Read-With-Me At Mercy Housing

Location: Mercy Housing

Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2013; 5:40-6:45 pm

Mercy Housing

I had not been to this location, for which I had to take a blue line CTA towards Forrest Park.  I arrived at the station around 5:20 and as is usually the case, took out my phone to look at the map and the walking directions to my final destination.  There was a decent amount of commute remaining and I was studying the dot on the map to ensure I was following the right route.  As I walked on the sidewalk, out of the corner of my eye I saw a cop car pull over.  The driver beckoned me to come over and I could not think of why he would want to do so.  Had I been guilty of jaywalking, I wondered.  He looked as me exasperatedly and asked if I knew how many times he had gotten reports of thefts in that neighborhood because people had been careless enough to display their smartphone.  He said that my behavior was inviting a mugging.  I apologized saying it was my first time over there.  He looked more tired than angry and after asking where I was headed, drove away.  I hastily put both, my phone and my mp3 player away and wondered if he should have offered me a ride.  Unfortunately the only seats open were the ones at the back, usually reserved for criminals, and it probably would not have looked good for me to arrive for a kids program in a cop car!

It was dark by the time I reached the building and the warning had put sufficient amount of dread within me.  I looked for the entrance, but everything was locked.  I dared to pull out my phone and looked at the instructions which asked the volunteers to come through the back entrance.  The only problem was that the back entrance looked like it was in a dark alley and there was no way I was going in there.  Fortunately, I saw another volunteer waiting by the entrance and I went over to wait with her.  As we chatted, someone came over and opened the door and quite honestly I was least surprised to see that it was Wilson!  This was my third evening in a row with him, consecutively the most time I have spent with anyone outside of work since moving to Chicago.

Sign in the playroom

He took us inside and soon thereafter our volunteer leader, Mercedes arrived.  Besides Bo, who was waiting with me outside and Wilson, there was another volunteer Jessica.  I took a look around the room, which was similar to other kids playrooms that I had seen earlier.  According to Chicago Cares program description, “Mercy Housing provides affordable, program enriched housing communities to better the opportunities for its families and residents”.  Soon we were joined by the kids.  A little girl Nydia, came and introduced herself.  She shook my hand, asked my name and then ran off to play.  But rest of kids and the volunteers took a seat around the table.  We had Shirley, Sandra, Tyler, Jacob and Amiee.  Mercedes had brought copies of a book called, ‘Zen Shorts’, which is a collection of stories about a Panda.  Unlike my last time at AIC, the kids were actually keen to read, and we had to ensure that they took turns.  In fact Tyler got upset that he was not getting enough opportunities to read and Mercedes had to explain to him that we were sharing the task.

The book

Each of the volunteers was encouraging a child and I was doing it for Sandra.  But other thab help on certain words, the kids did a great job and we managed to finish the entire book.  Amiee, who was the oldest was the best reader by far, and also the most enthusiastic. It was an interesting read, with a lot of subtle life lessons.  As we neared completion, Nydia made an appearance behind me and started playing with my hair, which she said was soft – not a compliment I have received before.  As we got ready to leave, I told everyone about my cop story and asked Wilson if he could give me a ride to the train station.  Wilson then took it upon himself to organize rides for everyone and even asked the children’s teacher, Miss Katie if she could drop me off in downtown.  Unfortunately she could not, and Wilson, who was already giving Jessica a ride, said he would drop me off as well.  He just needed to clean the back of his car which was full of his volunteering gear as well as some emergency responder gear.  The man is prepared for all volunteering occasions.

As we drove home I mentioned that the kids this evening were quite unlike the girls from last evening and Wilson mentioned that despite the disinterest Idelle showed towards the story, later while waiting for their pick-up, Wilson quizzed her on the questions and she was able to answer them all.  So something did get through and maybe she was right about being the smartest of us all.  Wilson dropped me home, and it had been a strange evening, starting with the warning from the cops and me looking for an entrance in a dark alley.  However I was surprised by the enthusiasm the children had shown…and by Nydia, who had made me lift her up and give her a goodbye hug.  At 5:45 pm I was sure I would never volunteer again at Mercy Housing, now I was certain of my return; and this time I would not even need to refer to my GPS.


*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy