Location: Mary Hartwell Catherwood Apartments
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013; 9:00 am-12:00 pm
This was the first stop of my
5-project weekend, including a ‘Super Sunday’ with three back-to-back-to-back
projects, but more on that later. I had
been to this location twice before and on each occasion have had trouble
getting here. First time was me missing
my CTA stop and last month it was me walking in the opposite direction. This time I walked through the wrong entrance
and had to retrace my steps to find the right one. Now, this place is not exactly the ‘Room of Requirement’ and so there
should really be no reason for me to get lost every time. I guess some things never change.
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| The Orange juice |
I went inside and spotted the
usual crew with Sandy, Toby, LaKeith, Sarah, Sonia and Andrew. The cooking was already underway and I looked
at what I could do. One of the new
volunteers was serving Orange Juice and I said I could help with that. So I started my regular duty of walking
around with a container of Orange Juice and cups.
I stopped by to chat with my old pal Barry, and asked him if he had
been playing music recently. He told me
that he had recently purchased a piano for his apartment and while it had cost
him $800, he was happy to be playing.
Having heard him talk about music before, I was happy that he had invested
in this piano. I am sure that it was one
of the few bright spots that he had in his daily life, which was dictated by a
dialysis schedule.
Next I met a lady whom I hadn't seen before. She introduced herself as
Maria and said she was from Philippines.
She asked my name and when I told her, she mentioned that it was very
unique. I said indeed it was and told
her how Barry had once asked if it was Irish! I wished Georgia, who is always in great
spirits, and as I made my way through the crowd, many were already asking for
seconds on the juice. By this time the
coffee was ready and I started distributing cups amongst the residents. Some of the ladies were a bit demanding
today, insisting that I bring them the creamer immediately, when I told them it
would be a minute. While it’s easy to
get annoyed, one must remember the reason why we were here – to serve them and give them a great experience this Saturday.
This means that even if they said the coffee was not as hot as it should be,
it was my job to heat it up – no if’s or but’s.
 |
| And the coffee |
While the resident’s ate, I had
an opportunity to try some of the excellent chocolate chip and oatmeal resin
cookies that Sandy had made. One of the
things she does without fail is get something for the residents – and
volunteers – each month. Since I had to
immediately head to my next project after this, the cookies would have to
suffice as lunch and I could really do much worse than that! By this time the residents were done with eating, and we
started taking the dishes away so that they could prepare for Bingo. This also meant that time had come for me to
start cleaning the serving and cooking vessels.
It is interesting, and somewhat flattering, that the rest are so used to
me doing this task that they assume I will move toward the sink. In a way it’s a sign that they consider me a
part of their ‘monthly club’. This time
I was sharing the duties with another volunteer, Tad, who is also a regular at
doing the dishes during the days when I’m missing. He took over the rinsing duties while I
started scrubbing the stubborn eggs and potatoes trays. Every month it’s the same story with these
ones, and I mentioned to Sandy that perhaps we could think of lining them with
some sort of non-stick paper next time so as to avoid this scrubbing. She pondered on that and may actually
implement it.
In the meanwhile Bingo was in
full flow with LaKeith, and later Andrew, calling the games. Perhaps they were going at a rapid rate or I
was slow in washing, but they were almost down to final few games when I joined
them in the main room. I walked around
to see how everyone was doing and asked Maria if she was winning. Seeing that I had stopped to chat with her,
Sonia told me that Maria had introduced the man sitting on the next seat as
her son. Now, this gentleman looked like he was
as old as Maria and so Sonia had difficult time believing her. I said he could be her stepson from a second marriage,
at which we had a big laugh.
Since the game was winding down,
I told Sandy that I had to get way downtown for my next project and so may
leave early. She said that since she was
headed to South suburbs, she could drop me off on her way home. The Bingo game was over and we were ready to
leave. Barry said that he would see
me next month and I replied that unfortunately, I would not be able to return
for a couple of months. His response
was, “God bless you, wherever you are”. With those words he left to play on his piano
and sing, something that I hope I get to hear soon.
I rode to my next project with
Sandy and was surprised to learn that she worked for ComEd and was in the same
industry as me. We spoke about the
Energy business and about volunteering and she told me that she has been coming
to this program for the past six years.
I asked how she had started and she said that it was through a program
with her then company and that she had never stopped. I said it was remarkable that she came all
the way uptown from her home in South suburbs, especially last month when she
drove up to drop-off the pound cake and left since she was sick. She said it was because of the friendships
she had made. She knows that someday her
closest friends in the apartments will be gone, but she was too involved
now. We found the place I was supposed
to go to next and as she dropped me off, I got a distinct feeling that as far
as she was concerned, I was one of the ‘in-crowd’ for this project. Last few months have reaffirmed many things. One of them
is the old adage that respect is never given easily, and needs to be
earned. But I had always known that. What I hadn't known is that if you do things
without actively seeking respect, it comes when you least expect it.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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