Location: Roscoe Village
Date: Sunday, July 14, 2013; 2:00-6:00 pm
Well if yesterday was about
making donuts, today was about a Burger festival. While One Brick would not actually be making
burgers, we would be volunteering at this annual burger festival to raise money
for ‘Roscoe Village Chamber Of Commerce’. According to the One Brick website, “The Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce is a
non-profit organization committed to representing Roscoe Village businesses and
to advancing the growth and prosperity of the Roscoe Village neighborhood. Our
organization is dedicated to providing area businesses with all the necessary
tools for economic growth and development and to providing a forum for
networking and collaboration, in order that we may create a pleasant business
environment for the community. The Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce works
hand-in-hand with neighborhood organizations, local schools and the City of
Chicago to reach a common goal of enhancing the business and cultural
environment of the Roscoe Village community.” I was the EC for this one and Dave was going
to be the EM. We had 14 volunteer spots
and they filled up in no time. Seems
like everyone wanted to do this one.
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| Burger Fest! |
It was extremely hot as I arrived
at Roscoe village, having already done a 5K walk earlier in the morning. I found Dave at the volunteer check-in booth
and soon all of our volunteers started coming in. I met John, who has recently moved from San
Francisco and used to volunteer with the One Brick chapter over there. Being a coast guard, we chatted about
patrolling Lake Michigan and protecting us from those Canadian invaders! We also had some veteran volunteers like Rich
and Gary, who always give a 100% at events.
The organizers gave us our instructions and told us that that they
wanted 7 volunteers at the beer tent and 7 at the gate, collecting entry
fee. Dave and I asked if people had a
preference and almost everyone wanted to go to the beer tent. Well, having been at ‘Lincoln Park Zoo Beer Festival’, I knew how much work was involved and
hoped that these guys knew what they were getting into.
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| The Roscoe Village street |
We managed to split the crew in
two groups and I took the beer team to their location, where they would be
doing two tasks – pouring beer and collecting cash for the beer. At the gate, the team had two tasks as well –
collecting the $7 fee and the putting a sticker on people which said “I donated to Roscoe Village”. Now, when we say $7 fee, we are really talking
about a donation. No one was denied
entry if they did not want to pay. This
made the entire point of having so many volunteers moot in my opinion, since we
could have had a donation box up front and those who wanted to donate would
have done so. In fact, people may have
even put more that $7. But, what do I
know? We were there to do whatever they
wanted and if that meant asking people for a donation, so be it.
After assigning the volunteers,
as an EC my job was to ensure everyone was comfortable and enjoying
themselves. This meant taking water to
volunteers at both stations and also checking to see if anyone needed a
break. The smell of burgers was all around
us and the festival was in full swing, including a rock music stage with some
motivated musicians. I went over to the
front gate to join our crew who was collecting donations. A lot of visitors were actually donating,
perhaps unaware that they could still enter for free. The funny thing was to watch how our
volunteers were putting the tiny stickers on the visitors. Many just got them while in motion, reaching
out and putting it on their arm or wherever their fingers touched – easier for
males than females of course! I
personally did not see the point of the sticker other than being a promotional
tool. Several visitors were coming in with
their dogs and one of our volunteers was terrified of them. So anytime a dog came through, she would back
away and hide behind someone. I found it
amusing and took it upon myself to be a spotter for her. Rich had been given an important task of
preventing people from entering through the exit lane. He was standing with a ‘Exit’ sign and was directing people toward us. It truly was a thankless and lonely task, but
such is Rich’s character that he did it with a smile on his face. Of all the people I have met through
volunteering, Rich is the one true gentleman.
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| The beer tent |
I was constantly shuttling to
check on the beer folk and they seemed to be busy, but having a lot of
fun. None of them needed a break or
anything else, so I came back to the gate to help out if required. It was funny to see people actually stop and
ask for a sticker, not knowing that it had no significance. When some of our volunteers took a break,
Dave and I stood in, putting stickers on people.
The organizers came and asked if we could stay beyond 6 pm, but some of
our volunteers had to leave. I went and
asked the beer people and to my surprise, they were more than happy to stay
longer. At the gate area, Rich
encountered a drunken guy who was intent on entering through the exit lane and
when Rich stopped him, he started cursing and even threatening Rich. This led to Rich rushing off to get security,
who escorted the gentleman out. Ever a
pro, Rich went back to his station as if nothing had happened and with the
usual smile on his face. What a
guy!
At the gate our people were
handling a lot of money and one of my tasks was to occasionally transfer it to
a lock box. One of the girls even told
me that it was the most money that she had ever handled. I found it amazing that for an event that was
supposedly ‘free’, we had managed to collect a lot. When some of our volunteers had to leave, I
took over the collection duties. Many
people coming in did not want to pay and it was interesting to listen to their
excuses, including lack of cash - which always led to me pointing to a nearby
ATM! In any case, many did pay and we
had collected a lot of money when our shift concluded at 6 pm. While we had managed to find replacement
volunteers at the gate, the organizers were desperate for some of us to stay
back. To their credit, some of the beer
tent crew wanted to stay and after ensuring a transition, Rich, Dave and I
left. I took the bus back to the train
station, extremely tired after a busy but satisfying weekend. I had been EC for two events and walked a 5K
course for another. Donuts yesterday and Burgers today! Keep this up and I may even have my own ‘Food Network’ show!
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