Keep The Kids Running

Location: Girls On The Run

Date: Monday, June 24, 2013; 6:00-8:00 pm

Once again at 'Girls On The Run'

After a somewhat shaky start to my career as a One Brick EC, this was going to be another opportunity for me.  The good news was that Wilson was the EM and that meant a certain level of comfort.  He told me to just select a place for the after party, though with this location, there was really only one choice – ‘Silver Cloud’, a place which contributed greatly to people signing up for the project.  It’s not as if the place is ‘Ritz Carlton’ or anything, but they have 'Tater Tots' on the menu and do an excellent job of making them.  In fact, Amanda and I had been talking about these for weeks, ever since the project had shown up on the One Brick calendar.  So it took me all of 30 seconds to make a decision and I informed Wilson.  I even called the restaurant the previous day and reserved the table under Wilson’s name, assuming that we make get some perks because of that.  In his usual style, Wilson had dispatched a detailed email to all participants, in which he described the project and even asked everyone to get a change of clothes!  Any project where the manager states that you should bring a change of clothes, can take an interesting direction.  Wilson picked me up from work and we arrived way in advance, so as to talk with the staff and understand our duties for the evening.  On the way rather than talk about the project, most of the discussion was centered on what we were going to eat afterwards.  Hey, at least we knew our priorities!

Tshirt sorting

Our task this evening was sorting shirts by size, counting them and then assigning to the right bins.  This would be done in the basement of the building... hence the change of clothes comment.  Our first challenge however was the main door since the doorbell was broken and thus someone had to stand by to open it when the volunteers arrived.  Wilson and I parked ourselves next to the door to wait for the volunteers.  First to arrive was Eric, whom I had met during One Brick leadership training.  Next came Amanda and as we opened the door for her I mentioned that this is the level of service one receives when Wilson and I are on the event leadership team.  Next up was Colleen, whom Wilson had recruited during the Night Ministry event, and she in turn had recruited her friend Rafat.  Considering it was just her second One Brick event, I said that at this rate she would be the chapter president soon!  Soon we were joined by regulars like Gary, Michelle and newcomers Andrew and Olga.  We still had a few missing, people and so I asked Wilson to take them upstairs for instructions, while I waited by the door.  Because that’s what an EC does…I think.

Wilson then led everyone to the basement and seeing that we had all the people that we were going to get this evening, I joined them.  I saw that all the folks were busy with the sorting and I took some pictures, asking everyone to look happy.  I went and chatted with the newcomers, to welcome them to One Brick and telling them more about what we did.  Wilson had warned me not to promote Chicago Cares too much, so I stuck to the One Brick spiel.  I went upstairs to get water for the volunteers, using the bin lid as a tray.  This made getting 10+ glasses down two floors a significant challenge.  Somehow I managed to get them all down without spilling and then went about handing water to everyone.  Gary asked if there was any antacid in the offices and when I couldn't find any, he left to get one from Walgreen’s since he wasn’t feeling well.  And then he came back…because he is Gary. 

A group of happy volunteers

Everything was going efficiently and despite an unfortunate accident where I scared the living daylights out of everyone – including myself - through an air horn, we were done well before our allocated time.  I had tried to recruit people for coming out afterwards, but some said they couldn't make it.  Finally, 7 of us including Wilson, Amanda, Eric, Colleen, Rafat and Michelle went to ‘Silver Cloud’, something we had been talking about for a long time.  It was one of the more enjoyable after-project gatherings and we talked about our volunteering as well as food and Eric and Rafat even set up a tennis date.  Everyone had a great time and afterwards thanked me for organizing this outing.  Looks like my second effort as an EC was more successful than the first.  Not only did we help the ‘Girls On The Run’ organization, the volunteers also had a great time during the project, as well as the socializing.  Plus, Amanda, Wilson and I got to eat ‘Tater Tots’!  Now that’s a job well done.