PHS Alum Serves in FEMA Corps — New AmeriCorps Unit

From a FEMA press release:

George Pappas of Piedmont is among 331 young people currently serving in the nation’s first class of FEMA Corps, a new unit of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) solely devoted to disaster preparedness and response.

During his 10-month term of service, Pappas, 19, is providing important support to disaster survivors and gaining significant training and professional experience in emergency management.

Serving on teams of 10 to 12 people, FEMA Corps members both travel to disaster-affected communities and support longer-term recovery operations across the country. Projects range from working directly with disaster survivors to administrative disaster management tasks to sharing disaster preparedness and mitigation information with the public.

Pappas arrived at the AmeriCorps NCCC Southwest Region campus in Denver in February and completed six weeks of specialized training in the area of public assistance.

He is nearing the end of his first project round, during which he served in Denver assisting with regional closeout operations.

Pappas will serve on several more projects before graduating from FEMA Corps in November.

Prior to joining FEMA Corps, Pappas graduated from Piedmont High School in 2012.  

Pappas said, “I had a great experience doing service projects in Mexico and here at home and wanted to do a gap year of something productive to help others.”

George is the son of Michael Pappas and Alexandra Manolis.

FEMA Corps, a new unit within AmeriCorps NCCC that launched in Fall 2012, is an innovative partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

People ages 18 to 24 from around the nation provide 10 months of full-time service on emergency management projects.

The program will engage 1,600 members annually when fully operational next year. 

All 42 FEMA Corps teams that started last fall deployed to New York and New Jersey immediately after Hurricane Sandy and provided vital support to disaster survivors. 

In their first 10 weeks, FEMA Corps members conducted more than 11,700 case reviews, collected or distributed more than 400,000 gallons of water, distributed more than 14,000 education materials or preparedness kits, answered more than 4,500 FEMA registration or helpline calls, and  assisted more than 261,000 disaster survivors.

After completing 1,700 hours of service, FEMA Corps members will receive a $5,550 Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to pay for tuition or student loans.

FEMA Corps operates out of five regional NCCC campuses: Sacramento, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Vinton, Iowa; Perry Point, Md.; and, Vicksburg, Miss., but deploys teams nationally wherever the disaster-related need is the greatest.

For more information about FEMA Corps or AmeriCorps NCCC, or to apply online, visit www.nationalservice.gov.