Location: Solid Ground Supportive Housing Program
Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013; 5:45-7:45 pm
La Casa Norte is a service agency
that helps youth and families that are faced with homelessness. It is also located a bit far from my
workplace and so I was scrambling to get there on time. This was compounded by the fact that I could
not hail a cab. I wanted to call Karen,
our Volunteer leader and let her know that I was running late, but did not have
her cell phone number. There was only
one way to resolve this and so I asked Wilson to provide me with her contact
information and sure enough, he sent it to me.
I left a message for her and headed there in a cab, arriving 10 minutes
late. Karen was briefing the rest of the
volunteers in a conference room and I noticed Tash and Meredith, from Chicago
Cares, as well as two other volunteers – Richard and Catrina. The first thing I noticed about Karen was her
enthusiasm and I always like seeing that in our leaders.
 |
| Mmm brownies! |
We were inside the residence of
the young folk who reside there and went up to the kitchen and dining
room. While Richard and Catrina worked
on the meat, which was steak tips, and while Tash and Meredith were going to
work on the salad and corn, respectively, Karen asked if I could make the
brownies. Well now, I have had a long
career of consuming brownies, but never make them. I told Karen about that and she said that it
was better since I would be doing something for the first time. She told me to follow the instructions on the
box, which included mixing 19.5 Oz of Pillsbury mix with ¼ cup water, ½ cup oil
and 2 eggs. I had to go searching for
measuring cups for water and oil, but soon had the ingredients in the
bowl. Next step was mixing through 50
strokes. Not 49, not 51, but 50
strokes. Now, I know that baking is an
exact science when it comes to measurements, but this was taking it to the
extreme! I kept track in my head and
soon had a gooey batter which I spread on a baking pan, which was going into the
oven for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Encouraged by my success, I proceeded to do another box and once done,
added the mix to the existing pan and put it in the oven. Then I set the timer in my phone for 30
minutes. Throughout this process, Karen
was most encouraging and almost like a cheerleader.
Throughout our cooking sessions,
almost all of the residents had assembled in the garden outside and were
chatting amongst themselves. One however
was helping Tash with salad, and was doing so with some commendable
dedication. He was chatting with her and
asking questions, something I though the other kids should have been doing as
well. One other kid came and sat at the
table, eating a big bowl of cereal. I
mentioned that he was going to kill his appetite and his response was that he
was 18 and could handle a snack like this before a meal. Touché!
Since my brownies were still in the oven, I started wiping down the
dining table and getting it ready for dinner.
Karen also asked me to drop the corn cobs into the boiling water and
periodically watch them as they cooked.
I chatted with Meredith, who
works in ‘Youth In Service’ program
of Chicago Cares. We talked about the program
and some of the others. Karen joined us
to promote ‘Hunger Walk’, happening
next month and in which I am participating with ‘Breaking Bread Ministries’. I was periodically checking on the corn as
well as the brownies with a fork and it was apparent that they would take some
additional time to cook than what was on the box, perhaps owing to the unpredictable
temperature inside the oven. The kitchen
also has two big freezers full of chicken nuggets and two big refrigerators full
of milk and eggs. Considering that there
are 16 residents in the house, it almost looked like each of them had their own groceries. I went outside for a brief
moment and all the boys were doing their own thing, some listening to music and
others chatting. I felt that some of
them could have been inside, participating in the cooking activities. Having been to ODS, which is a similar shelter,
my expectation was that the residents would be engaged and in doing so learn
something from the rest of us and our life experiences. I texted to Wilson about this and said that
the impact for this program was minimum without their participation.
 |
| All done |
The corn and brownies were
finally done and I pulled them out and we took them to the table. Our duties at that stage were done and it was
time to leave. Karen offered to give me a ride to the train station and it gave
us a chance to discuss my concerns about the model of this program. I mentioned that volunteering should not be
so that all of us feel good about contributing to the society, but also should
be about us making an impact and how can we make an impact if the clients are
not involved? Karen agreed with some of
my points and said that while Chicago Cares had suggested some changes to Solid
Ground; the organization had pushed back, saying this is what they wanted. She said that she would communicate my
feedback to Chicago Cares and hopefully things will change in the future.
Later that night, I exchanged
more texts with Wilson and he was trying to communicate that the objective of
program was for Chicago Cares to go in and take over the cooking
responsibilities for one evening so that Solid Ground staff doesn't have
to. So we were serving them, rather than
the residents. I get that point, but why
not ‘enhance’ this by adding mentoring.
I mean, we are already here. Why
can’t we get two additional volunteers who can spend time with the youth
talking about jobs and careers while the other cook. Or else get them to participate and teach
them self-reliance. One point I heard is
that most of these kids do not have a family, or a mother to cook for them and
we are fulfilling that role of treating them to a home cooked meal. It is an excellent point and a poignant one
as well. But parents don’t just feed the
children; they educate and prepare them for the world. I am sure we could do that as well if given a
chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment