NCCC helps Methodist Campground in Des Plaines recover from floods

An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team is in the final days of a monthlong effort to help the Historic Methodist Campground in Des Plaines recover from the damage caused by flooding in 2008 and 2013.

And the team is hosting a community service day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Volunteers should dress for outdoor work, bringing gloves, wearing long pants, applying sunscreen and insect repellent, and wearing closed-toe shoes. Volunteers should enter Gate 3, located at 1250 Campground Road. For more information, contact Dee Hilbert at (847) 824-4596.

The team of nine people from the AmeriCorps campus in Vinton, Iowa, has worked on scraping and painting some of the 50 cottages, dining hall, kitchen and three-story Red Gables Hotel. Members have worked on removing rotten porches, fallen trees and damaged sidewalks and on replacing stairways at the 35-acre site.

"I am ecstatic about serving at the Historic Methodist Campground, a wonderful place with a lot of improvement projects to be done," team leader Spencer Liechty from Indianapolis said in a news release.

Corps members are restoring historical structures used to provide educational programming for community schools, and to provide housing for veterans and visiting families.

Founded in 1860 by the Chicago District Campground Association, the site grew from tent city into a village of 100 cottages. The goal was to provide activities that encouraged diversity, moral development and character-building, according to an 1867 mission statement. The structures offer visitors the opportunity to experience an authentic 1800s campsite.

AmeriCorps NCCC and its FEMA Corps units engage 2,800 young Americans in a full-time, 10-month commitment to service. More information is at www.nationalservice.gov.