins, some of which

include pirates, witches and wiz-

ards, UFO and spider maze. Basi-

cally, we‟re making something sim-

ilar to a haunted house at the camp,

only to keep it family friendly, it

will not be scary. Regardless, we

love playing with costumes, deco-

rating the rooms and coming up

with ideas for the event.

The other four days of the week

Raven 6 works at the Camden Chil-

dren‟s Garden, quite possibly the

most amazing host organization and

sponsor that NCCC has ever wit-

nessed. The staff is hilarious and

we‟re always laughing about some-

thing, whether it‟s little Freddy, or

Carlos swearing up and down that

Jeff has tried to kill him on several

occasions. We love being at the

garden, not just because of the Ca-

rousal and Spring Ride, and the

staff, and the kids, but we get to

choose from a variety of work;

weeding, installing new additions to

the garden, putting up and painting

trim, helping design, build and paint

sets for upcoming festivals, and

working the festivals.

In fact, on the September 29,

Cammo paraded around the garden,

talking and posing with kids, with a

fairy on his arm, as he was clad in a

blue velvet wizards robe, lined with

shiny silver sequins, and a wizard

hat to match. Of course, the best

part was that the robe was about a

foot too short for him, and his

Ameri-Boots were stealing the

show.

All in all, the team is head over

heals for this project, and we sure

are going to be sad to leave when

all is said and done. But until then

we‟re just going to enjoy the time

we have and try our best to stay

warm!

by Amanda Pfaff

Class XIV Awards

Last week each member received a nomination sheet for the Class XIV Awards in the FedEx

These pink sheets are due to Janet Boyer by Friday, October 24!

First off, a disaster acronym for

your knowledge: ERV: It‟s a Red

Cross Emergency Response Vehi-

cle that drives around communities

affected by disasters handing out

hot meals.

On Monday, October 6 Red

Cross called for a team to be de-

ployed to work in Houston, Texas

at a shelter. This new composite

team is being led by Jayme Wine-

brenner of Raven 4 and includes:

Cody Broadhurst and Annie Braine

of Raven 4, Alex Curtiss and Amy

Wang of Raven 6, Christian Bur-

rows and Amy Ross of Eagle 4,

Maxwell Hughes and Kelsey Lantz

of Badger 5, and Jennifer Russell of

Eagle 3.

Texas

Badger 2 and Raven 5 are in Gal-

veston running logistics for the FE-

MA base camp. Raven 3 and Wolf

5 are also in Galveston loading and

riding on ERVs. Badger 4 is in Gal-

veston helping to staff a Red Cross

client shelter.

Badger 3 and Badger 6 are in

Austin working with FEMA in Dis-

aster Response Centers (DRCs) to

help hurricane victims register for

FEMA assistance. Raven 7 is also

in Austin being trained to do needs

assessments in different communi-

ties.

Eagle 1 is in Beaumont staying at

the Ford Arena Base Camp and

working at two DRCs in Port Ar-

thur and Buna.

Louisiana

Raven 1 is in Baton Rouge on a

FEMA deployment working with

Catholic Charities to run a call cen-

ter and input information from calls

into a database. Raven 2 is in Lake

Charles mucking and gutting

homes. Wolf 2 is in Chavuein wres-

tling alligators out of the homes

that were destroyed by the hurri-

cane and making lots of gumbo for

the people of Texas. Eagle 6 just

ended their assignment in Houma

and is headed to their project,

Hands On Gulf Coast in Biloxi,

Mississippi.

Robin Nixon, Chris Quaka and

Sean Kuether are all in Texas work-

ing with the Disaster Cadre!

Disaster Update!

Bursting the Ameri-Bubble

Monday, September 29

NASA‟s Phoenix spacecraft dis-

covered evidence of past water at

its Martian landing site and spotted

falling snow for the first time.

Tuesday, September 30

As 12,000 worshippers gathered

in the City of Jodhpur for the start

of a nine-day Hindu religious festi-

val, a sudden panic caused a stam-

pede that killed at least 200 people

and injured at least 60 more.

Wednesday, October 1

A new study suggests that the

AIDS virus has been circulating

among people for about 100 years,

decades longer than scientists had

thought.

Thursday, October 2

Vice-Presidential candidates

Senator Joe Biden and Governor

Sarah Palin attended their first and

only debate in St. Louis.

Friday, October 3

After the House reversed course

and gave final approval to the $700

billion Emergency Economic Stabi-

lization Act of 2008, President

Bush quickly signed it into law, au-

thorizing the Treasury to undertake

what could become the most expen-

sive government intervention in

history.

After the bailout was signed into

law, the Dow Jones Industrial Av-

erage fell below 10,000 for the first

time in five years. “Today,” said an

income strategist, “is watching the

sky fall.”

The government reported the loss

of 159,000 jobs in September, the

worst month of retrenchment in five

years.

Saturday, October 4

In the American League, the

Boston Red Sox defeated the Los

Angeles Angels of Anaheim and

will play the Tampa Bay Rays who

defeated the Chicago White Sox for

the AL title.

In the National League, the Los

Angeles Dodgers defeated the Chi-

cago Cubs and will play the Phila-

delphia Phillies, who defeated the

Milwaukee Brewers,

for the pennant. Page 4