AmeriCorps NCCC Team at Camp Mokule‘ia

Camp Mokule‘ia, a retreat and renewal center of the Episcopal Church of Hawaii, welcomed an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team known as Blue 3 on April 1. Blue 3, who is more than halfway finished with its 10-month commitment to NCCC, will be at Camp Mokule‘ia for eight weeks assisting in its goal of being environmentally sustainable and energy efficient.

The seven team members have already started on this mission by helping construct a permanent imu, a two-stalled composting toilet and a shade shelter for the camp’s goats. They have also been working to clear a large wooded property and prepare it for farming so the camp can grow a greater portion of the food they serve.

Blue 3 has impressed camp staff already with their work ethic, construction skills, creativity and support for each other. Their prior projects, which include Super Storm Sandy disaster response and low-income housing construction in Montana, have given the team the opportunity to cultivate these strengths. The team is thrilled to be able to apply them to further establish sustainable structures and practices for the camp, said a team spokesman.

Before this year, Camp Mokule‘ia had hosted two other NCCC teams from the Pacific Region, but the relationship with the service-based program does not stop there. Executive Director David Turner, so enjoyed his first NCCC team that it motivated him to move forward with a spirituality-based internship program that had been in the works.