Youth In Services

Location: Senior Breakfast Club At Lidia Pucinska Senior Apartments

Date: Saturday, August 17, 2013; 9:00 am-12:00 pm

I had enjoyed my previous experience with Chicago Cares’ ‘Youth In Services’ program and so when an opportunity presented itself for shadowing, I was all over it.  I was running late and so had to hastily find a cab, arriving just in the nick of time.  Well, I got to the building alright, but there was some repaving that was going on, meaning that I had to find an alternate entryway from last time. By the time I reached the dining area, the kids had already arrived.  I apologized to Stacey, the Volunteer Leader that I would be shadowing, and was introduced to the 5 youth over there.  I started chatting with them and after some time realized that one of the youth was actually their chaperon who was in college.  Well, so much for making a good start!

We would be serving breakfast this morning and there was a lot of cooking to be done.  However, everyone looked enthusiastic, so we washed up and Stacey allocated us our duties.  One of the guys Marco, was on eggs; a girl Alisha was on bacon, and the chaperon Cara would be doing the biscuits as well as scooping jam and butter into individual bowls for the tables.  Two other girls, Kate and Debbie were nominated to decorate the room with streamers – it was in fact important to get Debbie out of the kitchen since she is allergic to eggs.  Stacey was going to be making coffee and pouring juice, while I was assigned the unenviable task of chopping bananas.  I was not looking forward to this owing to the slimy texture of the thing, but Stacey told me to leave the skin on and chop into 4 pieces.  This would help accomplish two things – ease of cutting and also the skin would prevent browning.  Well, looks like I had learned something new, which may be useful…if only I liked bananas. 

Kate and Debbie had done a decent job of decorating with the limited supplies that we had and were now serving coffee and juice to the seniors who had started coming in.  The first batch of biscuits was slightly burnt, though Cara expertly cut the base off and they were as good as new.  Stacey was impressed and said that Cara could well be a surgeon with those skills.  I said either that or a chef, though she would make a lot more money through one of the routes!  If she was good, Marco was just plain brilliant.  He was exhibiting multi-tasking skills that would have made Wilson proud, cooking scrambled eggs by one hand while whisking the next batch with another.  With such commitment we were soon done and were ready to serve.  Cara and I started plating, with me putting a scoop of eggs and two pieces of bacon on the plate while she put a biscuit and two pieces of banana.  The rest of the group was serving and our efficiency meant that very soon all the seniors had their breakfast. 

Table decorations

The youth we had today were a part of ‘BOC (Bread Of Christ) Youth Group’; a club based volunteer organization, formed by youth church members to serve the Chicago community.  So far they were doing an exemplary job, though I was surprised that there were only 4 of them.  But that was explained soon enough when another group of 5 kids arrived and they were clearly late.  I looked at one kid Ron, who seemed to be their leader, and said that they were just in time for cleaning duties.  Considering that the rest had done a lot of hard work in preparing for the breakfast, it was the least Ron and his crew could do to make up for being late.  Even though he did a mock protest, Ron was on board and prepared to do whatever we assigned.  The breakfast was at an end and it was time for Bingo.  I asked the new kids to arrange the prizes and also hand out the cards as well as the beans, which were going to be used in place of the counters.  While this was happening, one of the girls cleaned the dirty dishes and in no time our kitchen duties were done.  All the kids spread out throughout the room and we were ready to play.

One of the youth was removing the Bingo ball while another was reading.  Then some of the others would echo that number, making sure everyone in the room heard clearly.  They were doing this with a lot of enthusiasm, and nowhere was it more evident than when someone got a Bingo.  This led to a ritual where Cara would lead the kids into a rousing rendition of the ‘Bingo Song’ – “B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name”.  The song concluded with either Debbie or Marco doing a swirl on the piano.  I have been to several Bingo game’s but nowhere...nowhere, have I ever seen such participation by the volunteers and these kids were showing the rest of us how it to be done.  We were all, including the residents, completely enthralled and were actually looking forward to the next Bingo call so that the kids could do the song all over again.  It was the best Bingo experience that I have had so far. 

 

One of the Bingo prizes

I chatted with Stacey and learned that she has been a volunteer for 10 years, with 7 in ‘Youth In Services’ program.  Talk about experience!  I also learned that she knew my ‘Wish Mentor’ from Make-A-Wish, and we talked about that for a bit.  The kids were doing well, including Ron who was handing out the prizes.  I went over to him and as the prizes started dwindling, we started guessing what the next winner would choose.  Soon all the prizes were distributed, and for each of them the group had sung their song and played the piano.  The residents had enjoyed themselves and as they left one of the ladies said, “God bless you all”. The kids had definitely earned it.

The last activity was reflection and Stacey and I gathered them all around the table.  We asked them what they had enjoyed about today and all said that it was the interaction; and they were looking forward to coming back again.  I asked for feedback on what could be done to improve this, and Cara said that all of them were musically inclined and would love to bring instruments to play the next time.  They are all members of their church’s music group and Ron is in fact the lead musician – no wonder everyone seemed to follow him.  Seeing their skill with the piano as well as the singing, I had no doubt that they would do a great job entertaining the residents. Stacey said that she would make the recommendation to Chicago Cares and I hope it happens.  I had been won over by Marco’s smile, Kate’s enthusiasm, Alisha’s spunk and even Ron’s sheepish mischievousness.  These projects are designed so that people like Stacey and I can mentor the next generation of volunteers and leaders.  But today had been about them teaching us a few valuable lessons - on how a simple Bingo game can be elevated to a special occasion for the seniors.

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