Location: Hard Rock Café & Wilson Park
Date: Monday, October 13, 2014; 4:00-8:30 am
“Adversity builds character.” So the saying goes. Today, that would be tested as pertains to
myself and at the end of it all; it wasn’t the most accurate statement.
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| At 'Hard Rock Cafe' |
Wilson had posted this one on ‘Meetup’ on behalf of ‘Fight2Feed’ organization and asked if I
wanted to participate, since it was ‘Columbus
Day’ and many organizations have the day off. Well, I didn’t, though it would be over
before the work day began and so I could make it to the office after that. As far as the early start was concerned, I
had some experience with that after the project last week. For this one, we were asked to assemble at ‘Hard Rock Café’ in downtown and make ‘Breakfast Burritos’. We would then get
on a bus and go up north to distribute it to homeless population living in the
parks. I took a cab to the ‘Hard Rock Café’ and arrived just before
4 am. I went inside to see that many
people had already assembled including Wilson and some ‘One Brick’ regulars like Rich and Laura. Wilson had certainly succeeded in the recruitment
effort.
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| The staff was assembling the burritos |
Initially, we had been told that
our job would be to cook and assemble the burritos, but to their huge credit, the staff of the restaurant had come in early to do that task. This meant that the rest of us were going to be putting together the bags that would be handed out. The bags would contain a bottle of water, a bottle of Orange juice, a fruit – either apple or orange – napkin, hand wipes and then the burrito would be put inside later. We formed an assembly line with me on the fruit, meaning that I had a choice on which of the fruits went inside the bag. The line was moving rapidly, though we were running out of boxes in which these bags were supposed to go. Two very enthusiastic guys came in asking how they could help and we dispatched them to search for boxes, a task which they took on with great vigor. The boxes would then be loaded into ‘Red Cross’ trucks which would be
accompanying us to the parks. They wanted someone to help load
the trucks and so I went outside and saw that there were a couple being
loaded. I helped out there for a bit and
then came back inside to finish up the bagging.
Unfortunately, this time I was stuck at the end with the bags
and there is nothing more frustrating that trying to separate new plastic
bags. After struggling through a few, we
were told that we had enough and it was now time to be deployed. We were to get on a bus that would first
take us to ‘Montrose Park’, where
half of us would get off and the rest would then be taken to ‘Wilson Park’. Then around 8 am, they would pick us up and
bring us back to the restaurant. We were
told to pair up or stay in three’s so as not to wander off by ourselves. So far it was all sounding good.
We got on the bus and Laura, Rich
and I decided to stick together. We
dropped off some people at the first location and they then took us to the
second spot where the rest of us got out.
It was next to an overpass and we could see some people sleeping under
the bridge. We had flyers announcing
what was happening and so some folks went over to them to hand those out. We realized that we were actually in a wrong
location than what was previously decided but rather than leave immediately, we
decided to wait for the ‘Red Cross’
truck to get there so that we could feed the people that we had already
spotted. It would have been a terrible
shame to leave without doing so. As soon
as the truck arrived, we put a burrito in each of the plastic bags that we had
made earlier, and handed it out to the people over here. We then got back on the bus and went to the
next location, which was just a street away.
I was carrying my laptop computer bag with me and it was a bit
cumbersome. So I asked the bus driver if
he was staying here and he said yes, after which I left my bag on the bus. This turned out to be a mistake.
We put up a table on the sidewalk
and placed some coffee on it. Then the
plan was for the volunteers to pair up, grab 5 bags each and walk around to find people
to give these bags to. It seemed a bit
disorganized – not to mention unsafe - way of doing things, but this would
allow us to cover more ground. One girl
said that a male should accompany a woman so that it is safer. Rich – the most gentlemanly person I have ever met
in my life – said that he would go with her, at which point she actually
referred to him as “her male”. Rich promptly responded by saying that he had
been waiting his whole life to hear that.
It left Laura and me, and so armed with 5 bags each, we walked into the
park to locate some people who could use these.
We looked under the bridges and …well, in some dark places but couldn't
spot anyone. In hindsight that was
probably a dumb thing to have done, especially since dawn was just about
breaking. We saw plenty of people
walking or biking, but none that required our help. I said to Laura that we should probably give
a couple of bags to the bikers since they could cover more ground. There were dogs that were being walked and
one came over, perhaps sniffing the burrito in the bag!
Eventually we went back to the
meeting place with all of our bags still with us. We waited by the table and chatted with the ‘Red Cross’ truck driver, who was also a
volunteer. He said that since the
burritos were classified as “hot food”,
they needed to be handed out by 10 am, else they would have to be thrown away,
which, I absolutely detest. One of the volunteers
told us about an organization that she started with 2 other friends and now 5
years later they have grown to over 500 members. They deliver Thanksgiving Turkeys to needy
families and mentioned that she needed volunteers to help with basket delivery
the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving. It was a fantastic cause and I said that I could
help out, but they required volunteers with cars.
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| The bus which caused all my grief |
While we were chatting not many
people came over to collect the food bags.
So now the plan was to take all of the remaining food to a shelter for
distribution. This was a much better
alternative than throwing it away. The
rest of our crew who had ventured out returned and one of the ‘Fight2Feed’ staff members said that a
few of us should get on the bus and go to an adjoining park, since ‘Channel 7’ was doing a story on us over
there. Laura and I were told to wait by
the table and when I said that my bag was on the bus, we were told that I
shouldn’t worry since the bus would be back soon to pick us up. So we waited along with the ‘Red Cross’ volunteers. A group of people belonging to some church
came and said that they do a similar thing through their church and so offered
to take some food to hand out. Wilson
had come by now and he offered to get them volunteers if they needed, of course.
The ‘Red Cross’ truck soon left to deliver leftovers to the shelter and
now it was just Wilson, Laura and me left, waiting for the bus. It was well past 8 am and while Wilson
offered to drop us, my bag was on the bus.
But it was really getting late and so we got in his car and after a few
phone calls learned that the bus was at the shelter. They said that they would be at ‘Hard Rock Café’ in 30 minutes, meaning
I was going to be late for work. But
hold on, what about picking us up. Had
they just forgotten? I was fuming in the
backseat as we dropped Laura off and we went to the restaurant. Once there I let everyone assembled know what
an inexcusable thing this was. It wasn’t
that I was going to be late for work, but they had left us behind! Wilson mentioned that this was the first time
that they were doing this and so glitches should be overlooked. He agreed that besides coordination with
volunteers, they also needed a better way to distribute, than have people
walking about in the dark looking for people.
Furthermore, location wise, parks downtown may have been a better
option.
As he was saying this, I was
still on my rant and did not stop even when the bus arrived and I picked up my
bag and later as Wilson dropped me off. He said
that he would talk to them and I finally calmed down once I reached my
office. And then I realized what a fool
I had made of myself with my behavior in front on Laura and Wilson and
definitely in front of the staff.
Adversity does not build character,
it reveals it. And it had revealed
mine to be a very rotten one when faced with an inconvenience. I had forgotten the main reason why we were
out here. It had become about me and in
doing so I had lashed out an organization who was trying to make a
difference. Sure, they need to work on
their logistics and planning, but their heart is in the right place. Plus, what about me? I can point to all of the accolades I have received
for my volunteer work but with an attitude like the one I had displayed today,
all of it counts for nothing. I often
cringe when people call me a nice person because I have made my share of
mistakes and let down people who mattered…who trusted me. This entire blog…this experience started
because of one such incidence and later another thing drove someone else
away. Then there is today. It is clear that I have a lot of work left to
do on myself. And unless I overcome that, any
further adversity will continue to reveal my true character, and it isn’t
pretty.
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