Location: Night Ministry
Date: Monday, June 17, 2013; 6:00-8:30 pm
This was my first One Brick
project as an Event Coordinator. I
referred to my EC Checklist the previous day to ensure that I do everything
that an EC is supposed to do prior to an event.
One of those duties was selecting a place to go to afterwards and
communicating with the EM. After some
search via Google Maps, I identified a place nearby and let Kinga, the EM
know. I also set a reminder alarm for
myself so as to carry my One Brick pad, name tags and also a printout of the
sign-up sheet. With all of these things in
hand, I arrived at the location well before 5:30 pm, but most of the volunteers
were already there. Kinga had printed
her own sign-up sheet and people had already started signing on it. Some of the volunteers were first timers and
as per the checklist that I had been given, I was supposed to get them to put
down their phone numbers on the sheet.
When I requested that of them, one of the regulars, said that this was a
sneaky way for me to get their phone numbers.
I said this was a One Brick requirement and was told that it wasn’t
anymore. Well, would have been nice if
someone had told me earlier, but anyways.
This was only the beginning of the evening and plenty of time left for
me to practice my EC skills.
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| Who knew these could be precious |
This evening we would be sorting
travel sized soaps, shampoos and all of those tiny toiletries that one finds in
a hotel bathroom. These are then either
donated to the homeless, or to various residents on Night Ministry
shelters. Our job was to sort these into
the two categories and also throw away anything that was less than half
full. But before we could sort, the
items had to be carried from the storage room, to the main sorting room where
all of us were assembled. Some of these
containers were quite heavy and since another volunteer Matt and I were the
only men there, Kinga was looking at us to do most of the lifting. But to their credit, the women volunteers did
their bit as well and soon all of the heavy boxes were outside and sorting
could begin.
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| The 'Sorting Crew' |
In terms of the soaps, the large
soaps were to be kept for Night Ministry shelters, while the smaller and medium
sized ones were to be donated, along with feminine soaps. Now, the size was a subjective call, as was
what constitutes a feminine soap? Was it fragrance, packaging? We were told
that it would “look nicer” with some
fancy packaging. Well, we started doing
that and I started mingling about with the volunteers, taking pictures. Once again, the volunteer who had reprimanded
me for asking for numbers had a problem with that I should take “less pictures and do more work, since none
of us here is an Executive”. Well,
looks like I should just throw away the EC checklist since nothing on it was
making sense now. Now, let me quote from
the EM Checklist Section on 'Day of AND
during the event', subsection 'Recruit
for after-party and make sure everyone's having fun': "You're not a volunteer - you're coordinating". It's in italics while the rest of the
paragraph is not, meaning it's important.
So that’s what I was doing. While
I can understand that perhaps I should interpret these rules as per the
situation and when there is lot of work to be done – as was the case this
evening – I should be a more active participant. However, my problem was in the way this was
said to me, and by someone who is a member of One Brick leadership team
themselves. This is not something that
needed to be said in front of other volunteers, least of all new ones. This communicates a wrong message that One
Brick EM and EC’s take advantage of volunteers and also portrays me as being
lazy and participating in volunteer events without an active contribution. To that point, I would love to someday
compare notes with this volunteer on what our contributions have been in the
community.
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| The boxes for pick-up |
I jumped right back in and
started sorting, just as I got a call from Wilson, who was downstairs and
needed to come up. As I let him in and
we walked upstairs, I told him what had happened and he said not to worry and
we should discuss later. I rejoined my
sorting crew and we were almost done with the soaps. Next, we moved to sorting shampoos,
conditioners and bath gels. As we sorted
through those, we found that there were a lot many conditioners than shampoos
and that these bottles were greasy. Our
hands were sticky and I mentioned to Matt that I have never looked forward to
washing my hands more than today! After
sorting through some other random hair products, Matt and I piled the boxes
that were going to be distributed onto a cart and moved them downstairs. There were two different destinations and we
did our best to separate them evenly.
Then we moved the stuff that was staying back inside into the storage
room and were then ready to leave.
Some of us went to a bar ‘O’Shaunessey’ afterwards to
socialize. I learned that Kinga and two
other One Brick regulars were on their way to Oklahoma to participate in relief
efforts. Since they were driving,
discussion turned to merits of technology such as GPS, something that Wilson
favors a lot. I suspect if it were up to
him, he would have people use GPS within their apartment! I remember the days of carrying big road atlases
and maps and we found our way just OK. Having
said that, I am always for technology and so you wouldn't find me arguing too
much. I chatted with one of the new
volunteers Coleen and she wanted to know more about other opportunities. I told
her about what One Brick has to offer, and also brought up Chicago Cares, at
which some eyebrows were raised. Once
again, I fail to understand this competitiveness when the overall mission is
the same. But, I had got into enough
arguments this evening to start a new one.
As Wilson dropped me home, we discussed
the situation from earlier this evening.
He told me that I was not in the wrong and rather than dwell too much,
take it up with the volunteer in question and discuss what could be done
better. However, the last thing I want
is for us to lose track of what One Brick does and get into a baseless
quarrel. Tonight was about doing
something important. Irrespective of how
we felt towards each other, we were here for a reason. According to the description on One Brick
website, “The Night Ministry was created
out of diverse religious traditions to build relationships with vulnerable
youth and adults on the nighttime streets. Through these relationships and the provision
of housing, health, outreach, spiritual, and social services, the organization
seeks to empower people of all ages to meet their own needs. Recognizing the uniqueness, dignity, and value
of each person, the Night Ministry accepts individuals as they are, in an
affirming and compassionate manner. The
Night Ministry is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-denominational organization
serving youth and adults in need - regardless of race, ethnicity, religion,
sexual orientation, or social status. Those
served include homeless youth and adults, uninsured/underinsured individuals
seeking medical assistance, working poor adults, the chronically lonely,
children who need a safe place to gather, and others in need”. It puts everything else into perspective.
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