Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church
Date: Wednesday, October 02, 2013; 5:45-9:00 pm
One Brick was having its
Quarterly Leadership meeting this evening, but missing this project was never
an option for me. I asked Thomas from
Chicago Cares if he wanted me to lead, just like I had the previous month. He said that he already had a back-up leader
for this evening – Melissa, whom I had met at other projects. I walked over after work and arrived to find
that Melissa was already there and chopping some fruit for the salad. There was another non-Chicago Cares volunteer
with her and while both of them were making the salad, it was their first time
volunteering at this site. Having been
here many times, I knew about the 21-concept and told them that the salad had
to be equally distributed in the 21 bowls.
Melissa said it was nice to have an “experienced
person” there to guide them. Well, I
guess that’s what I had become.
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| Back again |
I saw that Marianne was there,
back from her Italian vacation and I asked her about it. She said that she wished
that she was Italian and stayed there. Well, her and me both. In the meanwhile other volunteers had started
arriving, including Galen, who I am starting to see very often at Chicago Cares
projects. Marianne immediately put all
of us to work by asking to help in the main dining room, where dinner bowls
needed to be placed at each table setting.
After finishing with that I came back to see that Melissa had finished
chopping all the fruit. I helped her
distribute it evenly and then load it on the food cart and push it inside the
big refrigerator. Another group was doing
the vegetable salad and they also needed help figuring out the protocol. We divided that salad evenly and put the cart
in the fridge as well. Looks like the “experienced guy” was taking charge of
the operations!
We were done with the kitchen
work and now it was just waiting for the service to commence. As is customary, Marianne gathered us around
and gave the usual speech on how we were not to give any money to the guests etc. Then she asked for a volunteer to take down
names for the nurse and Meredith – who had performed Marianne’s duties last
month - raised her hand. The task
essentially is to write down names of the guests who want to see the Nurse and
then when their turn arrives, to take them to the right place. Having a nurse visit every time there’s
dinner is an excellent service for the guests, some of whom do not have easy
access to medical facilities. Before
concluding her part, Marianne assigned duties for the evening and pointing at
me said that I always have a smile on my face and if anyone ever needed advice
on contact lenses, they should ask me! Then
Keith came in and gave his speech on the history of the ministry, which is now
over 10 years old. He usually likes to
repeat the same questions each time and so asked what the two words were with
which to treat the guests. I said “respect” and he added “dignity”. Then he reiterated the policy Breaking Bread
Ministries has of “loving-caring-giving-sharing”. Marianne then asked Keith to wear his Chef’s
Hat, a present that she had brought for him from Italy. It looked two sizes too big and so was fun to
see Keith struggle with that. Finally he
stuffed it with some plastic bags and put it on, prompting Marianne to insist
that he take a picture.
We had finished early and there was
still some time to go before service. So
I went out and started refilling the water jars on the table. Almost all of them also needed ice and the
ice machine inside the kitchen is blocked behind a door, making it a ridiculous
arrangement since every time you have to close the door, open the ice machine
to take out the ice, close the ice machine lid and the open the door again. As I was refilling the water, I noticed that
the tables were missing salt and pepper shakers and I pointed it out to
Marianne. She said that I had a “good eye” and asked if I could go
around putting the shakers on the 21 tables. As I
did that, one little girl – who was a guest – decided that she wanted to be my
guide, and started walking with me pointing out tables which needed the salt
and pepper shakers. Together we made
good progress, though I ran out of pepper shakers. Keith gave me some empty ones from the closet
and after refilling with pepper from a jar, I was all set and it was time for
dinner.
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| Tonight's menu |
Tonight’s menu was ‘roast chicken and gravy’ and ‘rice and greens’. Keith said that this was the 6th
week in a row that he was serving chicken, though it had been all different
recipes. He said that it was outstanding
and I asked what was in it; and he said cheese sauce and chicken soup. I helped serve plates and kept refilling
water, while struggling with the ice machine. As I did the rounds, one gentleman asked me if he could see the nurse and I said
that I would pass along the information to the person taking down names. I went over to Meredith and she asked me his name, which of course I did not have.
So I ended up referring to him as “Guy
in blue checkered shirt” and she actually made a note of that!
The band was in top form tonight
and it really adds to the character of this place. I chatted with Melissa – or Missy as she
likes to be called – and she had to go for another engagement and thus left me
in charge. People had started lining up
for seconds and Keith asked me to keep track of the seconds served. As I stood with paper and pen and started
marking off, the line was getting longer and very soon we ran out of
containers. But we had plenty of
Aluminum foil and we used that to pack the meals. Soon the guests left and I moved over to help
clear the main dining area by stacking the chairs. Marianne usually asks the male volunteers to
do this activity and had mentioned about one volunteer who was a short person,
but never let any of the women lift the chairs.
He had been sick recently and hence not come for some of the sessions,
but definitely a person after my own beliefs.
Now, before all the women start reading me the riot act about gender
equality, all I mean is there are some gestures gentlemen should always do. Not
letting women lift heavy objects, if you can do so, is one of them, similar to
opening car and other doors, as well as letting them exit and enter an elevator
first.
After the chairs were stacked it
was time to put away the tables and they folded in half. This is one activity that I have never been
able to master and I had to ask Marianne to help me. She said that I wasn’t the only one and that it’s always amusing to see people try this. Soon the room was clear and we had been as
efficient as usual. It had been another
satisfying evening, one where I had seen Marianne comfort some of the guests as
they cried over her shoulder. I know
life is tough for them, but how lucky are they...to have a shoulder to cry
on. No amount of money in world can buy
anyone that and there have been times when I would have given anything to be in that
guest shoes. The project truly feels
like a homecoming each week for many of these guests and slowly but surely, it
is also becoming one for me.
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