Location: Lakeview Pantry West
Date: Friday, February 14, 2014; 10:30 am-12:30 pm
It was ‘Valentine’s Day’ again and while it was not going to be a
multiple project run like last year, I had taken a day off and was looking to do
at least one project. The problem was
that Chicago Cares does not have any projects on Friday and neither did One
Brick or Make-A-Wish or any other organization on ‘Volunteer
Match’. So I approached someone with whom I had started my day last year, ‘Lakeview Pantry’. I wrote to Carrie and she got me in touch with
the person who schedules volunteers and after a few tries, we managed to get me
appointed for a morning shift. Wilson
was going to be in attendance as well – of course – and so he picked me up in
the morning, and we arrived to find that there were a lot of people there;
including a group of special needs kids.
They were volunteering with their teachers and it wasn’t their first time
there, this being a regular program to help with their social skills. It was going to be great sharing this day with
them.
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| If only the flowers were this pretty |
Under the watchful eyes of their
caregivers, the kids were helping with sorting fruit, stocking shelves and
getting food out from the refrigerator. It
was crowded in there and Carrie asked if I could help organize the counter
space. There were several bags there
that needed to be consolidated and other cardboard boxes that needed to be
cleaned out. I asked if she wanted me to
break-down these boxes, but she said that it was one of the tasks that the kids
enjoyed doing and so I should leave it for them. In fact they all looked happy doing their
tasks and had huge smiles on their faces.
The teachers were doing a great job of ensuring that all of the kids got
a chance to work and while doing so, were following instructions. Next, Carrie asked me to throw out some roses
that had been donated, but now looked like they were drying out. I found a bunch that still looked good and
gave it to Carrie’s assistant Caitlin.
Hey, after all it was a day to do these kinds of things!
I went over to help out a kid who
was sorting Oranges and he was very good at picking out the bad ones and
throwing them away. After that we did
the same for limes and lemons, consolidating crates to ensure that all of them were
full and efficiently packed. One kid
kept coming up to me and speaking in Spanish and as much as I would have loved
to have had a conversation with him, I do not understand a single word of the
language and so was just smiling. The
kids were waiting for the ‘GCFD’
truck to arrive so that they could help with the sorting, but it was running
late and they had to leave at 11 am. As
they left, Wilson was encouraging everyone to pick up a banana from the crate
by the door. One kid took a couple of
bananas, an orange and some potatoes, and his teacher gave him a talking to
regarding not taking something that didn't belong to, or was offered to him. To his credit he listened closely, apologized
and then returned everything back.
Everyone left and then it was
just Carrie, Wilson and me waiting for the truck to arrive; which it did in due
course. There was approximately 3000 lbs
of food that needed to be transferred and so we got to work. Typically it’s just the driver who helps
Carrie and it isn't even his job to do so.
I told Wilson that he needed to get on Meetup and recruit people to help
her out. I started by transferring a lot
of eggs, which was followed by huge boxes of milk, which were extremely
heavy. I stored them in the refrigerator
and then it was frozen meat that went into the freezer. Finally there were canned goods – a staple of
this place. It was definitely faster
with the 4 of us and I could only imagine how difficult it must be for Carrie
without anyone else. The driver left and
then Wilson and I started storing the canned goods in the shelves behind the
counters. This was taking time and
allowed us to chat with Carrie, who is a delightful company to converse with on
any topic. Today it was various accents
and she mentioned how everyone’s accents are usually set by the time they turn
11 years old. The front was looking
quite stocked and so we moved to the pantry in the back to shelve the remaining
cans. At my last visit here it had been
overflowing and today it looked very bare.
I asked Carrie about it and she said that it was because the holidays
were over and so the food drives that people usually have during then no longer existed. It’s funny that people think that
holidays are the only time to do such activities, since hunger knows no season
or no special occasion. I commend
people who help out during that time of the year, but it’s also important to
remember that showing compassion is a year-long duty.
We finished storing and came
outside to see if Carrie had any other task for which she required our
help. She said that she was all set and
I asked if there were any flyers that she had, for distribution to people who
needed help. She said that someone had in fact printed some cards with a map to
this place so that people could come and get food. I left with Wilson after another special
day. This truly is a great program with
a great leader in Carrie. Plus, working
with those kids had been amazing. It had
been another successful ‘Valentine’s Day’
for sure.
Epilogue
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| The 'Candygram' bags |
I was asked by someone if volunteering
is my idea of how ‘Valentine’s Day’
should be celebrated, considering that it was my 2nd year in a row doing
this. Now, my views on this day have been
documented and I for one have always strongly believed in its
significance. I also believe that the
most important thing for this day is to show someone that you care. That someone could be one person, or many, or
even a community. It could be a loved
one or strangers. It’s the act that
matters. I have mentioned about my
Company’s ‘Culture Crew’ in another
post. One of the initiatives that we did for 'Valentine's Day' was ‘Candygrams’, where people
could buy a candy for a colleague whom they appreciated and we would put a
sticker with a nice message and deliver the candy to their desk. We were even going to donate the proceeds to 'American Heart Association' - get it, heart for love! There was an overwhelming response to this
and our orders came thick and fast. I
had requested constant update on this though, because like one of the other
appreciation initiatives, I wanted us to ensure that every employee got at
least one candy…every single one of them.
I will say it again, if you are going to do an initiative like this on a
company-wide scale, it has to be all
inclusive. Else in my eyes it is a
failure. Fortunately there was another
person who thought the same way and while I sent candy to only those who had been
left out, at the last minute he sent one to every single person in the
office. Hat’s off to you Sir. The night before we stayed back and made
individual bags of candies, and then went to every one’s desk and left their bag
for them to find as soon as they came in on ‘Valentine’s
Day’ morning. As I crisscrossed the
office doing this, I felt the same satisfaction, pride and happiness as I would at the pantry.
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