CEDAR FALLS – For more than a year, Green Iowa Americorps has had a group doing projects around the city. In that time, it has operated phone banks, torn out moldy drywall and sealed hundreds of drafty windows.

The contingent is made up of teenagers and 20-somethings from around the country, none afraid of hard work or getting dirty. They seek out projects to help the community, usually something to do with saving energy as well.

“They are a diverse group, so they all bring something different to the table,” said Cortney Schiappa, an Americorps member and coordinator of the Cedar Falls team.

Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids were selected to host, at the time because of a need to help with flood recovery. Green Iowa Americorps’ mission is energy efficiency, and that thought goes into flood projects and others.

The biggest job was helping rebuild Shady Rest motel, an extended stay operation on Center Street in North Cedar that took heavy damage in the 2008 flood. In addition, Americorps workers helped clean out and rehab a couple of other flooded properties.

Then the focus shifted to a wide variety of other initiatives.

Weatherizing homes accounts for the lion’s share of work done by the Green Iowa Americorps workers. Members go into houses, sealing windows and doors, taping heating ducts and insulating water pipes. The Cedar Falls crew typically does weatherizing projects about three days per week.

This Article, and credits, are from the Waterloo Courier: Read full article here