Second Gentleman Pool Reports of March 15, 2022

Emhoff has arrived at for his event at the Marvin Gaye Greening Center in NE DC just before noon. He was greeted by the CEO and staffers for the

Background from WH:

Today, in honor of AmeriCorps Week, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will visit the Marvin Gaye Greening Center, which hosts a team of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members. He will tour the site, which is a project of Washington Parks and People, a DC-based alliance for park-based community health that revitalizes green space in Washington D.C. Joined by AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, Mr. Emhoff will meet with members of the AmeriCorps NCCC and participate in a service project.

Earlier this year, Mr. Emhoff marked the one-year anniversary of the Biden-Harris Administration by highlighting the work of AmeriCorps members in Los Angeles. After meeting with them and hearing about their experiences serving their community during the pandemic, he joined them in sorting and packing food at the SOVA Food Pantry.

SGOTUS pool report #2

Emhoff was given gloves when he arrived.

"Got on my boots" Emhoff said while pulling the garden gloves.

He was taken to Hoop House A and said that there is a little garden at the Naval Observatory. "Little pods. Not like this" adding that "in her dreams," the VP would have a much bigger one.

The workers explained to Emhoff how the process of taking the produce from here to the community works.

"What can we do to help. We're working here."

"We did it Joe" and starts laughing. He bit piece of the kale and said he's going to make sure he takes some home. Said the VP would be "very excited."

Now we're moving to plant a blueberry bush.

SGOTUS pool report #3

Emhoff was given a shovel and began moving the dirt from a wheelbarrow into the hole while talking to the other workers about his day as he shoveled.

One of the workers who was helping Emhoff put the wrong soil in the ground and others corrected him.

"I wasn't going to say anything but I had a feeling." Emhoff said as he laughed.

He grabbed the shovel again and put the right soil in there.

We moved over to a section where he would put together "dirt lasagna". The dirt was very clay based so they have to add sticks and wood chips.

The SGOTUS grabbed a large tree branch and took it over to the clay "So it's like a puzzle," he said as they explained the process to him.

"She won't believe I'm doing this. So you have to show her when you see her" he said to press. Remarked how the VP has a garden at their home in LA and at the Naval Observatory.

After the branches, they threw on the compost -- the next layer.

SGOTUS pool report #4

The SGOTUS is shown the program -- Life pieces to masterpieces - a program for young black boys to be introduced to art and painting, to show them that being an artist doesn't make you less of a man.

The workers showed him the paintings, going through it.

Emhoff then helped frame some of the art made by the young men that us gijng to hang as a makeshift art installation.

Emhoff was given a staple gun to help put the piece together. Told his staff "I'll see you later. I'm just going to hang out here with the staple gun."

After the piece was done, the Americorps CEO thanked the young people who were here. Said that Emhoff's team reached out to them to see what he could do during the AmeriCorps week to help out.

He thanked the CEO and everyone there.

"I'm just getting in to public service but I love it. I wish I had done it earlier." Getting to do it full time and shining a light on what young people are doing makes it extra special.

"The VP is going to eat that kale and the bok Choi."

The second Gentleman spoke with the two members of the press for about four minutes today. Adding a few quotes including thoughts on the humanitarian crisis and what VP Hareis shared with him after she came back from Poland/Romania. If you want the full gaggle, just shoot me an email and I can send.

"It's a great topic for equal pay day and international women's month, I took a step away from my career to support our first woman vice president who happens to be my wife, Kamala Harris. So it was something that was a no brainer to do, but I love practicing law. I loved every minute of it, but this is so rewarding."

"While I do miss what I was doing, if I was if I was gonna step away from it, this is such an incredible honor to be able to do this and also, again, to support my wife. it's important for men to step up and support women and not just say they're doing it not just think they're doing it, but actually do it. So I'm hoping to set a good example by what I've done."

"She was just in Poland and Romania and just talking to her about what she's seen firsthand and and she was able to visit with refugees also with troops, both polish and American. And it's one thing to see the images on TV. It's quite another to see it in person. So I know it really affected her and impacted her. And of course, she brings that right back to the administration, but what we're seeing is horrible. It's an unjust, unprovoked invasion, that that has led to a humanitarian crisis. We must stand with people of Ukraine and it's great to see everything that's happening in terms of organized efforts to assist them."

"What she said, which I can share was that it was really impactful to her, hit her hard, and that it's worse when you see it in person than what we're seeing on TV."