Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church
Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2013; 5:45-9:00 pm
Of all the projects that Chicago
Cares offers, this is one of the most difficult ones to get into. Even a few days delay means that there are no
openings left and so I was prepared this time.
As soon as the opportunity for April opened on February 1st, I signed
up. The opportunity description on the
website said, “Breaking Bread - a program
of LaSalle Street Church - provides food, fellowship, and support to hungry
individuals and families. Volunteers at the Wells Street Cafe prepare a hot
meal and serve it cafe-style for up to 120 guests. Volunteers have the
opportunity to eat and socialize with guests before cleaning up the dining area
and kitchen.” It sounded like a very
good program to be a part of and by the end of the evening; it had become one
of my favorite projects through Chicago Cares.
I walked over from work and upon
arriving at the location, found myself being directed to a big hall, which was going
to serve as the dining area and which was already buzzing with activity. All of them were volunteers and not everyone
was with Chicago Cares. It was then that
I realized that Chicago Cares was just one of the organizations that was
helping out this evening and all the volunteers would be working together to
make this evening a success. I found
Miranda, our Chicago Cares leader, who in turn introduced me to Marianne, who was
in charge of the entire program. I was
pleased to see Lisa, with whom I had done a couple of other projects, for it is
always better to have someone you know around when there are so many people on
a project.
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| The dessert cart |
We went inside the kitchen, which
resembled a real-life restaurant style one with steel equipment that was
designed to cook for masses. First task
was to wash and suit up; meaning gloves, hair-net and apron. These were disposable – and thus somewhat
flimsy – accessories and I was having some trouble with the apron in
particular. Try as I may, I could not
reach behind me to tie it, and was only thanks to Lisa that I managed to get it
on right. With that accomplished, I
turned my attention to the next task, which was plating the desserts. Tonight’s selection was brownies, homemade to
be precise. Some kind soul had made them
specifically for this evening, and there were several different trays of
chocolate and fudge and some really gooey ones with marshmallow chunks in them. Our task was to cut in squares and distribute
amongst 21 plates; that number corresponding to the number of tables in the
main dining area. Lisa and I started
cutting and it was a challenge to maintain their integrity – especially the
sticky ones – as we plated them. There’s
nothing like the smell of fresh homemade desserts and this was no
exception. I had to keep myself from
licking the knife – yes you read it correctly – or my fingers as I lifted them
into the plates. Some of the other
volunteers were putting the plates onto storage racks and soon we were done
with this one.
Next I went over to the salad
station where two volunteers were transferring salad from a big container to 21
party-sized bowls, which were to be placed on each table. The best way to do this was by using our
hands and that’s what we did.
The trick was to guess the quantity that was to go in each of the bowls,
so as to make 21 equal distributions.
Once we were done with our first pass, we adjusted each bowl so as to
have some consistency and then stacked them on storage racks and moved into the
refrigerator. I followed a similar
process for the fruit salad; though this time we used serving spoons instead of
hands, which would have made things extremely sticky and messy. Marianne was chatting with the volunteers a
lot, ensuring that everyone was having a good time. At one stage she said she had inserted wrong
contact lens in each eye, since she wasn't sure which box was for which eye. Having ordered lenses just a few days ago, I
told her the difference between ‘OD’ and ‘OS’, at which she was delighted. Such was the nature of this evening.
After this, Lisa and I had some
down time and seeing a tray with some leftover brownie bits, I ventured a taste
and yes, it tasted as good as it had smelled.
During this time, I also noticed a guy who was wearing a tee shirt saying
‘Free Hugs’. He was also carrying some
books with him and I learned that it was a book on, well free hugs and he was a
‘Professional Free Hugger’. I am usually intrigued by smallest of things
and this was one of them. I learned that
this is what he does – going around giving people hugs. He had written the book to promote his
philosophy and also to educate people on hugging. For example, he told us that there are
multiple stages of hugging, such as ‘anticipation
of the hug’ and ‘post-hug withdrawal’
as well as some others. He told us that
his goal was to give away 100,000 hugs in 90 days, meaning a lot of hugs per
day. I told him to start with a sporting
arena, where he was sure to encounter the mass of people that he required. Well, he got two hugs from Lisa and I and
left to promote his book at a new location.
Now I know this looks very strange and even I was taken aback by the
outrageousness of the whole idea. But
there is something so charming about this eccentricity. There are people who do weird things like eat
glass of walk backwards or something similar to prove a point. But here was this guy, trying to spread some
joy through a seemingly innocent act, and I for one hope he finds what he is
looking for. Before he left, I told him
that if he really wanted to make a difference, he should go to a Senior Nursing
Facility and give away hugs. Nobody
would appreciate it more than them.
At this time the dinner service
was about to begin and before that, Marianne got us all together in the kitchen
to go over a few details. She started by
telling us a bit about the place we were at.
The mission of ‘Breaking Bread’
is to feed the hungry and homeless families in the neighborhood. They do that by serving a meal every
Wednesday evening to as many guests as possible. Besides that, they also provide clothing and
health services - through a nurse - should anyone require that. Marianne was the chief volunteer coordinator
and wile Chicago Cares comes in only once a month, they do this program every
week with the help of other volunteers.
Marianne said that there were certain guidelines for new volunteers,
such as not giving any money to the guests.
She said that they are good at spotting newcomers and may solicit help,
which we were to politely refuse. But
despite these instructions, she wanted us to have fun. She also said that if anyone asks for
seconds, we were to do it only once everyone had been served. This was because we had no idea how many
guests would turn out each evening. No
one was ever turned away, they always found a way. I have repeated this multiple times through
this blog, but it has been some time since I've said it; and it never gets old: “Everywhere life is full of heroism”.
Marianne then assigned duties and
Lisa and I were in charge of serving Orange Juice. Before everyone went out, Marianne made us
all hold hands and say a little prayer.
I am not a religious person by any means, but it was a wonderful gesture
and a great way to start the evening. Marianne
started by making some announcements to the guests and then we were ready to
go. I picked up the jar of Orange Juice
and started pouring. Some asked for refills
immediately while some refused. When the
jar was empty I brought it back and it was immediately replaced by a new
one. The food was being taken out as
well and it all looked like a very well-oiled machine. I was impressed by our efficiency and very
soon all the residents had been served.
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| The band getting ready |
One of the more pleasant things
about this dining area was the presence of a church band, which played music
and sang while the guests had dinner.
This was fantastic because anybody seeing this from outside would have thought
this to be some sort of a party in progress.
The people in the band were not mailing it in, but were really giving a
good performance. No sooner had we
finished serving the main course then it was time to start clearing some of the
empty salad bowls. Many of the guests
asked for me to keep it there while they filled some of the containers they had
with them. But since most of the tables
had disproportionate number of guests, many bowls came back half full. I wonder if there needs to be a better model
where we either make sure each of the 21 tables has approximately the same
number of guests or we need to think about this 21 portions thing. In any case, we were serving the desserts now
and I started taking the empty vessels to the kitchen for cleaning. Inside the process was very streamlined as well
and we were moving extremely well.
One of the volunteers Sarah, was
walking amongst the guests asking if they wanted to see the nurse. Whoever said they did, was escorted to the
nurse’s room. Soon the dinner service
was almost over, and a line started forming for seconds. Lisa, me and other volunteers started
gathering the salt and pepper shakers from the tables. Soon the guests were gone, and I started
stacking the chairs in groups of 10.
Another volunteering was then rolling those stacks to the back of the
room. Once the chairs were done, I
started rolls the tables and getting them out of the way. Once again, we worked as a unit and got the
things done efficiently. While I was doing
that, I passed a guest on her way out and she thanked us profusely. Never underestimate the significance of what we do and what we accomplish.
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| The group having their private concert at the end |
Our job for the evening was done
and Lisa and I chatted about some of the other Chicago Cares projects. I told her to come for Sunday’s ‘Get Crafty’ since she would be terrific
at it. I picked up my stuff and before
saying goodbye to Miranda, asked her to join my leadership team for
Serve-A-Thon. I think she would be great
at it, having seen her in action.
Marianne thanked me, not only for my service, but for my tutorial on
contact lenses. Before I walked out, I
looked at the dining area and saw a big group of people assembled around a piano, which one of the volunteers was playing, while the rest were singing. Miranda told me that while many families
volunteered together, some of the younger volunteers were travelling young men
and women who visited various places and helped out different
organizations. My lasting image from
that night was this group, completely at peace, after a job well done. Without a doubt, I had enjoyed this project
and now I knew why it was so popular.
One of the reasons why I like ‘Paint The Town Red’ is because of the coziness of Pat Crowley House. I think the presence of the band, the music
and the singing made a huge difference.
It was a welcoming environment and one which I guarantee that I will return to,
again and again.
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