ACSTL's Emergency Response Team Field and Operations Coordinator, Quinn Garden, displays signage to direct volunteers to Stone County's Volunteer Reception Center (VRC)

KIMBERLING CITY – Missouri has had a rough year.  In April it will be a year since the Good Friday destroyed parts of North County and flood waters forever changed lives in the South East and North west part of our state.  In May, a year since the Joplin F5 tornado took 161 lives in St. Louis and spring is just getting started for us.  Central Missouri has fought wildfires since the fall, and then the Leap Year Tornado took 3 lives across the state, affecting thousands of people.  In the wake of all this destruction, good has prevailed.  AmeriCorps St. Louis, still committed to Joplin and the flooding in the Northwest, and having fielded hundreds of volunteers for the Leap Year tornado remains part of that good.  My team has amazed and inspired me.  Reminded me why hard times bring out the best in people.  And why this group of 34 young folks, so committed to national service, has changed the lives of many this year in Missouri and will undoubtedly continue this ethic of service for the rest of their lives.  To each one of you, and the support you have behind you, including the rest of our program, your family and friends, I thank you.  You are my reason.

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind for me, I have probably covered a ¼ of the state for tornados, wild fires, prescribed burns, and Joplin’s recovery, offering our Emergency Response Team’s assistance where ever we go.  I am planning on heading back to St. Louis today to catch up on the necessary office work that is less inspiring than the variety of work I have been consumed by.  Sitting in our VRC based out of the Branson Chamber of Commerce for the final days before we transition to a local church and make this a complete local effort, in walked a reminder.  A reminder of the type of people that fill Missouri and the Mid West.  A reminder of what it means to take care of your neighbor.  A reminder of the value and spirit of service.  A reminder of why I have chosen this as my life path.  Following an energetic group from Texas willing to do and buy whatever would help Misti and 10 other volunteers came in.  To most of the other people in the VRC, this was just another volunteer, but I knew Misti  from Joplin.  She had survived the Joplin tornado and turned her 5 acre property into a donation center, taking in resources sent from surrounding areas to support the community of Joplin.  What started as just a way to help in whatever way she could, became an official 501(C)3 , Misti’s Mission, and has continued almost 10 months after the storm.  But now, Misti, and her team of volunteers have come to help Branson and Taney county recover.  Have paid it forward.  Have continued the unyielding survival spirit of Missouri and reinforced the ideals that make me proud to be a Missouri transplant, and even prouder to be part of AmeriCorps St. Louis and the role we play in coordinating volunteers, and making groups like Misti’s volunteer experience as meaningful and rewarding as possible.

- Quinn Gardner – Field and Operations Coordinator, Emergency Response Team

Lisa Formanik- ERT, Year 17 and 18

 ”It became extremely evident to me that I was part of a truly special team, and it made me very proud to be a member.”

Our first fire occurred midday in a forest in Laclede County. We drove through a cow pasture to the edge of a wall of grey smoke engulfing the edge of the nearby forest. Somehow, that first fire was in retrospect a bit unremarkable. There was a lot of noise from the blowers, a lot of heat from the fire perimeter, and one quick back-burn, and from where I was the work on the fire was over. We rehabbed our gear, picked up the other crew, and got back to work elsewhere.

The real remarkable and surreal moment on fire happened that evening. We were called into a fire in Dallas County near the end of the day. It was still light, and as we got there the sun was just beginning to slip through through the trees. We were quickly ushered toward a field of flaming grass, parked in the scorched black section, and geared up to attack the flames before they reached a nearby trailer.

As I reached the line and a water-tanker engine began to douse the fire, I was pulled off to attack the other front with a blower. My half of the crew marched down the scratch line put in place by the local rural fire department, widening it along the way, in order to meet up with the other half of us to encircle the fire.

For the first time the scenery was getting to be not only like nothing I had seen before but somehow made more of an impact on me than earlier in the day. I don’t know if it was the sensory deprivation of the ear-plugs along with the roaring of the blower motor, but it was like all of my other senses were on ‘slow-motion’ and ‘record’. I remember the feel of the tall flames behind me licking the seat of my Nomex pants as I turned to clear the leaves opposite of me. I remember the golden rays filtering through the trees and the monstrous look of the bulldozer’s white lights as it cut through the forest. I remember being able to see little through the dark trees but the shower of sparks that would rain off of the burning snags as the bulldozer took them out one-by-one.

It was one of the more surreal and beautiful moments of my life. I had just been thrust into this force of nature that I had never had experience with and come out safely on the other side, having done something good in the mean time. I felt lucky to have been where I was, doing what I was doing– which is also pretty nice.

Jesse Bright; ERT Year 17

This is what makes planting trees in Joplin so exciting. No one is sad when they come to get trees. Homeowners may have lost everything, but they will smile to think that they will see life again on their properties. They are excited to have shade again and a barrier against the wind. They can’t wait to have flowering dogwoods at Easter and evergreens at Christmas.

People will tell you stories of trees that got knocked down in the storm. One woman told me about a tree she and her husband planted right after they got married 65 years ago. Over the years that tree stood in the yard where their children, and then grandchildren, played. Nothing can replace that tree, or the memories that went along with it, but she was happy to think that more memories could be made. Replanting was one more step towards moving on.

To date we have planted over 400 trees in Joplin. More trees have been given out by churches, local conservation areas, and other nonprofits. Despite these efforts, many lots are still bare. It will take a long time to get Joplin back to pre-storm conditions, but I hope that the trees we plant will be signs of life and regrowth that will give people encouragement as the rebuilding of Joplin continues.

- Clare Holdinghaus; ERT Year 18

AmeriCorps St. Louis Education Member Lauren Monaco with her student Adhitya

ST LOUIS – I had the opportunity to tutor Adhitya during the course of her second grade year at Woodward Elementary. Her family, originally from Bhutan, lived in a Nepalese refugee camp for 18 years, along with many others who were forced to leave Bhutan in the early 1990s. I met her one year after she and her family resettled in St. Louis. Adjusting to American school life was a difficult challenge, as she not only had the fears of fitting in and making new friends, but also the difficult task of learning about a completely new culture and language. The urban SLPS classroom was very different from the bamboo huts which housed the school she was accustomed to in the Nepali refugee camps.
Adhitya was a quick learner, and over the course of the year she became more and more comfortable using her English. At first she was extremely shy, but after a while she became more at ease and would talk and talk and talk. I learned that she loved to draw and noticed that she always paid special attention to the way illustrations were depicted in the books we read together. I wanted our projects to incorporate her love of drawing. One of the things I focused on in our tutoring sessions was getting her to recognize basic sight words. Throughout the year I wrote little stories that incorporated the sight words that she needed to work on. All the stories followed the adventures of two best friends named Bobo and Ellie. After she read each story, Adhitya did the illustrations for each page. For her end of the year present, I bound the stories along with her illustrations into a hardcover book for her to keep.




Lauren Monaco served on the Education team during year 17 at Woodward Elementary. She earned a B.F.A. in Illustration from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work can be seen at laurenmonaco.com.

AmeriCorps St. Louis Education Member Arlene Fair

At the close of one of our final group tutoring session, I let each of my second graders choose a couple of books to take home. I asked my once-struggling readers to name their favorite thing about second grade – they answered, “READING.”

On the way back to class, I told my students that I would miss them very much. They assured me, “We will miss you too, but we can write to each other, and we can remember you when we read our books.” That made my heart melt. These kids did not know how to read or write when I first met them. Now they enjoy reading and are proud of it.

Arlene's Year 16 Students

Arlene Fair served with the AmeriCorps St. Louis Education Team at Woodward Elementary during Years 16 & 17. Both of her parents are teachers and she’s moving with her husband, another teacher, to California to pursue a Masters in Literacy.

The Champion’s Ceremony is a unique way for AmeriCorps St. Louis to honor and recognize our students for their academic accomplishments and character development over the year. This is of particular importance because we work with students who need a little bit more help to become grade level readers and might not otherwise be recognized for their accomplishments in school.

This year’s ceremony was held in our Urban Adventure Center (UAC) on Friday, May 22 and included a catered reception and the Champions Ceremony. Each student is able to bring their family along and this year was our largest turnout ever, with the UAC reaching standing room only status quickly, filled with cheering, proud families and bright eyed students. Students were recognized in the following categories:

• Achievement: This student has done remarkably well academically or has made significant improvement in his/her literacy skills.
• Extraordinary Effort: This student has made extraordinary effort towards academic excellence. This student tries no matter what.
• Leadership: This student is a model of positive behavior at school. He/She is the student who takes on extra projects, accepts responsibility, and exhibits the ability to do the right thing in tough situations.
• Service: This student demonstrates excellent citizenship. If ever there is an opportunity to do something for someone else or for the school, this student is on top of it.

We also take this opportunity to recognize the school liaisons that make the Education Team’s efforts fruitful, from principals to teachers who have particularly supportive.