It took me a while to get a handle on things. The first morning was a blizzard of activity with everyone rushing around eating breakfast, making their lunch and getting organized to go to various worksites. In addition to the above groups there were about half a dozen volunteer groups making for a dizzying alphabet soup of organizations each with their own T-Shirt.

After a few days I started to figure it out. Unfortunately it tended to get messy n the job site when it came to who was in charge of what. Americorps team leaders didn't have the kind of expertise or problem solving ability as the full time Habitat staff. Even their people skills were a work in progress. For most of them this was a new experience and making a workplace function is a skill that takes time. To be fair, it's a pretty tall order to try and build something with a work crew that is inexperienced and constantly changing. For those of us on the crew it was never clear who to talk to if we wanted to make suggestions. And for those with construction skills it often took a couple of days to figure out how to get matched up with the jobs that most needed them.

Eventually I realized that none of these things are ever perfect. The fact remains that these people care enough to try and help their fellow Americans and it's a great coming together of people who want to make a difference.