the world of emergency management

yesterday I had the privilege to attend an emergency management summit in downtown chicago with one other FEMA corps member and an assistant community relations specialist from americorps nccc's vinton, iowa campus. we were surrounded by all types of professionals within the emergency management field, including firefighters, police chiefs, military personnel, the red cross, as well as the keynote speaker who was a former NASA astronaut (who's presentation may or may have not convinced me to drop all my future plans and become an astronaut. but we'll decide that later I guess). his presentation, though, was incredibly inspiring and spoke to the incredible nature of people in the field of serving their communities. he reiterated that the things that are hard for us are the ones that we should go after. and the field of serving others selflessly and endlessly on a daily basis (for example, firefighters who risk their lives all the time for the sake of others) is a difficult field to be in but the overall goal is so incredibly worth it.

it was wonderful being surrounded by people in the field of emergency management and being fully immersed in that culture for a day. being in FEMA corps can be tricky sometimes because we often don't have time to stop and realize what it is that we're doing....which is helping others in communities recover from whatever disaster they may have experienced. we don't often realize how wonderful of a job we are doing or how important of a job it is. 

we will be leaving for dc by way of st. louis within the next few days. I'm trying to soak in every moment of illinois that I can and also to reach as many people that were affected by the flooding as I can before we leave here. my hopes are that the communities of illinois were able to receive FEMA assistance, especially those that wouldn't have otherwise known about available assistance had we not been here to help. all I can do is take it a day at a time and hope that each day I'm able to make a difference to at least one other person.