Read –With-Me At HGS

Location: House Of The Good Shepherd

Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013; 6:20-7:30 pm

It had been a long time since I had been to HGS and I arrived at the location to find our Volunteer leader Michelle, whom I had met at One Brick leadership training, was there along with other volunteers.  Marc, whom I had met at this project before, is a regular and often shows up for this one without signing-up.  Marc has been to almost all Chicago Cares projects and like Wilson, is a volunteer superstar with the organization.  HGS has two ‘Read With Me’ programs on Tuesday’s, one for younger kids and one for slightly older ones, which I was going to participate in.  Our program had excess of people, so one volunteer moved over to help out with the junior program.  The rest of us made our way to the reading room.

Like other children’s programs, HGS has a fabulous play room with bright colors and a welcoming interior.  The kids came in and Michelle asked them to choose a volunteer to pair up with.  Since there were more adults than kids, everyone got picked except me and another volunteer, Janice.  One more kid came and Michelle asked him to close his eyes, turn around and point.  His finger was directed towards Janice, leaving me without a child to read with.  So while the rest of the party retired to side of the room to read, I started helping Michelle prepare for the arts and crafts activity that was to follow - making flying fish from tissue paper.  Michelle wanted me to cut strips of double-sided tape and then string that was going into making of the flying fish.  As Michelle and I worked on the supplies, I pointed out that all the kids were different than he ones I had met during my previous visit.  She mentioned that since HGS was a temporary shelter for women and they had to move out within 2-3 months, meaning the kids left with them. 

The reading seemed to be proceeding well and the kids seemed to be working with their adult partner.  There was an older boy who was reading by himself and Michelle said that he preferred it so; which considering his age, I could understand.  I saw Marc quizzing the kid he was with on something they had read in the book.  Janice and her kid were done with the reading and were about to start their arts and crafts and I went and joined them.  The boy was excited to be making the flying fish and was especially interested in putting the eyes on it.  He wanted them to be blue and so I helped cut out blue circles, trying to achieve some semblance of symmetry.  It was this time that Michelle came and asked if I would mind playing a game with the older kid who had been reading.

It had been a long time

 I walked with him to the games cabinet and he picked a game ‘Sorry’, something which I remembered playing ages ago as a kid myself.  As we opened the board and set the pieces, all the memories of playing this with my dad and with some other friends came back to me.  It has been years, decades, since I had last seen this, but just like a distant image through a mist, I could see myself playing the game all those years ago. The kid explained the rules to me and then we were off.  He was a good strategist and initially had me smoked.  Soon I got hooked and started making some progress with my pieces.  The chase was well and truly on and this is one of those games where fortunes can change all the time.  What seemed like a lost cause was now in my favor and we were neck and neck.  The tension was palpable and it was a game of inches, which he won with my last piece being one step away from glory.  It was a well fought game and we shook hands like men who had earned the other person’s respect. 

While the others wrapped up, we both got an opportunity to chat.  I learned that he was in 6^th grade and liked Math as a subject.  He loved movies and when I asked which types, he said action and comedy.  I asked about his favorite stars and he mentioned people like Stallone and Van Damme.  I said that he was recounting the stars of ‘The Expendables’, a movie which he loved.  He said that he had gone to see the movie with his family, including his 8 year old sister – so much for parental guidance!  I asked him whether she liked any part of the movie and he said that she slept for most of the time, which considering the noise in the film is quite a feat!  For the rest of the time we talked about our favorite action movies and stars such as Bruce Willis and Jason Statham.  As I said goodbye to him, I told him that next time we would play ‘Sorry’ again and that I would beat him.  He seemed eager for me to come back and this means that I had made an unspoken promise to return…something that I hope I am able to keep soon.