Local girl recounts AmeriCorps travels

Date: 8/2/2010

Aug. 2, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW -- For many people, spending 10 months away from home can seem like a lifetime.

For Longmeadow's Lauren Chechette, it was a lifetime's worth of experiences.

Chechette spent the better part of the last year working with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) North Central Region, working on a number of projects designed to better the planet and the lives of others.

"I did a lot of community service in school, like the alternative spring breaks. When I got out of school, the economy wasn't doing so well, so I started looking into my options and decided to get involved with AmeriCorps," Chechette ex-plained. "It's definitely been an amazing experience for me."

One of Chechette's most recent assignments was helping the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge in Berthold, N.D., where she aided in the removal of wormwood, leafy spurge, toad flax and Canadian thistle from the area. While there, Chechette helped with cleanup and the application of pesticides to kill off the species.

"They're invasive species, which is basically a fancy word for weed, all of which are not native to the area," Chechette said. "They can be very damaging to the prairie in that area."

Being from hilly New England, Chechette said on top of helping an environmental project, the assignment gave her an opportunity to see and learn about a different ecosystem.

"I was a little nervous when I first got there. The cell [phone] service dropped and there was no internet," Chechette said. "It was a great way to get back to nature. I learned so much about the area. It's a transient place for birds, like Canadian Geese, and it's a very important part of their migration."

Environmental work is just one of five areas of service AmeriCorps performs. Education, disaster relief, unmet human needs and public safety are all within the realm of the organization, according to Chechette, who said she was exposed to all of it.

The disaster relief portion of Chechette's service left a lasting impression. She was part of a team that helped in the cleanup in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"It's so hard to put into words, but one thing that stuck out to me is the resilience of the people," Chechette said.

Chechette's team worked on one of the final houses in a neighborhood to be rebuilt and while there was satisfaction in knowing a difference had been made, she said there is far more work to be done even now.

"It was like that last final puzzle piece to getting that neighborhood back together," Chechette said. "It's kind of scary. It's the five-year anniversary and the people are still in such dire need."

Chechette also spent time in Oxford, Mich., working with at-risk teens, as well as beautifying the Roosevelt Park Zoo, in Minot, N.D., and the Pioneer Village in Kenmare, N.D.

Her team also worked with Habitat for Humanity in Mobile, Ala., restoring homes for low-income families, installing home energy efficiency kits and performing recycling surveys in Dubuque, Iowa.

She has performed more than 1,700 hours of community service while participating in the six projects.

"I'm sad it's ending, but I feel I've gotten all I can out of AmeriCorps," Chechette said. "It has opened my eyes to working for non-profits"

She hopes to find a job in media and public relations with a non-profit organization.