AmeriCorps volunteers helping out around Wrangell

From building flower pots to repairing walls, a group of AmeriCorps volunteers will be spending six weeks volunteering in Wrangell.

"Green 3," as the team is called, came to Wrangell at the request of the U.S. Forest Service to help with a wide variety of community service projects in the area. They arrived on April 24, according to a press release from the National Civilian Community Corps, and will be working in the area until June 3.

"The team overall is excited to be in Wrangell for the first time," said team member Juliana Sottnik in an email. "The community is warm and insightful, which makes serving its members that much more fun. Learning about Alaskan tales, plants, and wildlife while enriching the community seems like a pretty good deal."

What the NCCC does, explained team member Nellie Speers, is send out teams of volunteers around the country to aid in various projects over a 10-month time period. The projects they are sent to last for about six weeks. Orion Nicol, another team member, said that this is the third year an AmeriCorps team has come to Wrangell. After they are done in Wrangell, Green 3 will be sent to Yakutat.

"We're part of AmeriCorps NCCC, which stands for 'National Civilian Community Corps," said Speers. "It's a government organization for young adults ages 18 to 24."

People join the AmeriCorps teams for a variety of reasons. Team member Anna Li Holey said in an email that she joined the NCCC to travel the country and to help communities in need. She said that it has been a great experience to develop leadership and construction skills, making many lifelong friends in the program.

Lena Chase, leader of Green 3, said she joined the NCCC because she has had a passion for community growth,

"I have gained perspectives and skills that no other jobs have been able to offer in the past and overcome challenges beyond the expectations I had set," she said in an email. "Through this program I discovered my passion of team management through service work and will continue to seek out opportunities to grow. I am so grateful that the Wrangell community has welcomed the team with open arms and provided us multiple opportunities to integrate and know each of us on a one on one basis."

The team has worked on a wide variety of projects already, using the ranger district's woodworking shed as a workspace. They built and installed several new gardening beds for the E.A.T.S. Garden at Evergreen Elementary School. They also built some flowerpots for the Forest Service to put around their building. Sottnik said that they have also been working to prepare old gillnets for recycling.

"The net itself is recyclable but the line and some of the strings attached to it aren't, so for the past three days we were just cutting rope off of nets," she said.

Nicol added that their team is not just helping the Forest Service on various projects. In later weeks they plan to assist the parks and recreation department, the school district, and even the radio station on a number of different community service projects. He said that the majority of the work they are doing in Wrangell is community focused. When they move on to Yakutat in June, they will be doing much more outdoor trail work.