Craft Beer & Wine Tasting To Support Hunger Relief

Location: Ravenswood Event Center

Date: Friday, October 25, 2013; 6:15-11:10 pm

When we were at Ravenswood pantry on Tuesday we had learned about this fund raiser and when Anna the coordinator, said that she could use some help, Wilson immediately set it up via Meetup. It started off with tremendous interest from folks but as the day progressed, many started dropping off.  Furthermore, Wilson said that he had to help out with ‘Red Cross’ and so asked me to lead the Meetup volunteers.  Well, by the time of the event, besides me there were only two others left that had signed through the Meetup.  I was most definitely hoping that they had recruited other volunteers as backup. 

The fire

As I took a train ride to Ravenswood Event Center, we passed a big fire right next to the tracks.  I wondered if this was what was keeping Wilson away, but learned that he was in fact on another site.  I got to the venue but had some difficulty in getting inside, having to wait for someone to show up and open the door.  I met with Anna and told her that many of our volunteers had cancelled and now it was just three of us.  She said it would be fine since there were a bunch of other folks and she had even recruited her roommates.  My two volunteers arrived as did the others, and she was able to start the orientation.  There were two main areas where help was required, one was at the registration and then at the silent auction tables, especially during the auction closing time.  We looked around the main room where the auction would be held and there were several tables with items on them.  Anna split everyone in pairs and told us that when time came to close the auctions, we were to make sure the paperwork was tucked away so that we could then identify the winners and prepare for the check-out.  But that was still some time away since the guests had not started arriving yet.

I went over to the registration tables and over there were two tasks.  First was to check if people had paid, and if not then charging their credit card through iPad swipe; and second was to assign them bid numbers through the software system.  Some of the volunteers had already been trained in credit card swiping and they trained the others who would be in charge of assigning bid numbers.  My task with a couple of other volunteers was to greet the people and direct them towards the right line.  Soon the guests started arriving and  I would check their names against a list and since most had pre-paid, sent them over to collect their bid number.  The crowd was growing fast and it seems like ‘Ravenswood Community Services (RCS)’ had done a terrific job in recruiting.  Plus, the Director of RCS was personally on hand to greet people and she knew everyone who came by name.  No wonder people had come out to support RCS. Soon the rush slowed down and I was able to chat with some of my fellow volunteers.  The servers were bringing out some of the hors d’oeuvres for us to sample and I thought that it was nice of the organizers to let us have the same food as the guests.

Our silent auction table

Around 8:30 pm I went inside and found my partner who was going to help me to close-out our table.  We were in position but seeing the popularity of the silent auction, the organizers decided to extent the bid period to 9 pm.  There was nothing wrong with that since it would enable more money being raised.  What was wrong, was the two volunteers from Meetup drinking while on duty.  While this was not a One Brick event and so there wasn’t a strict “no drinking” policy, I had talked to them beforehand and mentioned that we should be adhering to a similar code.  But obviously they had chosen to ignore that in favor of the open bar.  Since Anna didn't seem to have a problem with that either, there was nothing I could do to enforce the rule and I decided to focus on the auction instead.

The ‘Master Of Ceremonies’ had taken to the mike and was now urging people to donate.  He mentioned how $1000 would feed 300 people for a year whereas $500 would feed a family of 4 for a year and $200 would feed one entire group on a Tuesday evening.  It was an eye-opening statistic and I was glad to see many people step up and donate.  The silent auction closed soon and after collecting the paperwork, I went back to the registration to await further instructions.  Anna said that I should wait by the “Express Checkout” station, should people want to leave earlier.  Since the checkout wasn’t open yet, I was to take down their contact information so that their winning items could be delivered to them in due course.  I did that for a couple of people, but since the party was in full swing, not many were leaving.

I stood there for a long time with clipboard in hand while other volunteers - including the Meetup guys – enjoyed themselves inside.  I mentioned that to Anna and while she is an extremely sweet girl, I noticed that she lacks the experience and confidence to lead people; especially someone like the guys who had come through Meetup.  She asked if I could request them to come help and when I got them, they showed up with drinks in hand.  I couldn't say much since other volunteers were doing it as well and maybe it was me who had this all wrong.  Maybe I was the misfit.  However, if the volunteer leader did not want to take ownership and discipline people, then I had no business being there anymore.  Anna is really a kind soul and from what I’ve observed, a truly wonderful person.  But she needs to work on her confidence.  I hung around for some time and then asked Anna if she needed me.  She said no and so I left with a bad taste in my mouth, which was a shame since this was a good cause and there were a lot of decent people in there.  In any case, I had a big day coming up.