Chicago Walk MS

Location: Lakefront

Date: Sunday, May 5, 2013; 7:30-11:30 am

I had signed up to help out for this event the previous evening, where they required volunteers to set up the site, but owning to my One Brick event, I had pulled out.  I had however every intention of showing up for the main event and thus found myself walking over to the venue this Sunday morning.  I thought the event was at a particular location and when I did not see any activity there, I was sure that my habit of getting lost was well and truly alive.  I one point I even thought that I had the wrong day!  However, the actual location was just across the street and I spotted some tents and safely assumed that I was headed in the right direction.

The site

I checked in with Joanne, who was in charge of our area, which was the registration tent.  When I had first signed up for this event, I had a choice of Registration or another duty, which was distributing pins.  When I choose registration, I had to undergo a background check in order to be deemed eligible to handle money.  Well, I did pass the check and was now going to be working with Joanne and other registration volunteers such as Bridget.  My first task was to build boxes, which would house the payment envelops.  Most of the containers come broken down and take some assembling.  During my various apartment moves, I have done this, but never with this type of boxes.  Joanne showed us how and it really was very simple and effective way and soon we had plenty of boxes ready to go.  The registration duties were similar to what I had done at the ACS event last week and just as that one, only the walkers who had raised $125 or over would get a t-shirt.  Plus it was one t-shirt per person, no matter how much money they had raised.  People really have to stop overreacting when it comes to t-shirts at such events.  But, these were the rules and we had to follow.

Those who would be registering had to put the money inside an envelope and seal it.  We were not to touch the money, just circle the amount on the front of the envelope and put it inside the bin.  Plus the envelope also served as a waiver for the walkers absolving the MS society of any liability should the walkers encounters any ‘Nargles’ or something similar on the way.  If the walkers had already registered, they still had to sign a waiver form.  There was some time before we began, so I walked about the event site and looked at all the festivities that were being planned around us, including musicians who were practicing.  I came back to see that we had about 4 volunteers at the registration tent and although we were supposed to open at 9:30 am, there was already a line waiting with more than 30 minutes to go.  We opened for business and I started collecting the registration fee and waivers.  I would ask, "Are you making a donation today".  If they yes, they put money in envelope else asked them to fill out waiver.  The organizers were very strict about enforcing this rule and we were asking the families for a waiver for every member, even if a baby! 

My supplies

The pace was quite rapid and the people were friendly.  Most were just filling out waiver forms and though there were two additional tables on the side where they could do that, they were still lining up at the registration tent.  This led to a huge backlog and I suggested to Joanne that maybe we could have some volunteers walk the line and tell people that if they had no donation to turn in, they could go to the other area.  Joanne thought I was trying to criticize her and responded with, “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”  Aah, so she was one of those leaders.  Definitely not a boss you would want in your day-to-day life.  I am amazed at how leaders of Chicago Cares and One Brick are different than some of the so-called leaders I have encountered at other events.  I guess people miss the main point of leadership.  It is never about power.  It’s about ‘leading’.  Not many have that skill and it’s a shame that organizations do not realize how important it is to appoint a right person to represent them.  Speaking of which, I did some research on MS before the event. 

According to the National MS website, “Multiple Sclerosis (or MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by the disease.”  The Walk website said, “Walk MS connects people living with MS and those who care about them. As a Walk MS participant, the funds you raise give hope to the more than 20,000 people living with MS in Illinois. We’ve been walking since 1988 and to date have raised more than $770 million nationally to support life-changing programs and cutting-edge research. You can help us get closer to our vision of a world free of MS.”  This was good enough for me to stay motivated, Joanne or no Joanne.  

Looks like enough t-shirts to me

While the lines were long, as with the ACS event, the main point of contention was the shirts.  People in teams who had raised over $1,000, still received 1 shirt and they had a problem with that – rightfully so in my opinion.  My views on this have been documented, but there was nothing I could do to help out, being bound by the rules and I certainly did not want Joanne to yell at me again.  Even with this, we ran out of the t-shirt coupons that we were giving to the participants and which they had to exchange at the t-shirt tent.  At one stage I went over to the tent and collected cards that people had turned in.  Beside t-shirts, people were also eligible to receive sunglasses if they had raised over $500.  I saw a lot of people this morning, many suffering from MS and walking to prove that the disease did not have the better of them.  I also saw a familiar face in Frank, with whom I had worked during the ‘Wells Street Café’ project.  Many people joked with me not being trustworthy, when I told them I could not touch the money and that they had to seal the envelope themselves.  It turned out to be a successful morning and Bridget – who had been terrific - and I were relieved at 11:30.  Before leaving I asked how much money we had managed to raise and it was $42,000 and counting.  Sure, I had moments where the experience could have been better.  But if we had managed to raise that amount of money in 2 hours, I would call it time well spent and no complaints whatsoever.