Calls for assistance.
Calls to sign up as a volunteer.
AmeriCorps VISTA member "muckers" checking out at the end of a dirty day of cleaning homes.
Volunteer groups from out of state checking in for their day in a flood-affected neighborhood.
A new refrigerator arrives.
There's cake to celebrate a birthday.
All in all, the VRC seems like just another busy office ... with a few differences.
AmeriCorps VISTA summer associate Deb Calloway of Cedar Rapids is described by her fellow VISTAs as the "go-to" person at the East Central Iowa Volunteer Reception Center. Deb enjoys answering phones, making copies and one chore that most people try to avoid at all costs -- filling out paperwork.
Helping to coordinate volunteers makes AmeriCorps VISTA Ann Davidson happy.
Co-workers did not forget to celebrate the birthday of AmeriCorps VISTA Leslie Shafer of Iowa City. They surprised her with a cake and a card. 
At the end of a long day, mucker Team Lead Jay Davis of Keokuk stopped into the VRC to file the necessary paperwork. (That's a respirator around his neck, not an elephant toy with pink ears.)
After flooding devastated his hometown, Ron Jackson went from a 10-week summer associate with Central Cedar Rapids Weed & Seed to being a yearlong AmeriCorps VISTA member in Cedar Rapids. He is now the director of the VRC.
