Meals On Wheels Celebrity Chef - VIP Dinner

Location: Zhou B Art Center

Date: Saturday, October 26, 2013; 5:45-9:30 pm

This was an event so exclusive, that it wasn’t even advertised on the general One Brick calendar. There were only 10 open spots, and the EM Kinga had sent an email to other One Brick EM’s and EC’s to ask if they wanted to participate.  I responded in the affirmative and when Wilson dropped out, I was bumped up to be the EC, though Kinga said that I shouldn't celebrate too much since she was going to make me work hard!  This was a high-end celebrity chef’s gala to benefit ‘Meals On Wheels Chicago’ program.  According to the website, “Meals on Wheels Chicago provides funding to programs that support home-bound senior citizens and people with disabilities, allowing them to continue to live independently in their own homes, with dignity and self-respect.”  Evening’s such as these were to raise funding to provide desperately needed services that would otherwise not be covered by government funds.  All in all, it was a great cause, but I did not know why it was such an exclusive event.  By the end of the evening, it was clear.

The venue

There were two requirements for volunteering at this event – you had to be dressed well, and have a smartphone with scanning capability. One of these was easier for me than the other.  Since I had been out throughout the morning at the ACS event, I had very little time to charge my phone and had in fact put a reminder for myself to do so. I did charge it when I got back home, put on my best suit, downloaded an ‘Eventbrite Event’ App and was good to go.  I took a cab down to the venue, which was in Bridgeport, and arrived to find a giant tent that had been put up behind the main building.  That’s the entrance we had been told to use and I went there to find that Rich had already arrived.  Now, while he is not an EM or an EC, very few people have put in more effort into One Brick than Rich and so he was an ideal choice to be invited to volunteer at this event.  We were wondering where others were, when Dave came to get us and we went into the building to find that the rest of our team had already assembled and were all dressed to impress. 

Kinga said that our first task was to check-in the VIP guests who would be arriving for a sit-down dinner before the main event.  We were to scan their tickets using our phone app, check against the list and assign them their bid and table number.  If the guests came as a couple, we were to ask if they wanted a single or multiple bid numbers and if anyone said that they were a guest of someone, we were to take down their phone number.  If we were unable to find anyone’s name on the list, we were to go find Kinga.  If a board member was to come, we were to give them a name tag and finally if a particular family were to check-in, we were to get Kinga again, who would introduce them to someone important.  Get it?  Good.

All dressed up

The art gallery had lot of wide open spaces and reminded me a bit of the ‘Andy Warhol’ museum that I used to frequent in Pittsburgh.  Lot of people had started lining up outside and we appointed Rich to be the gatekeeper.  With his easy going personality, Rich is a perfect person to diffuse a situation where people may get frustrated.  I was paired with Kristen and there were 3 other pairs who would be doing the check-in.  Rich was to spot an open table and then direct the next set of guests over to them.  For the initial period Kristen said that she would scan on the phone while I would check-off the list.  The gates opened and people started filtering in.  I was asking them if they wanted one or more bid numbers and almost every couple took just one.  To keep the mood light I would jokingly encourage them to take two so as to bid against each other. Everyone seemed relaxed and things were progressing smoothly.  We did encounter some people who were not on the list, but as per our instructions, we got Kinga and she took care of the issue with the organizers.  Two ladies came in and we realized that their ticket was for the after-party and told them so.  They mentioned that they had received an email inviting them for the dinner session and now it was a bit tricky.  The organizer took their word for this and said that he would accommodate them in the dining room. 

After some time Kristen’s phone was running out of juice, so we kept hers for charging and switched to mine.  The dinner guests were all checked in and we had some down time.  I saw a coffee station that had been elaborately arranged near the exit and it was for the guests as they prepared to leave.  The smell of the beans that had been arranged made me wish for a coffee more than anything else at that moment.  Soon the coffee people came in and with the preparation they were putting in, the organizers were going all out with the experience for the guests.  The after-party folks were going to be let in at 8:30 pm, though many had lined up way in advance and were waiting patiently while Rich chatted with them.  With our phones out, all of us lined up across from each other, forming a sort of passageway for the guests.  People were let in and Kinga started pointing them towards the next available person to scan their ticket.  It moved at a very rapid pace and I would usually send people on their way by wishing them “Have fun” or something equally mundane.  Everything went as per plan and even with the huge volume of people coming in, time went by fast and at 9:30 our shift was over. Now it was time for us to join the party and see what the big deal was all about.

Some of the treats on display

Gary, who is a gourmand, was attending this event instead of volunteering and I decided to stick with him.  There were over 40 stations serving gourmet food and with Gary’s guidance. I was able to hit the best ones first, though my intention was to taste everything.  The stations were everywhere, not just in the main building, but also in the giant tent that we had been in earlier.  As a live band played, I sampled as many dishes as I could, including a wide array of spectacular desserts. Seeing this made me wonder why anyone would come for the early dinner when there was so much to try here. It truly was one of the most special culinary experiences of my life and I wish there were some special friends with whom to share it with.  But there were a few of us here and we hung out for a while, even tasting a very interesting ‘Fire & Ice’ spicy vodka drink which cleared my sinuses for sure.  I left at 11:30 after a terrific evening and I told Kinga that now I knew what the big deal was.  She said that she’s been coming for past 6 years and it always gets better.  I am certain to return again and if not with One Brick, definitely as an attendee.  What a great end to a very special day.