20 MAY 2024 | REDDING, CA. -- In the fall of 2023, Ava Van Pelt found herself in New York, aimless. "I had just graduated college and really had no direction at all," she says, and she ended up signing up for an AmeriCorps program that placed her with a nonprofit. "I ended up with an organization called Bronx is Blooming."
Red 1 at Ridgecrest, CAThe nonprofit serves the parks and greenspaces of its namesake New York City borough, where Van Pelt worked to plant trees, support volunteer events, and coordinate with kids groups. She helped remove invasive plants, plant native ones, all of which "was incredible for me," she says. "It showed me the sort of path I wanted to continue down."
Van Pelt signed up for another term with AmeriCorps, this time with the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) on a group that came with some physical requirements, a more in-depth interview process with more vetting, along with more challenging and more remote projects.
So in October 2024, Van Pelt and dozens of other Americans ages 18 - 26 traveled from across the country to an AmeriCorps campus in Sacramento, CA to start a 10 month term. Agency managers broke the group into crews that would be sent across the West to serve rural communities and public lands. Van Pelt found herself on a crew known as NCCC Red 1, named through a military-like color and number system.
After training for seven weeks, the crew was traveling around between Bureau of Land Management units across California in two Ford pickups. Ashley Farrington was on the crew with Van Pelt. A recent graduate from new Jersey, Farrington joined AmeriCorps to "see what was out there."
She was happy to be in California and serving the Bureau of Land Management units Red 1 was assigned to like the Consumnes River Preserve, Piedras Blancas Light Station, RidgeCrest, San Joaquin River Gorge, Bishop, Carrizo Plain National Monument, and Redding, where her last assignment would end abruptly. "We were doing a lot of trail maintenance, some tree thinning," she explains. "We got to paint the inside of the light house, but a lot of trail work."
Red 1 worked, lived, dined, and spent all the rest of their time together, and by January 20, they had formed a tight-knit group complete with nicknames, inside jokes, and a growing roster of joint accomplishments. The group of twenty-somethings from across the country, working by day and experiencing the landscape along the way, was forming tight bonds.
Winter was zipping by in the Central Valley of California around where the crew was stationed, and they were relieved on March 15 when Congress passed a continuing resolution that funded the remainder of their term.
As Americans from across the country filed taxes, temperatures rose into the 80s outside of Redding at the campground Red 1 was preparing for the season on April 15. Morale was strong, hints of summer in the air as the crew worked in an area with spotty cell.
One crew member had enough service to receive an email stating their program had been cut and they were being sent home. Red 1 first took it in stride, waiting for more information. The workday ended and as their work van got closer into town, everyone's phone started blowing up.
Red 1 got back to their home base and "we just kind of gathered around to read the email," says Van Pelt. Corps members had 24 hours to figure out "where you'd be going," she says. "I came back to my mom's in Albuquerque. Not everyone had that." Corps members were issued vouchers for plane tickets home but "I know people who had nowhere to go," and the firing came with no apology. "It was not a very ceremonious ending," she says. "It was very hard for me to accept."
Some time went by, and Van Pelt started reaching out to the rest of Red 1 after seeing sister NCCC teams start GoFundMe campaigns. The 18-26 year-olds were forming ad-hoc volunteer vacation groups, coordinating with land managers, and raising funds for airfare, food, and other expenses they'd need to cover. "We had a list of all the projects with the contacts so we just reached out to them and said, 'Can we come volunteer?'" explained Van Pelt.
The managers at the BLM's Lost Coast unit agreed, so Farrington started a campaign and "When we got to the point of covering our flights, we bought tickets," she says. "We can find food later. I'll eat dirt." The crew has since raised the remaining budget they put together for food, supplies, and incidental expenses.
They'll be working on the south end of the BLM-portion of the Lost Coast Trail around King's Crest, Rattlesnake Ridge, and Lightning Trail taking out logs, clipping brush, and repairing damaged tread sections. Farrington's budget didn't include any pay for the crew. "No stipend or educational award," she explains. She and the members of Red 1 who can make it are doing so as "just volunteers," Farrington says. "We're no longer affiliated with AmeriCorps or the BLM in any official capacity."
But when I spoke with these young women, it was clear they are not "just volunteers." They're passionate citizens doing good for their country. "Luckily we will have our expenses covered so we won't be coming out with less," adds Farrington. Red 1 members were making $200 every two weeks, an additional $7 per day for groceries, and their housing and travel was covered, she notes.
I left the interview inspired by Farrington and her two crew mates who joined. I also left upset.
We opened the door for young, talented, wandering Americans. We led them down a rewarding path of service, of community, of doing good for their country. These were Americans helping other Americans on our own soil. Then, just at the time that most crews really start to pay off, we sent them home.
Red 1 was a crew we paid to train so they could be unleashed on our own soils with their chainsaws, their gumption, their brains and their brawn, ready to take on the shortcomings and greed left by the generations presiding over them, and what did we do? Did we put them to work? Did we harness that potential like a good businessperson would?
No, we didn't. We sent them home. 
But the most remarkable part of my interactions with Red 1 is that they didn't come across as angry, and if Ava and Kathryn and Ashley were any one thing on the call, I'd say they were courageous. 
We should be supporting them, not shutting them down. 
Stay tuned as we explore ways we can support fired AmeriCorps members. For now, support Red 1's GoFundMe. They've raised enough funds to get them to Mendocino. But add to the pot so they can eat better and open up the Lost Coast Trail.
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