A recent local graduate has dedicated the next 10 months of his life to serve others.

This summer Lance Hall joined the Atlantic Region’s Federal Emergency Management Agency Corps, a branch of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.

“It’s like a team-based, service project,” Hall said.

He said he is working with a team called DSA, or disaster survivor assistance, which will work on projects having to do with natural disaster preparation, response and recovery.

“We go to different organizations like animal shelters, soup kitchens… and we try to help out people who are in need of disaster survival,” Hall said.

FEMA Corps members are more behind the scenes and help people register for federal aid, he said, while traditional AmeriCorps is more labor intensive in their approach to service.

“We set up booths to try to recruit people, and we also travel and try to help out wherever we can,” Hall said.

His specialty role is media representative, which means he will write articles, take pictures and utilize social media to get people more involved.

He first became interested in joining FEMA Corps after meeting traditional corps members three years ago during the annual Service Over Self program at Crawford Street United Methodist Church.

“They talked to me about it, and I thought it was really cool being able to travel and help out people. So I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Hall said.

A couple years later he met FEMA Corps members at Highway 61 Coffeehouse and said their conversation really sparked his interest and reaffirmed his decision.

“I was like, ‘I know this is right for me,’” Hall said.

He graduated from the homeschool program Blessings Christian Academy in May and left for the FEMA Corps in Baltimore, Maryland, in mid-July. After a month of training in Baltimore, he will continue training for a couple weeks in Vicksburg before his team heads out to their just-announced first placement in Kansas City, Missouri. He’ll spend three months in Kansas City and then move on to two other three-month placements as a corps member.

“It is going great. I’ve been up here (in Baltimore) since July 12, and it’s been a lot of training everyday. I’ve been learning a lot of new information about the government,” he said.

Hall said he has considered a career in emergency management.

“I really love helping out people and helping out my community,” he said.

At the end of his service, Hall will receive a $5,775 education award that he plans on using for college. He is considering majoring in kinesiology.