We've got so much so much so much so much so much...

TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!!

I couldn't help but think about Camp DREAM over Thanksgiving, since that song was such a big part of our daily routine. Still, I've got a whole new list of things to be thankful for this year, including a cool new group of people to spend Thanksgiving with.

Our friends from "Fire 7" in Denver came up from Wednesday-Saturday to celebrate turkey day with us and it was really nice to have some new faces (though it did feel weird when they left since we never actually went anywhere). Still, we had a good time. I manned the kitchen with some others on Thanksgiving (after a good hike for PT) and (with the help of Connie, the angel that she is) we had a huge dinner of 2 turkeys, cranberry sauce, 2 stuffings, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, carrots, corn, broccoli, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, apple pie, and probably some more stuff. Needless to say, we were stuffed AND had leftovers for 3 days.

Another awesome thing to be thankful for (which we found out about just yesterday) is that after the holidays we will be going on our next spike to Casa Grande, Arizona! We're excited for a warm project (and though I love Cal-Wood and will definitely miss it, I'm excited to be in a real city where there are things nearby). I'll leave you with a description of our project and will try to be back soon with some updates from Cal-Wood.

-Christine

"The City of Casa Grande, Arizona is the largest city in Pinal County with over 48,000 residents within its 104 square mile boundary. Seventeen percent (17%) of Casa Grande families live under the poverty level compared to only 9.6% of families nationwide and over 60% of students at Casa Grande schools are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program. These economic times increase the need for low to no cost recreation alternatives.

The need for recreation trails drove the formation of the Casa Grande Mountain Trails Steering Committee, a volunteer group charged with planning volunteer trail build events. Volunteer events are held once a month from October through April. After just one year of community trail builds, we are averaging 100 volunteers and 2,000 feet of trail per event. Total for the 2010 – 2011 season resulted in 624 volunteers dedicating 2,528 hours constructing 11,620 feet or another 2.2 miles of new trail! With the help of AmeriCorps NCCC teams, volunteer efforts soared and with pick axes, shovels, battling cholla cactus, moving large rocks, etc., the City of Casa Grande will be officially opening a large portion of our first trail system on the 1,100 acre Casa Grande Mountain Park for the anticipating public on November 19, 2011. We plan to continue expanding the Casa Grande Mountain Park Trail System as it not only provides recreation opportunities for youth and adults, providing physical, educational and emotional benefits of trails and nature, but also serves as a draw for visitors, providing a much needed economic stimulus."