Life After AmeriCorps

Mentoring young people as they learn to serve in their community has been part of the HCRN process for 20 years.  It is this dedication that has kept HCRN working with the organization known as AmeriCorps. Through this organization’s many different programs, we’ve seen young people from across the country come to support disaster survivors, learn new skills, and develop as leaders. Here in Northern California, HCRN has sponsored more than a dozen National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) AmeriCorps teams since we arrived to work on the wildfires plaguing this region. Today, we have a brief conversation with a former AmeriCorps member, Kara Huff, whose service with HCRN pushed her to want to work on the recovery efforts of Paradise, CA.

After graduating from NCCC, Huff has taken a position with Hagerty Consulting. This firm works with Cal OES, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to sign Camp Fire survivors up for services. She works on a tree removal program, and helps move fire survivors a little closer to rebuilding and getting home. She found her time in AmeriCorps to have given her skills that were rather pertinent to her job, though not requirements usually found on a job listing. Huff said, “Because I was here in Paradise, and I was able to interact with people at that stage, it was really helpful for me to learn how to interact with people who have gone through such a traumatic event. I think the most important part is just listening.”

Huff was the leader of her AmeriCorps team, and they spent a two week stint in Paradise a little over half a year after the Camp Fire destroyed nearly 15,000 homes. Returning to Paradise has given her the opportunity to see the changes in recovery. “The amount of hope that’s still around is incredible,” Huff said. She commented on the community’s ability to be patient as these new programs are put in to place to help them get home. “There’s not a lot of precedence for this or things that were in place to help them,” Huff noted, referencing the scale of the Camp Fire.

Across all of our projects in Northern California, the communities we serve have become so enamored with the young people of AmeriCorps who have come to help their town recover. When the teams first came, most of the locals didn’t really understand what the teams were doing there, but now every summer between Corps classes, we get asked, “When’s AmeriCorps coming back?” For new teams coming in, Huff said, “To touch [the community members’] lives in that way is very unique and incredibly valuable.”

We love working with AmeriCorps, and we are so proud of the work that Huff has undertaken. We strive to give these young people opportunities to grow while they meet the needs of communities impacted by disaster, and watching a former team member taking that leap in to disaster response means so much to us here at HCRN. If you would like to have the opportunity, like Kara Huff, to serve around the country, visit the NCCC website and see where you fit in.

If you’re not ready quite yet to take the plunge into AmeriCorps, well that’s ok, you can schedule a service trip with HCRN as we continue Rebuilding Homes and Restoring Lives. Email Travis Cox at  [email protected] or call at 5743337728.