Location: Mary Hartwell Catherwood Apartments
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2013; 7:30 am-2:30 pm
 |
| The decorations |
We had asked the volunteers to
gather in Building #3 activity room, which was also going to be the site for
our picnic, now moved indoors. We had a
total of 44 volunteers from two companies, ‘Plante
Moran’ and ‘Kemper’, each group
wearing their company t-shirts. They
were looking enthusiastic and more importantly, they were looking for the
leader. I stepped up and the time
had come to deliver my speech. Now, I
had already received a script and had spent most of yesterday practicing what I
was going to say. I was more or less
required to start by saying, “Thank you
for “raising your hand” and for being part of the solution to some of Chicago’s
most pressing challenges! I’m Ritesh and
I’m your Primary Site Leader for the day.
Serve-a-thon is all about bringing people together to a make real,
lasting impact in Chicago. Today, we’re
joining a legacy of hundreds of thousands of Chicago Cares volunteers who have
served the last 22 years.” I did all
of this, except I forgot to introduce myself!
Then then told them why they were
there. About how today was us trying to
give something back to our seniors, to show them that we care. Then I introduced Caroline, who told them a
bit about the Mary Hartwell Catherwood Apartments and its residents. After that I introduced Alisa and Claire as our
leaders for today and asked them to describe the projects. Then we asked which project they would
prefer. Almost everyone wanted to do the
murals. This was admirable, but we really
needed only 15 volunteers with 5 per mural.
Claire would require the rest to cook for almost 100 people. Furthermore, we did not even have the
transparencies yet! Through some
good-natured coaxing on my part, we negotiated the split with approximately 15
folk headed to Building #2 with Alisa while the rest stayed behind for the
picnic. While Caroline had arrived with
pencils for tracings, there was still no sign of Jocelyn. I was hoping that not only would Alisa take
her time taking them to her activity room, but would keep them entertained once
there!
 |
| The Mural's Room |
We told Claire’s group that they
had two main tasks before the picnic began, one was the actual cooking and the
second was to get the room ready. For
that purpose, we had a few decoration items such as colored tissue paper,
balloons and table cloth. The menu was ‘Deviled Eggs’, ‘Hot Dogs’ and ‘Fruit Salad’.
Plus we had some bacon which could be
put to good use. Within no time Claire’s
group was on their way with folks working on the room, others boiling eggs and
the rest cooking hot dogs and chopping fruits.
I went over to the other building wondering what Alisa was doing in
absence of the transparencies. All the
volunteers had received lunch boxes when they boarded the bus and I thought
that now would be a good time for them to eat, rather than stand and do
nothing. However, as I came to Building 2, to my immense relief Jocelyn had arrived. The three murals that we would be painting
were, ‘Chicago Skyline’, ‘You Make America’ and ‘Thurgood Marshall’. The transparencies would be projected on
canvas where the volunteers would sketch and then take them to the floor for
painting.
Since Alisa and Claire were the
real project leaders, my job was to just make sure they had everything they
needed for their volunteers. Over at the
cooking project the decoration team had done an outstanding job. They had designed a wonderful looking thing
using the multi-colored paper and were done with both, wall and table
decorations. The cooking team was well
underway and I asked them if they required anything. Some requested additional bowls and trays,
something that I borrowed from our regular closet in Building 1. The room where we were hosting the picnic
opened onto a covered outdoor patio which would make for a terrific location
for some of the residents. I grabbed a
few guys and went over to Building 1 to get a few tables and chairs. It took us a couple of trips and getting
soaked in the rain – which decided to make an appearance only when we were
outside – to get them onto our patio. I
went to check on the Murals group and they were totally focused on their work,
having almost finished the sketching.
 |
| The Picnic Room |
It was time for the picnic to
start and slowly the seniors started filtering in. They started taking their places on the
tables and it was nice to see the volunteers mingle with them. Some of the volunteers were sitting outside on
the patio, actively engaging the residents.
The food was ready to be served and some of the volunteers made a
serving line. The line was working very
well and I had a chance to chat with Claire and Caroline. They had both done a terrific job over here,
especially Claire, who had led with the similar poise and dignity that she usually
exhibits. I asked Caroline how she had
gotten involved with this facility and she said that she had always liked
serving seniors and this was a right fit for her. Since the cooking and decorations had been
done, some of the volunteers had down time and I talked with them about their
experience so far, the facility we were in and general volunteering with
Chicago Cares. We were having fun and I
wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, including at Wilson’s site, from where he
sent me pictures of volunteers with today’s chief guest Chelsea Clinton.
I went over to Alisa’s project
room and people had started painting their murals. I had taken with me couple of people from the
picnic project since it was imperative that we finish the murals. Back in the other room, lunch had been
cleared and people were ready to play Bingo.
We had the usual prizes such as hand soap, lotions, laundry bleach,
toilet roll, dish soap etc. I told the
volunteers how they prizes would be selected, with things like dish soap and
bleach being the first to go. I mean,
who uses bleach nowadays in a world with all-in-one laundry detergent! I saw my pal Barry and went to chat with
him. He is a regular at the breakfast
and a genuinely charming person. He
mentioned that I had not been visiting lately and I said that I was occupied
with other projects and unfortunately would be unable to come for the next few
months. He said, “Be safe, wherever you are”.
What a gentleman.
 |
| Our Mural's |
The volunteers were enjoying the
Bingo calling and working with the residents.
I had become friendly with some of them and I couldn’t have asked for a
better crew. When one of them almost
called a false Bingo I mockingly chided her at which she pretended to be mighty
ashamed. I was glad to see them relaxed
and making full use of this opportunity.
Back in Alisa’s group the murals were done and I took pictures of the
teams with the mural they had made as well as a group picture of the entire
Mural’s Project Team. We then carefully
transported the murals to the Bingo room and I went in first to announce that
the residents were in for a surprise.
When the team walked in with the three murals, there was a loud applause
and cheering. The prizes were soon
distributed and then it was time to wrap-up.
The residents thanked all of the volunteers and left, with us cleaning
the entire place and restoring it to the state it was in the morning. We returned the chairs and tables to Building
1, along with the cooking material that I had borrowed. I came back and gathered everyone for my
final address.
 |
| Our Serve-A-Thon Team |
I thanked them all for their
tremendous service today and how they had made a difference in the
community. I challenged them to continue
this by signing up for other projects through Chicago Cares. Caroline spoke as well and then I asked the
volunteers to applaud the magnificent work Alisa and Claire had done. While Chicago Cares had provided a script for
the final address, nothing I spoke about needed to be rehearsed. I meant every single word and I was truly
proud of my team. We took pictures with
everyone raising their hands to showcase the spirit of volunteering and supporting the community. I took pictures with
Alisa, Claire and Caroline - my leadership team.
I asked Caroline where the murals would go and she wanted to put one in
each of the buildings. She said that there
was one with diverse cultural residents and that’s where she would put “You Make America”, to showcase the
impact immigrants have made in this country.
Claire was going back home, but
Alisa and I were headed to Daley Plaza for the after party. I thanked her and as Alisa and I headed to the train
station, we saw the volunteers get back on their bus. Alisa suggested that we ride with them, which
seemed like the most logical thing to do.
We chatted with some of the volunteers and they once again emphasized
the fun they had. We arrived at the
party location to see that it was in full swing. There were already a lot of people there
along with a live band and many tents serving food and drinks. But we were headed to the special VIP tent,
where all of the Chicago Cares staff and leaders had assembled. I went in and saw some familiar faces like
Wendy, Amy as well as other volunteers with whom I had worked in the past like
Sonia and Andy, who participate in the Breakfast Club at the location I was at
this morning! I also saw Karen and Dale,
who were supposed to be on my team, but had been reassigned to other site later. I caught up with all of them and exchanged
stories from the day’s activity.
 |
| My leaders: Alisa, Claire and Caroline |
So how do I summarize it? The day had started with a phone call saying
we were short on groceries, and had continued with other mishaps and delays. But just like any other story, despite all
the hurdles, there was a happy ending.
My team had delivered something special to the residents at our site and
in the proud tradition of Serve-A-Thon, we had represented Chicago Cares exemplarily in our community. Employees of 'Plante Moran' and 'Kemper' had been fantastic and I cannot say enough good things
about Alisa and Claire; and Caroline as well.
As for me, I had been tested as a leader and had succeeded. This was Leadership 101 and if I could get
through this, I was confident of overcoming other challenges that life would
throw at me. Little was I to know that
one of those was going to be in a few hours.
But that was for later. Whatever
was to happen in the future would happen.
At that instance in time, it was one of the proudest moments of my
life. Serve-A-Thon 2013, a shining example to prove that yes, everywhere life is full of heroism.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
No comments:
Post a Comment