Sunday, January 20, 2013

While The Journey May Be Over, The Service Still Continues

It has been a little over a week since I was digging in the sand of Ortley Beach alongside all of you. While the sore muscles have disappeared the memories that I made from those two days are still with me. I expect the same goes for all of you and your adventures in New Orleans.

While I cannot share those particular memories, I can say that over break I did make many memories from my own service.

I guess that is what this blog is really all about: recording our experiences to reflect and remember. It is safe to say that I cherish my whole Sandy Relief experience…especially those few days that I was working with Bonner.

Perhaps my favorite part of those couple of days was on the second day at Ortley when all of us were digging up this monster of a sand dune that had washed up against this small beach house. We were told that there was a “beautiful deck” underneath all of the sand, but it was hours before we even got the chance to see it. 

That single moment when a small piece of the deck surfaced and everyone gathered around to see it was definitely a moment to remember for me. To me it felt like we had conquered the impossible dune just by seeing that tiny piece of wood. I know that for many of us, including myself, it was aggravating shoveling one scoop of sand for more to just slide back into the cleared spot. For most of that day I felt like I was making no progress, but when I saw that deck, I finally saw progress.

Now I know that in the grand scheme of things we were just one group of students shoveling up one single backyard for that whole day, but we did leave our mark and help out that homeowner. I suppose that is how we all should really look at the whole Hurricane Sandy disaster; we should think that every little bit helps because every helping hand leads to progress. Little dents from everyone eventually add up.

However, there is still much work that needs to be done before New Jersey is up and running again. I know that some of the AmeriCorps members at Ortley said that they were going to be stationed there clear through February. But despite all of this, I am glad that I could help in any way that I could over Christmas Break.

I hope that all of you feel the same way with the service that you did in both New Jersey and down in New Orleans.

I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow!

--Shayna Innocenti

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