Location: Grant Park
Date: Sunday, May 26, 2013; 8:00-11:00 am
Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
While Freddie Mercury and the
boys may have wanted to ride their bikes, I was only volunteering for this one,
where people of Chicago and neighboring areas were having a ride to support finding
a cure for diabetes. I was going be shadowing
an EC for this One Brick event and was thus required to arrive earlier. I walked to Grant Park and as I got closer, I
could see a flurry of riders, and just crossing the street was a challenge. I managed to get across and went over to the
volunteer tent where despite their best efforts, they were unable to find my
name on the list and then we realized that I was at the wrong tent. I was supposed to check-in with ‘The American Diabetes Association'. The send me over to where the ADA was
located, which meant another crossing of the street and I finally arrived at
their tent. Through this I realized
that while the ride was to find a cure, ADA was not the only diabetes related
organization that was benefiting.
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| Please share the road with walkers! |
Jennifer from ADA assigned me and
Tracy, another One Brick volunteer, to the task of handing out t-shirts. Polly, who was the EM and Kristen, who was
the EC, arrived soon thereafter along with the other members of our crew. Since I was to shadow Kristen, Polly sent us
both with pamphlets promoting ADAs another ride on June 9th out in
the suburbs. Along with the pamphlets
there was a coupon that let one save $5 off their registration. People were winding down from their ride and
were relaxing on the green or walking about seeing the other festivities. Our job was to approach them and while I
would hand them the pamphlet and mention the event, Kristen would immediately
follow-up with the coupon and inform them about the savings. While some people took these things, many
politely declined, saying that this was the only ride of their year. It was quite obvious that people did not want
to carry anything else with them.
Kristen and I went back to the
ADA tent and this time Polly and Jennifer had a new task for us. The riders had parked in a garage a few blocks
west in the loop. Once the ride was
over, they would go back to the garage and someone needed to watch their bikes
while they got their cars. Kristen and I
were dispatched to that location and Polly said that she would send a couple of
volunteers our way as well. Kristen and
I walked over there and arrived at the building but there was no sign of any
booth or signs. We even went inside the
garage where the cars were supposed to be parked, but there was nothing there as
well. We decided to walk around the
building and that’s when we saw a tent with a table of some refreshments and to
women sitting next to it. One of them
was Courtney, an intern with ADA and the other was Lupe. Courtney said that she had been at the table
since 4:30 am and so far no one had come to avail of the goodies. Well, goodies really meant water, Gatorade, banana’s,
pretzels, bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter and some protein
bars. It wasn’t exactly breakfast at the 'Ritz', but something people would
perhaps appreciate after a ride.
I chatted with Courtney who
mentioned that she had Type I diabetes and has to wear an Insulin pump and take
measurements by pricking her fingers multiple times a day. I mentioned about my research in graduate
school and how we were working towards eliminating this exact problem and the
look of hope in her eyes was real. She
said that she was diagnosed at age 13 and it was a rough time in college, not being
able to live a normal lifestyle. To hear
that my research could someday lead to some amount of relief for patients was a
hope that she could hang on to. This made me
glad that I had come out this morning and that’s why Courtney did not mind
being there since before dawn. According
to the description on One Brick opportunity description and ADA website, “The American Diabetes Association is
leading the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes and fighting for
those affected by diabetes. The
Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers
services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible
information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, their mission is to prevent
and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.”
Seeing that there wasn’t much to
do and since new volunteers were on their way, Kristen left for the main
location and I was soon joined by Leisha and Charles Paul. This was Leisha’s first One Brick event and I
did my EC duty by welcoming her and talking about what we do. Charles Paul on the other hand did not
require much talking to. In fact, based
on what he told me, forget the beer dude; he is ‘The Most Interesting Man In The World’. Some of the major accomplishments that he
mentioned were: Aerospace engine designer for Rolls Royce, had been a back-up
Quarter Back for OSU, was training for a marathon at the Arctic circle,
frequently travels around the world – in first class of course – can fly a
commercial plane as well as fix it, was a child genius at Math and oh, has an
IQ of 177. Well, I guess you meet all
sorts at these events!
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| Bikes that we were supposed to look after |
Aside from the fact that none of
the above was verified online, I enjoyed chatting with him. We talked about cars, especially Rolls Royce
Phantom. He told me that I should take a
test drive and I said my bank balance wasn’t strong enough to get me a
ride. He said what about pre-owned. I said not for pre or post-owned! He asked me what was the most exciting place
that I had been to and I asked him to define exciting. He said something that you couldn't stop
talking about and while there isn't one place for me that fits this description,
I did mention Acadia National Park. I
asked him about himself and he mentioned driving a Camaro from Miami to
Minnesota at 180 mph. Then he proceeded
to tell Courtney what she had for breakfast by studying the soles of her
shoes. I thought it was bit early in the
day for that line to work, but at least it was amusing for us.
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| The team |
The reason why we had so much
time on our hands was because no one was coming. But that was not dissuading Lupe, who was
full of energy. She was yelling at
bikers on the road offering them water and Gatorade. When people did come, she was handing them
stuff to eat. Towards the end we did get
a lot of traffic and many left their bikes for us to ‘guard’ while they went
for their car. Lupe was ensuring that
they were well fed and when we were almost out of food, she went around
personally delivering remainder of the things so that we could pack the
table. It was a bit chilly and at one
stage I went to go get some Hot Chocolate for myself and Leisha. Soon it was time to take down the tent and a
guy from ADA came to help us. I told
Lupe that she had been fantastic and wished Charles Paul luck in his
adventures. I joined Polly,
Kristen, Tracy and Andrea for lunch at ‘Rudy’s’
and we talked about Charles Paul and the obvious comparison with Wilson! We chatted for a bit and then after a few
pictures I left. It had been a
worthwhile morning, where I had seen firsthand how what we do can
benefit those who need it the most. I
may not have an IQ of 177. In fact, I
did not even ride a bike. But I was glad
to have contributed.
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