Denver JFO

Wow I cannot believe that it has been almost a full month since I last posted. Well after we were assigned to remain in Colorado to help with the floods my team stayed on standyby for another week. After said week we were given the FQS role of Mass Care which iled working at a shelter. At that point in time the team was split and five remained to work at the Coors Field Event Center on the Colorado University campus and I along with a teammate were assigned to work at the YMCA Boulder Red Cross Shelter. Our time was occupied by registering people, keeping the whole facility clean, talking with the clients, helping with meals, and providing overall comfort to those staying at the shelter. I liked working at the Red Cross because it gave me a glimpse into a different aspect of disasters. I was not working directly with FEMA instead we had a different sponsor - one whom unfortunately did not understand what FEMA Corps does. I should also mention that the shelter was not really providing sheltering to survivors instead the majority of clients were homeless or individuals looking for a free place to say; therein by I felt that I was not helping the survivors and could have done a lot more if the whole situation could have been handled better. One week into the sheltering project a new supervisor was assigned and all the shelters in the surrounding areas were closed which caused a dramatic influx of clients. A majority of the new clients were just individuals who were looking for free housing and food :) which was really sad to see when there were real survivors who did not feel comfortable staying with individuals that were taking advantage. The closing of the shelters also brought in a number of Red Cross employees who (from what I could see) did not provide a sufficient amount of support to running the facility. They also assigned a number of other FEMA Corps individuals to our shelter which caused there to be a greater amount of supply of us than demand of tasks. The shelter that I was working at became the largest active Red Cross in nation which is a great accomplishment, but probably mislabeled because of the improper regestration techniques. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed working at the shelter. My team was there until it closed and at which point we had to take down 150 + cots clean the whole facility and just deal with the overall chaos that ensued as a handful of clients did not want to leave. enta During our time at the shelter we actually remained in the dorms, it was until one of the last days that we were moved to new housing. The new housing was an empty warehouse. It was a pretty awesome place albeit cold at night but we had two hot meals a day and were being housed with teams from the Vinton campus and actually saw a returning TL from round 1. It was a great experience then after five days they moved us again. Currently we are being housed at an empty Sam's Club were we have no showers or outlets in the bathrooms which means that my half of the team has to wake up at 5am, leave at 5:15, get to the only YMCA that is open at 5:30AM shower and change in 15 minutes and then leave for the Denver JFO and be there by 7am. All in all its been really intersting living at a place where our address was published to the media because we have been having a lot of random people come in and out yet overall great because we have yet to encounter any issues. Its also cool that we are living with a lot of team and now getting to live with Corps Members from the Maryland campus. However, the commute and the security issues are a big concern. Our new project is not really a project more like we have a lot of random POCs and hope that they have work for us - eventually. I am working for the state which so far is good because I at least have some work. The three other girls are working with the VAL department and therefore have to go out in the field and drive around until they find places that are for rent. The two boys on our team are working for another individual in the PA department who as of yet has just sent them to meetings where they take notes and transcribe them for their POC. I do not really know if my TL does anything related to FEMA other than talk with our POCs so I cannot comment on her job. I am just awaiting the end of the term and finding out if I will be a TL next year or not :)