Devlin Chambers in Americorps: Puerto Rico and beyond
Euclid resident Devlin Chambers is completing round three of his Americorps assignment and will be home and ready to start college at the end of July. His current work has been in Central Oregon where his Americorps team installed water-conserving shower heads and LED light bulbs in residents' homes. Both devices use a fraction of the energy required by standard bulbs in a region that regularly experiences droughts and depends on hydroelectric power. His last assignment will be doing housing rehab in Portland, Oregon for low-income households shut out of assistance in the midst of escalated housing prices on the West Coast.
Devlin recently shared the results of the work his team did between February and April in Puerto Rico, where they helped clean and prepare homes for renovation that had been damaged during Hurricane Maria. You can view the four minute video on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj20r055EyM, but in case you don't get the chance, the outcome of the work by this team of young people has been impressive.
Working in 90+degree heat in haz mat suits, they removed 44,895 pounds of debris and trash from hurricane-damaged homes, mucked and gutted 18 homes, protected 31 homes from disaster damage, performed 207 wellness checks, distributed 5,355 pounds of food and 17,500 pounds of goods in an area where older residents had been unable to work on their homes since last September's hurricanes. They also had some time off and went scuba diving which helped the local economy, as you can see if you watch the video.
Louise Foresman
4-year resident of Euclid. Sometime ukulele player who plays out sometimes with my husband, Dan.