PADS 15th Annual Have-A-Heart Gala Part 2

Location: School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago

Date: Saturday, February 16, 2013; 2:45-10:30 pm

When people list some of the great inventions over time, it would be very easy to forget the ‘Revolving Door’.  But no one would have appreciated that more than I did on this bitter cold evening.  I was the greeter at the door and was expected to be at my post from 5:45 pm, till the last guest arrived around 7:15 pm.  The one thing that saved me from freezing was the revolving door, which has been designed to protect the building interiors from days like today. 

The fabulous Revolving Door

I practiced my welcome address, which included greeting them and then directing them to the left for parking validation and coat check and then to the right for registration.  Plus, I had to get all of this speech out as they walked past me!  As if that wasn't enough, there was another interesting challenge.  There was a small staircase leading up to the registration area.  Since the facility we were in is a school, security expected all the students to scan their id’s.  Thus they had blocked off the right part of the staircase so as to force the students to walk past the scanner on the left.  This meant that I had to be alert to prevent any of the guests from taking the right side; else they would have to come back down and switch to the left staircase.  That would not make for a great start to their evening, especially after coming in from the cold; and in their cocktail attire.  The things I have to keep track of during these projects!

The people attending the gala seemed friendly and almost all of them responded to my greetings with a smile and a greeting of their own.  I wish I could say the same thing about the students who came in, looking grumpy and unfriendly.  I almost wanted to say to all of them, “Cheer up folks.  If you think it gets easier after school, I have news for you!”  But my job was to focus on the guests.  All of them, both men and women, were impeccably dressed.  One man walked in wearing a hat and looked like a spitting image of Sir Ian McKellen, not in his ‘Gandalf’ or ‘Magneto´ attire, but rather like a proper English gentleman.  He shook my hand before going onward.  In fact, every time I felt tired, the good-nature of the guests kept me going.  At one time, an incoming guest caught me yawning and said that wasn't allowed, while chuckling himself.  

I wish I had placed a bid on this

Even with all of this interaction, after an hour I was getting tired of this routine and was thankful when the influx of people seemed to have dried up.  Teri asked me to take a break and I went to a room which functioned as volunteers waiting area and grabbed a sandwich.  After this I went up to the auction floor where most of the guests were socializing over a cocktail and placing their bids.  Soon all the sections started to close and the rules regarding that were very strict.  If the section closed, you were unable to bid, no matter how bad you felt.  I saw that happen as one lady was very sad that she had missed her opportunity to bid on a sports package.  While all items - except one piece of art - had been sold, I was disappointed that some of the items had fetched below marked price.  Amongst them was a collection of wines from 1982, something I had my eye on from the beginning.  After looking at the final price, I wished that I had placed a bid on those. As I walked around the room, I was pleased to see the hot air balloon prop was also displayed, with my cutouts in the balloon basket; all heads intact!

My cutouts inside the balloon

One of the more fascinating pieces of art was a 3-D piece made out of vinyl tubing and which was lit from the back.  I liked it a lot and complimented the young artist, a woman named Therese.  I told her that her art was unique in three ways, (a) It was made out of recyclable materials, (b) It was 3-D and (c) The back light added to its charm.  She was pleased to hear that and I moved on to check the rest of the items.  I chatted with Michelle, a volunteer who was in charge of Section 400, and learned that she worked in a ‘furniture bank’, which collected furniture for donation to the needy.  We were talking about our volunteering experiences, when an announcement was made that the evening’s festivities were about to commence, starting with the speeches.  First up was an 85 year old gentleman who got the biggest applause when he said that he was there with his wife of 64 years. He welcomed everyone and I saw that there were some important people in the room, including a senator.

Therese's magnificent art piece

Soon thereafter the dinner service started and in the background they played a video on PADS, an opportunity for all of us to learn more about the organization that we had come out to support.  From what I saw and heard, PADS is an agency dedicated to end homelessness.  This is a critical mission statement.  They do not just want to help people who are homeless, they want to end homelessness.  Over 800 men, women and children use their services each year.  Along with ‘Emergency Services’, which includes temporary crisis response, they also provide ‘Supportive Housing’, ‘Supportive Services’, which includes resources for regaining stability, ‘Employment Readiness’ and ‘Homeless Prevention’.  We heard testimonials from several PADS ‘graduates’ and after the video was done, there was no doubt in my mind that I had made a right choice in deciding to do this event.  As the people dined, the master of ceremonies took to the mike and started asking for donations.  I noticed many reaching for their check books and they could certainly afford it, having paid $175 a plate for the dinner. 

The grand ballroom

Soon the dinner was over and before the guests left, the winning bids needed to be delivered.  That delivery was the job of an ‘auction runner’, which was me.  I went down and waited for the check-out people to hand me a ticket.  I was then supposed to take that ticket to the appropriate section and collect the prize.  I was then supposed to bring it down and hand it to the winning bidder.  And so it began with me making several trips to get the various items and delivering them.  I actually enjoyed it a lot.  Personally, I love getting packages, even though I know what they are and most of the times I have paid for the thing in it.  But there is something so exhilarating about receiving that I find the process of giving equally wonderful.  Taking the items to the winning bidders was a similar feeling. 

In all of my trips, there was nothing that I carried from the section Michelle was managing.  Every time I walked past her, she would look at me and do a mock glare while I shrugged.  Finally, after several trips, I made sure that I waited for one ticket number from her section.  Then, I got the ticket for the item I was most worried about, lest I dropped them.  It was the vintage wine bottles from 1982.  I was extremely careful with them and breathed a sigh of relief when they were safely delivered.

All of the items had now been handed out, except one.  It was Therese’s artwork.  Another volunteer and I carried the heavy frame downstairs and the winning gentleman asked if we could put in his car.  This was not a part of the job description, but we very ready to comply.  We went to the door where a lot of people were waiting for the valet to deliver their car, before they had to go out in the bitter cold. We waited for one of them to open the door for us, but nobody was moving, while almost everyone was admiring the art.  We managed to get out using our backs and elbows to open the door, and put the heavy frame into the car.  I came inside and let Teri know that while all the people may have been rich, they lacked basic human decency.

It had been a satisfying day

I was standing there fuming, while the event came to a close and everyone was leaving.  Heidi and Teri  thanked me profusely for my hard work and I felt a bit ashamed at my outburst. Sure, the people could have been more courteous and helped us out, but they had done a lot for the cause by opening their wallets.  As I said right at the beginning, while volunteers are often the unsung heroes, philanthropists are extremely important as well.  I came back home after a 14 hour day, totally exhausted.  This had been an incredible week, starting with Bingo adventures, reaching a peak on Valentine’s Day and ending after a long day today.  One of my friends had asked me why I was doing it, putting myself through this grueling schedule.  The answer is  really simple.  I am alone in the city, with a lot of spare time on my hands.  Such may not always be the case and while I am able to do something, I always would.  For who knows on what journey I may be on in the future.  After all, life is not too different than that revolving door.