Read-With-Me At AIC

Location: American Indian Center

Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2013; 4:30-5:30 pm

‘Read With Me’ at AIC had always been one of my favorite Chicago Cares programs.  Not only is it a pleasant place to visit, Wilson is a very good leader for this project.  However, Chicago Cares had moved this to 4:30 pm on Tuesday's since they were having difficulty in attracting kids after 6 pm.  This meant that I was unable to attend due to work and there was nothing we could do to change that.  Once I had decided to take a day off on my birthday, there was no question that I was going to attend this.  Furthermore, it was the last project of the school year and Wilson wanted to plan something different.  When he heard it was my birthday as well, he said we would make this a fun and special session.  Initially we had planned to explore some of the hidden passages of the AIC, but there was construction going on in some rooms.  Thus we decided to limit ourselves to a Scavenger Hunt.  After that Wilson had promised a surprise.  I was sold and nothing could have kept me away. 

Besides me, the other volunteers were Irina and Heather, whom we had recruited at ‘Paint The Town Red’ and Mary Kay.  One girl Alisha had her mom and aunt in attendance.  All the volunteers were going to be paired with a kid for the scavenger hunt, while a volunteer Keith was going to be the ‘Game Master’...whatever that meant!  Wilson had hidden 36 animal cards all over AIC, each with some trivia about that animal.  Once we had collected information from all cards, we were to answer 36 questions and the first team to finish would win.  Wilson wanted us to find at least 5 cards, get the answers, and then trade those cards for others.  This would force people to not only work well with their own team, but with other teams as well.  But before we could begin Wilson started off with an ice breaker.  He asked everyone for their favorite cake.  He got several responses ranging from chocolate to carrot to strawberry to red velvet to marble.  Someone said that they did not like cakes, but pies.  One kid Dan said that he preferred baklava.  When my turn came I said “Yes”, since I really liked all of the choices being mentioned.  However I had a hint that the surprise Wilson had promised was a chocolate cake for my birthday and so I settled on “Chocolate”. 

 

Dan's prize

I paired up with Dan for the hunt and we decided to start on the 1^st floor auditorium.  As we arrived there, we found several cards lying about and started collecting.  Wilson hadn't quite made it that difficult for us to find them and soon we had about 7 cards with several others in sight.  I told Dan that we should leave those for the other teams and to his credit, Dan agreed.  He was in fact a wonderful kid, competitive yet respectful.  A kind of kid who I suspect is well liked by his friends.  Each time I have come to AIC, we have gathered in the play room on 2^nd floor.  Today was an opportunity to explore a bit.  We found a room which looked like it belonged in a nice English cottage and settled down to study our cards and answer the questions.  Since this project is called ‘Read With Me’, I wanted Dan to read all of the cards, even though we knew some of the answers.  He was very enthusiastic and we had soon exhausted our supply.  We found some other teams in the auditorium and traded with them.  Once those were done, we decided to go upstairs and the entered into a scene that would have made a stock exchange proud.

And my cake - with Wilson's violin

There was a lot of commotion in the play room and people were trading furiously.  We acquired a few cards and started working on our answers.  Dan was completely engaged and through trading and some other deals, we were the first to finish all 36 answers.  We went to the ‘Game Master’ and learned that another team had come in before us with 24 answers.  Apparently when we were downstairs, Wilson had changed the rules to say best 24 out of 36 answers and so people had only been working towards that.  I said it was a flagrant foul and we deserved a prize as well, though Dan was more understanding.  We were allowed to pick a toy and Dan got himself something that looked like a lion; as well as a handful of candy.  We still had some time left and he asked if I could help him with his homework.  What a kid!  He was doing some assignment on how to read clocks and questions on Alexander Graham Bell.  I learned that he was in first grade and wants to become a professional basketball player, though he enjoyed his school work.  I looked over his work, but he seemed to have it covered. 

When everyone had finished with their quiz Wilson announced that it was my birthday and we were going cut a cake.  We all went down to the main auditorium which has an attached kitchen and Wilson brought out a fantastic looking chocolate cake.  He had also borrowed his mom’s musical violin that played ‘Happy Birthday’.  He handed me the knife and as I cut the cake, all the kids and adults sang, accompanied by the violin.  After the ceremony the rest left, but Dan still wanted to finish his homework.  Seriously, what a kid!  I once again looked over his spelling and handwriting, though he was doing fine.  He finally finished and left with his toy and candy.  I went for dinner with Wilson, Irina and Nina, who is the site rep for AIC, and Wilson revealed another side to his illustrious qualities – that of a gourmet.  Not only did he select the place, but also all of the dinner choices.  We had a great time and I had one of the most enjoyable birthday's in recent memory.  The day had started off with a little girl leaving for a Disney adventure and had also included a scavenger hunt, kids singing ‘Happy Birthday’ for me and dinner with friends.  It was without a doubt, a day to remember.

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy