Summer Spectacular At The Wells Street Café

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015; 5:30-8:00 pm

Marianne had asked for help on this special occasion where, our usual Dining Hall would be converted to a “High-end” Restaurant for one evening.  She had also asked us to wear Black and White, since we were going to be the “wait staff” for tonight.  In fact, at work when someone asked about my attire, I said that I was going to be waiting tables tonight.  Later on they asked if I was getting late for my “other job”.  Aah well, I probably brought that upon myself.  I arrived to see a lot of activity underway, with the usual hustle and bustle.  There were plenty of volunteers present, though most of them were regulars.  Marianne greeted me and before I could even wash up, she asked all of the wait staff to assemble outside.  We were soon joined by a bunch of college students who were a “mission group” visiting Chicago.  Marianne took a group picture and said that the students would be our assistants.  There were 9 of us on the wait staff and with 18 tables, it I got Tables 17 and 18.  My assistant for these tables would be a kid named Austin. 

Will it be 'Blue' or 'Pink'?

There were 2 entrees – “Roast Chicken” and “Meatloaf” and the wait staff’s main job was to go to the guests on our assigned tables and ask for their preference.  Then, we were to put next to their plates either a blue “post-it note” for chicken or a pink one for meatloaf.  Based on the colors, I joked that maybe we were indicating that men liked chicken and women meatloaf!  After we had taken the orders on our notepads, we were to come back to the kitchen. Then, our assistants would carry the tray with the plates and we would place the plate on the table.  Plus, the assistants would be required to serve water and juice.  It certainly looked like I would have very little to do, or at least not as much as the regular shift over here.

I chatted with Marianne as the “kitchen volunteers” chopped fruits for salad.  Marianne was showing someone how to cut melon and I said if I did it the professional way, I would probably chop off all my fingers!  I was glad to see that today we were serving the vegetable salad in individual bowls, meaning minimum wastage.  I asked Austin to keep an eye on our table and ensure that the water was constantly refilled.  But we had only 2 guests on Table 18 and one on 17.  The students were keeping everyone company by spreading out and chatting with the guests.  I went and told the guests that I would be their wait person and listed the specials.  All of them chose chicken, following which I then put the blue notes by their plates.

Tonight’s musical guest was different than usual and was playing an acoustic guitar.  I was admiring his music, when Marianne called everyone inside for the usual introductions and prayer.  When we went out again, I saw that 2 additional guests had come to Table 17.  I took their order and this time, we had one chicken and finally, one meatloaf.  With all orders taken Marianne called us table-by-table and when our turn came, Austin and I went to our guests and served them.  After the main course we served a plate of desserts, which were cakes and pies.  Once the first round was done, Marianne announced seconds and a large line formed.  Very soon all the food had been served and everyone started leaving, while we cleaned up.

I chatted with the students, who were from South Dakota, and I asked them what was there to do and see.  It looks like besides Mt Rushmore, there isn’t much going on there, though South Dakota would be a stop on my tour.  They said that they all go to a different cuisine every night of their stay in Chicago, and it wasn’t being revealed where they would be going tonight – having been to Greek and Jamaican the last couple of nights.  They had been fantastic, as were the regular volunteers – all of who have their assigned Wednesdays – 1^st, 2^nd etc.  This had been a great idea, to provide our guests an experience that they typically do not have every week.  Marianne said that she appreciated me as usual and I left content that we had done a great job.

American Cancer Society Making Strides ELT Meeting

Location: American Cancer Society Office

Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2015; 6:00-7:00 pm

I arrived at the office building and the security guard said that I was not in their system.  Maybe 'ACS' had enough of my inactivity and had fired me from the group.  I wrote an email to Allyson and Katherine and even called their desk phones.  I had been joined by another volunteer and she was having similar issue.  Finally, Katherine came down and that was good since none of us would have been permitted upstairs otherwise.  It seems that the guards now required people to provide them a list of visitors, which seemed logical.  We went upstairs after the usual struggle with the entry scanners and saw that besides the 2 of us, it was just Allyson and Katherine this evening.  Allyson said that we would have the meeting even if one person had showed up.  Fortunately for us, another one joined us, but that was it.

The objective was to recruit teams

I asked about the bus accident that had caused a death on the intersection outside the offices just 2 weeks ago, and they mentioned how one of their colleagues had seen it and were very disturbed.  It was understandably so.  We started by looking at the numbers and one of the main points of emphasis was kickoff attendees.  I asked about our main objective for kickoff, since if it was recruitment, then I had already started that.  Allyson pointed out that it was not just recruitment but promotion as well.  We discussed the current number of teams that had already registered as well as the participant’s, and we had almost 3 times the number of participant’s as teams.  Allyson said that we were well ahead of target as well as where we were at this stage last year.

Next, Allyson asked for our commitment to recruit teams and while it was initially 5 teams, she asked if we should reduce it to 3.  I said that we may not be able to evaluate that accurately, since I may invite people but you can’t control their behavior.  Allyson said that it was a goal, just like exercising and I said that while exercising was in our control, human behavior was not.  My point had been to show that it is a flawed premise to make a commitment for something that we couldn’t track, but it was clear that we were not going to agree on this.  The other ladies were against me as well, meaning that I must be wrong and should just let it go.

Allyson said that for her birthday she was asking people to sign up and raise money in lieu of gifts.  That’s what I had asked for from some of my friends!  Next, we discussed the sponsors and Allyson asked us to either find some or provide them with leads.  In fact, an idea from our previous meeting had led to a sponsorship.  They asked us to refer any other sponsors that we see at other events.  They could then make cold calls.  They also needed “Survivor” speakers and I said that maybe we should ask at our walk if “Survivors” visiting the tent would be interested being spokespersons the next time.  For donations one of our team members mentioned that her friend makes desserts and could donate some for our kickoffs, which was a great idea.  As far the kickoffs were concerned, we still required a ‘DJ’, though as Allyson pointed out, they didn’t have to be a professional  Also, they wanted us to see if any of the restaurants near downtown would do something like match or discounts after the kickoff.  I said that shouldn’t we ask our hosts ‘Hard Rock Café’ first, since they may get upset that we were driving their prospective customers to other places!

There was an ‘ACS CAN’ fundraiser on July 21^st at ‘Harry Caray's’ and which would substitute for our monthly meeting.  I was going to post this on the ‘Meetup’, but said that ‘CAN’ needed to have a more impactful pitch, because unlike “Strides” promotions, ‘CAN’ does not make me feel “warm and fuzzy”.  Katharine said that there were stories like how ‘CAN’ has contributed towards the “no smoking in Illinois restaurants” law, and I said that I could use that as a pitch on the ‘Meetup’ site.  I hadn’t posted the event yet because people usually do not want to commit to anything so far ahead of time.  I said that we had poor turnout last year at the ‘CAN’ fundraiser and we needed to ensure that it did not happen again.  Also, I said that we should request ‘Harry Caray's’ to play on a loop some ‘ACS’ related presentation on TV, but Allyson said that they had done enough in terms of donations and we should not ask for more. 

Like a broken record I brought up my point on having registration at kickoffs.  Once again, this led to a spirited debate where Allyson said that lessons from last year had been learnt and were being implemented by the “Events Planning Team”.  I said that I didn’t care who did what as long as ideas were being discussed; my point being that the “events team” could plan the implementation, but it was our job to provide them with ideas.  We left after what had definitely been a contentious meeting.  But that’s how meetings should be, as long as important decisions are being made, for it demonstrates passion towards the cause.  Else, what’s the point?

Serve-A-Thon Leadership Training

Location: Lincoln Perry Apartments

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015; 6:00-7:30 pm

Once again, it was time for ‘Serve-A-Thon’.  I had filled out a survey months ago and requested a Senior Site, upon which I was granted ‘Lincoln Perry Apartments’ with 2 leaders.  Alisa was one of them - for the 3^rd straight year - and other was a volunteer named Rita.  After some planning for a date for the on-site training, we were requested to come over to the site on the 15^th and Paul from Chicago Cares would be our liaison.  A few days before, Alisa dropped off owing to work and now it was just Rita and I.  On the day of training, the weather turned bad and a flood warning had been issued.  I asked Paul if we were still on and he said yes.  In fact, he offered to pick me up at the train station.

I took the train to ‘Bronzeville’ and as promised, Paul met me there.  We arrived at Lincoln Perry and our site rep was gone for the day.  Paul went and got another gentleman named Mr. Tidwell, who would be helping us on the day off.  He showed us the cabinet with the cooking and bingo supplies, the kitchen, and the room where Chicago Cares would put the food the week of the event.  The other volunteer leader Rita arrived and she seemed to know the residents.  I learned that she is a regular leader at this site, leading ‘Arts and Eats’ on Saturdays, which would make this an easier time for me.

We would be making something like this

The three of us went through the schedule for the day and I was asking several questions as usual.  The main problem was that according to the agenda breakfast was to be served at noon, when the residents are used to eating at 10 am during the usual program.  Besides Breakfast & Bingo, there was another activity, making fleece blankets. I had no idea what that meant, though it sounded like ‘New Life For Old Bags’. I told Paul that while we may not need another leader - since Rita was experienced in this location - we could definitely do with our full complement of volunteers.  We talked about Bingo and I asked Rita about the nature of these people, i.e. if they were competitive.  I also asked about the types of prizes that would they like, because it would make so much sense for Chicago Cares to get those things.  She said that the residents liked the “coverall” game and some big prizes like a giant detergent box would be appreciated as a final prize.  I said that we better get 2, since a coverall game can lead to multiple winners on the same number.  She also said that we should get gift cards from ‘Walmart’ and Paul said that may not be feasible. 

I asked if “Social Media” was going to be big component this year and he said yes.  Plus, we may even get media visit for this site, for which some guidelines would be provided to us.  I brought up some of the issues from previous years, especially with bus not being available at the right time. I said to Paul that my plan was to start the decorations and cooking, while the residents made the fleece blankets.  Later on, after the meal we would play Bingo.  The main difference this year was that there would be no box lunch provided and all of the volunteers would be eating with the residents.  It would be the same breakfast that we were cooking and Paul said that there would be plenty of food to cover that.  Rita said that one of her friends wanted to volunteer at this site - they were opening this up to general volunteers besides just the corporate ones this year - and Paul said that we could make it happen.  While this is great that everyone gets a chance to volunteer, personally I like the corporate volunteers since they are always enthusiastic to participate.  We left with Paul dropping me off at the station and saying that he would see me at the afterparty on the day of the event.

Bingo Fun At Britton Budd

Location: Britton/Budd Apartments

Date: Monday, June 08, 2015; 6:15 -7:30 pm

I don’t come here as often as I should, but whenever I do, it feels like I shouldn't have waited for so long.  As soon as I entered the Bingo room, one of the residents greeted me and I said that I would join her as soon as I had finished signing up.  I checked in with Veronica and saw that there was a mother and a minor daughter duo who were volunteering this evening.  The daughter seemed excited to call the game and Veronica said that she could take over sometime during the session.  I went back to sit with the lady and she said that she wanted to win the dishwasher prize, since there was only one of those, followed by a pink water bottle.

Tonight's goodies

Another resident had joined us and we were straining our necks to see some of the other prizes that were out there.  I spotted something at the end of the table that I couldn't recognize and the resident went over to look at it.  She returned back and reported that it was a hair brush.  I also spotted a pink purse that I felt they should go after.  Also available was something that looked like the hooks that people use when they go climbing and I said that it would satisfy their adventure climbing needs!  We were waiting for others to join and I asked if they had been outside. The second resident said that she had, but was then soaked in the rain.  The first lady pointed out a picture of butterflies on the wall and said that it looked pretty.  She went on to say that she loved beauty in the world and I asked if she painted, which she did not. 

She said that she made an excellent ‘cheesecake’ and I asked if it was original or flavored.  She said original of course.  She said that she got fresh strawberries, extracted the juice and poured on top.  I asked if she made the crust and she said no, but people wouldn’t realize.  Not to be left behind, the other lady said that she made good ‘banana pudding’ and I asked if she used boxed vanilla crackers.  She said of course not and that she started from scratch.  All this talk of desserts was certainly making me hungry.

We started the game and a gentleman wearing a hat, whom I knew to be a character, won.  He promptly took the dishwasher thing, saying that he knew that others wanted it!  The lady at my table who wanted that glared at him, mumbling that he took her prize.  Later, when he won again and took the pink water bottle, she said that she was not going to say what she wanted since he was taking all of those things.  We weren't having luck, but after some time I won.  I asked the lady to choose and she picked some microwave safe containers that she said would be perfect for soup.  The others kept winning and I was wondering if the other resident on my table would have her chance.  Thankfully, I won again and asked her to choose and she picked toothpaste; which reminded me that I had to get some for myself.  One gentleman won and everyone says he was the "toilet paper man".  I was puzzled by this, but it became clear when he chose…well, toilet paper.

My buddy Elvina, who was here with her great granddaughter, was having a fantastic night, winning left and right!  At one stage she was asked to give away her prize and she chose the resident with me, who selected some bucket like things.  She said she had no idea what to use them for and I suggested that she should put things in there that she would otherwise misplace.  As I had thought, the hook like things was one of the last items to go.  Veronica said that we would have a final bonus round with 3 prizes going to the winner.  Those were, bathroom roll - in honor of the “toilet paper man” who had suggested this round, - candy and body wash.  Two people won and they split it with the lady taking the roll and the gentleman in the hat taking the other two.  As he left, the lady at my table was still glaring at him for taking her prizes.  I left after chatting with Elvina who said that perhaps I sitting with her in the past was bad since she was on a roll today.  Good to know that I can bring people luck by staying away! 

Chloe and Shane

On my way back, I stopped at Lakeview Nursing to chat with Pearl. She had sent me an email earlier, saying that the injections in her eyes meant that she could see again.  As I went in her room, she said that she had both, good and bad news.  Good news was that she could see, but she had also been denied admission to an assisted living facility due to the wound on her leg.  I said that she was a problem solver and that's what she should do.  I said that now that she could see, she should move to her next hurdle, which was fixing her leg.  She said that she had finally convinced one of her sons to talk to her and saw her grandchildren on‘Skype’. I said that then it had been a great week!  She got emotional saying that it had been a long time since she has had good days.  She showed me some of her earrings and I said that if I found someone that would love to accept these from me, I would buy them all.  I left soon and she said that as always, she had appreciated my visit.  As I passed the ground floor, I saw Fran chatting with Sam who was with Shane and Chloe.  I had not seen them for months since Sam and Jess' baby.  Shane looked old but Chloe was looking great as usual.  It had been a good evening, meeting old friends and making some new ones.

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy

Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015; 5:45-8:15 pm

I was running late and arrived to see that we were short on volunteers for the evening.  Marianne kissed me on the cheek and said that she had missed me.  She also mentioned that her mom had passed after a prolonged illness and she had the service this morning.  As I expressed my condolences, Marianne said that it was this project and the people associated with it that got her out of the door.  I washed up and Chef Dani told me to get working on opening frozen biscuit like things and laying them on the sheet pan, followed by buttering them and then putting the pans in the oven.  It sounded easy enough.

Thankfully we did not have Spam for desserts!

Well, it really wasn’t easy opening the packs and some crumbled on contact.  I was using a knife to open them and chef said I needed to work on my “Kung-fu grip”.  Hilarious, but I wasn't in the mood.  It had been a tough day…week.  One other guy came and said something which I think was meant to be funny and when I didn’t react, said that it was a joke.  I continued to ignore him.  I made 3 trays and was using the butter liberally.  I mean, why not!  Besides this, there was spam on the menu as well.  I have never had the stuff, but have heard people either swear by it or turn away in disgust.  A polarizing food if there ever was one!

Next, Marianne asked me to help with the fruit and I started chopping things which looked like canned pears.  Hannah was there as well along with another volunteer and I asked Hannah about her school and upcoming trip to El Salvador.  After the fruit had been chopped, I put it into the 18 bowls, estimating how much would be required to balance everything.  While we were doing bowls for the table rather than individual servings, thankfully these bowls were smaller.  While I was doing this, sensing that I was not in the greatest of moods, Marianne came over and hugged me saying she was the mother of this place and knew when people were "off".  She asked if I would much rather take the evening off and leave.  “Where else would I go”, I asked.

I went and looked outside and people had assembled.  One of them asked if we were having spam and I replied in the affirmative.  Another gentleman asked if we would have it with “pineapple and wine reduction”!  I said he was going to have to wait for fine dining, since we were doing a more “casual theme” this evening.  I saw that the “spirit feeding” session was going on, but the people conducting it were not the usual students, who had gone home for the holidays. Marianne then got everyone together and mentioned that the regulars like John, Hannah and me would correct her if she missed anything.  After her usual speech she assigned duties and I was on serving.  During our prayer, she mentioned how she had lost her mom but this project kept her going. 

We went out and I helped distribute the salads.  Chef made a plate of one spam, some beans & pork, potatoes and one half of the buttered biscuit.  The potatoes smelled amazing and when I asked the chef what was in them, she said butter, thyme and paprika.  I was serving the said potatoes and also placing the biscuit on the plate. At first I was conservative with the potatoes, till chef said there were more trays and I could be more generous.  We finished the first round of plating, and quickly moved to the seconds.  This time I was on spam, and there was plenty of it.  I was dishing it out in heaps, especially when one gentleman kept asking for more.  After a huge rush of seconds, we made takeout boxes and seeing that people were almost done, I filled all leftover spam in one of the boxes, looking for the gent who had loved the stuff. 

I went and helped with stacking the chairs and the general cleanup.  It was heartening to see some of the guests helping, while others stayed and listened to the excellent music and singing. Marianne is absolutely right when she says that everyone deserves dignity, and we treat them accordingly over here.  Soon I was ready to leave, after a day when I wasn't really feeling my best. Marianne mentioned once again said that she was available to listen, should I need her.   I expressed my condolences on her mother’s passing again and promised that I would be back on the 17^th for the “Summer Spectacular”. That day we would be servers for a more “refined” dining experience for our guests.

Lakeview Seniors Pet Therapy

Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Date: Monday, June 01, 2015; 6:15-8:15 pm

I arrived to see a giant dog in the waiting area along with a smaller one.  As usual, the bigger dog was quiet white the smaller one was yapping.  I went to the Bingo room to see that Jim was already there with Jack, who was wearing a terrific “Hawaiian Shirt”.  I asked Jim where he got off the bus when he visited and he said “Mr. Lee”, which I learnt was a liquor store.  Seems like a perfect stop to me.  Marvin, the leader at ‘HGS’ came in and he was doing Bingo.  We chatted for a bit till the dogs arrived.  I was talking with Holly, who was particularly impressed with the big dog.  She mentioned how she had a ‘German Shepherd’ and how one night her husband had come home drunk and had tried to abuse the dog.  She said that she took her dog away that night saying that she couldn’t stand animals being abused. 

Gus!

There were 4 dogs in the house and Veronica paired me with the big dog who was called “Gus”, short for Gustav.  Another volunteer was with us, and along with Gus’ owner, and it was the first time for everyone except me.  We started on the 2^nd floor and since our first stop was with David, I said that Gus was going to have the massage of his life – which David of course provided.   I saw that he had an ‘iMac’ on his bed and I said that it looked good.  He said that he had paid a lot of money for that and then proceeded to show us his other gadgets, like a phone, another computer and a nice digital camera.  I said that he was all set as far as technology was concerned and come next week, he should take pictures of the dogs.  Next stop was with a gentleman who was excited to see Gus and asked if he was “Alaskan”.  Gus was not a ‘Husky’ but some “Japanese breed”, though a stray.  This gentleman however, continued talking about Alaska, Russian spying and how they were shooting down planes over that airspace, as well as all about the ‘Air Force’!  I said that I usually stay away from such news and if only people had more dogs in their lives, there would be less fighting.  I asked if the gentleman had been in the military and sure enough he had.

Next, we stopped to see a woman who always looks as if she is ready to go out.  She had put on lipstick and was wearing pearls.  I asked if she had a date to get to, but the poor thing couldn't listen well.  All she kept saying was that her roommate was sick.  Then we stopped to see a gentleman who was excited to see Gus and kept talking about his dog, though he couldn't remember much except that he had dogs when he was younger.  I went inside Polly’s room and asked if she was ready and she said no.  She said that she was sick and didn't want to transfer it to the dog.  I said come on, and she couldn’t help herself and so agreed to take a quick peek.  We went in for a bit and then moved to Loritta.  She was happy to finally see a big dog over here and was chatty as usual. She was especially admiring Gus' fur and with good reason, since it really was quite pretty. Before going to the 3^rd, one nurse said that Gus had peed on some linen.  However, that wasn't quite true since he had not been anywhere close to the linen cart.  Poor Gus was a victim of a frame up!

On the 3^rd I peeked inside Pearl's room and she was with some other volunteers.  She said that the vision in her right eye has deteriorated overnight, to the extent that she couldn't read anymore. I said that I would stop by later after doing my rounds.  We were about to go to see Hannah, when a woman beckoned us in. She usually doesn't like visitors and so I was surprised to have been summoned.  She had plush doggie toys in there and liked that Gus was huge, but was also scared when he went over to get petted.  We went to Hannah’s room and she said that her lawyer was smart and I would soon have my autographed copy of her book.  She does have a good memory and I told my fellow volunteer about Hannah’s book, Johnny B and other stories like her wanting to sit on a poach with a rocking chair and eating oatmeal!  Before we left, she lamented how few cats visit during this project.  Our last stop was with Jerry and Gus made a beeline for the treats, though he was on a diet and so couldn't have more than two.  Jerry asked how old he was and his owner replied 5, and that he was still young enough to get the ladies!

Gus left and I came back up to chat with Pearl.  She was still with the other volunteers and told them that I was one of her “supports”.  I asked if they had seen Pearl's jewelry and she made one of the volunteers try on a necklace.  Pearl can tell perfectly what matches a person and said that she was going to make me wear something whether I liked it or not!  After the others left I asked about her eyesight and she said that there was an injection that could stop the deterioration and she was scheduled to get it on Thursday.  But the rapid nature of the decline meant that she had asked to move it up to tomorrow, and I said that it was a wise move.  We talked about her moving away in 2 weeks and I asked if she was ready. She said yes, because that would not only be a change of scenery, but also force her to be independent  I said that I was busy for a month, but would try to stop by next week on my way back from another project.  She called me a sweetheart and I replied saying that some women do have a good taste!

I came down and saw that Emma was waiting in the Bingo room since no one had come to take her upstairs.  I wheeled her into the elevator and then asked if she had won.  She enthusiastically said, “Oh yes, a dollar”, and laughed when I said the usual “Don't spend it all in one place”.  As I dropped her off in her room, she said that her daughter would be visiting soon.  I hope so, but having never seen her have any visitors, I doubt that.  I left after asking the nurse to help her to bed. 

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy