Location: San Jose Obrero Mission
Date: Sunday, May 11, 2014; 10:00 am-12:45 pm
‘Mother’s Day 2013’ had been a “Super Sunday” with 3 projects and while I was not looking to duplicate that, I
did want to do something. Wilson
mentioned that he was working on setting up a project which was specially
tailored towards moms in a homeless shelter.
As soon as it appeared on the ‘Meetup’
calendar, I signed up within minutes. I
had been to a project at this shelter more than a year ago, but had not
returned back owing to the distance that I would have to travel. However, today it would not be a problem and
so I took the long train ride and arrived just before 10 am. After checking-in, I was directed to the
kitchen and the dining area, where another volunteer was waiting. But there was no sign of Wilson, which was
strange since it was 10 am and he is usually the first to arrive. We continued to wait and now it was 10:15,
with still no sign of Wilson or any other volunteers. I spent my time reading things posted on the
wall, most of which were regarding health protocols for food storage. Other notices were for activities during the
month of May and there were many as relates to entertainment. This is a shelter for women escaping domestic
violence and to be eligible, she needs to either be pregnant or have a
child. Thus entertainment is extremely
critical, since the last thing you want in this situation is a dour
environment. Wilson had borrowed my
giant projection screen for “movie night”
at shelters and senior homes and I wondered if it was going to make it to this
place for one such evening.
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| It was a special day |
Finally I got a call from Wilson
who said that he was on his way with the supplies, but asked me to start
chopping some Cantaloupe from the pantry.
Well, that would be a first for me and I while I got the said fruit into
the kitchen, thankfully a new volunteer who had joined us, took over the
chopping duties. Wilson arrived and he
needed help in getting stuff from his car.
I went outside and noticed that it was a different one. He said something about it being a rental and
an accident and a funny story. Well, “funny” and “accident” usually do not go together, but at least he saw it that
way. Amongst the things that we carried
inside, there was a ‘George Foreman
Grill’ and Wilson said that we would be making burgers. The other things on the menu were bacon,
scrambled eggs, pancakes, green & fruit salad and pizza. That was definitely a menu worthy of the
occasion! Wilson said that this was what
had been requested and he was just trying to fulfil their wishes.
I paired up with the volunteer
who had been chopping the cantaloupe and our task was to make the fruit salad,
which included Watermelons. Before we
commenced, Wilson mentioned that we should wash the outside since it could
carry Salmonella. He said that as you
sliced through it, the knife could drag the germs through inside, those causing
contamination. This was something that I
would never have thought about, but it made sense. I have never liked watermelon. Growing up, my parents used to always have it
at home, but I always considered it nothing but flavored water that you have to
chew. And I use the term “flavored” generously. A couple of years ago I did a week long
program with a friend and first day’s diet was just melons. I had bought a
tub of mixed melons, which unfortunately meant that there were watermelons involved. I managed to get through that day, but now I
was going to have to cut it, a task I had never done before. My fellow volunteer was trying to show me how
to cube, but I was having my own struggles.
Then she pointed out some that I had cut and which were far from the
perfect cubes that were desired. I had a
good mind to tell her that she was welcome to do it all by herself, though she was
just trying to help and was not being mean in any way. But I had a headache, which was growing by
the minute and which made me grumpy as well.
But I still had a good conversation with her, especially when she told
me about some of the best sandwich places in the city. I may dislike watermelons, but I do enjoy a
good sandwich.
By now two other volunteers had
arrived and they started on the burgers, which promptly set off the fire
alarm. Along with that they were also making
pancakes and pizza. While all of this
multitasking was going on, I was still struggling with the blasted
watermelon. Another volunteer came in with her two young daughters, which I felt was appropriate, considering that it was ‘Mother’s Day’ after all. The residents and their kids had started
assembling in the dining area and Wilson sent the two girls to work with those
kids on greeting cards. I must say that
of all of his inspired ideas, this one was fantastic and one
of the rare times that I had seen kids volunteering with other children.
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| The fruit salad |
I was finally done with the
watermelon and had moved on to Pears, Apples and Bananas – again, not my
favorite food items. I chopped the pears
and as soon as I did that, my fellow volunteer pointed out that we should
remove the skin. At this stage my
headache was getting worse and even though I wanted to argue, I knew that she
was right. If there is one thing that I
dislike more that pears and apples, it is unpeeled pears and apples. I started removing the skin of the chopped up
pieces and after finishing that painful part, moved on to something that I
actually liked – Strawberries. We
finished adding them, as well as Grapes, and were finally done with the fruit salad. Around us the others were working frantically
to get the brunch ready on time, Wilson,
in his hurry, dropped a pizza on the floor as he tried to move it from one oven
to another, but at least we were trying to get the food out to our guests.
I took the trash out through the
back and then came back to help carry the food out to the dining area, which
was now quite full. There were 4 types
of juices and I went about asking the guests which one they wanted. Of course, there were requests for all sorts
and from all corners, meaning I was kept busy till all of the food was brought
out. Besides all of the food that we had
made, many volunteers had brought desserts, and so there was a nice spread. The cards which the kids had been making were
on display and the entire place had the feel of a festive occasion; which was
exactly what we had been aiming for.
We started serving the guests based on what they wanted and for the next few minutes I was bringing them
either burgers, pizza or pancakes. All
this while my headache persisted and I told Wilson that while I should stay to
help clean-up, I had to leave. I left
through the back exit but not before watching the residents having a nice meal
and enjoying themselves. I hope we had
made the day special for them, though I felt that my contribution had been
minimal. But I had met some nice people,
not the least my fellow volunteer who had told me about the finer
points of chopping fruits. While I hope
to see her at other projects, I will be very happy to go through life without
having to deal with another watermelon!
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