Date: Sunday, April 07, 2013; 4:30-7:30 pm
Our next stop was at a church in
Rogers Park which served dinner every Sunday and anyone who was in need was welcome to come and
attend. Chicago Cares went there once a
month and the model was very similar to the Wells Street Café. On the way there Wilson asked me about my job
and specifically, the work that I did.
As I told him about Energy Management, we had an interesting discussion
about balancing energy usage versus reducing consumption permanently by being
more energy conscious. We arrived at our
venue and went up to the main dining room to meet Jody, who was in charge and
Jisha, our Chicago Cares Volunteer leader.
Amongst the other volunteers were Ellen, whom I had met at Lakeview Pantry and Lisa, who had followed from Lakeview Nursing in her own car.
The interesting thing about the
dinner service was that other volunteers had already been there since early in
the afternoon, to cook. Their shift was
now over and they could leave, while we took over as the serving and cleaning
crew. Seemed like a reasonable way to do
things. As the ‘cooks’ left, everyone
gave them an applause and they had definitely earned it. I went inside the kitchen, which was a huge
one and started to wash my hands. Wilson
then told me the exact process to do it, and which included washing thoroughly up to the elbows, while singing ‘Happy
Birthday’ twice! He watched me
closely as I did that and then I had to choose an apron. Unlike the flimsy, disposable ones in Wells
Street Café, these were made of cloth and I selected a colorful one with peppers
on it; as did Lisa. We chatted for a
while till Jody called us all to order and said that we could choose one of two
duties – being a server, or else a runner.
I choose the latter, while Lisa and Wilson opted to serve.
 |
| No idea which wurst is what |
The servers lined up in front of
their stations and we were ready to go.
The guests had arrived and Jody made some announcements. She said that she would stand by a table and
direct runners to which person should be served. Then she would move to the next table and the
process would continue till every guest had been served. It was a very organized and disciplined way
of doing things. I looked at the menu
and we had rolls and bratwurst; potatoes and two types of cabbage – with and
without the meat; applesauce and salad.
Then at the end of the line there were desserts that had been donated by
Whole Foods. This looked like a distinct
German themed menu and unlike many who find German food bland, I am a fan of
their sausages and pretzels and bier cheese and cream puffs and definitely
their beer. There was a Hofbräuhaus back in Pittsburgh
which I used to frequent and order their sausage sampler, which came with
bratwurst, knockwurst and some other wurst. I never bothered finding out which
was which and what the differences were.
So when they announced that today’s menu had bratwurst, it was a sausage
in a roll to me.
I took a plate and walked down
the aisle as people put food on the plate.
Wilson, who was on cabbage, said he was going to keep track of how many
plates I served, while Lisa was on desserts and had a variety of choices
ranging from different cupcakes to other pastries. Once my plate was filled, I looked up to see
where Jody was and she would direct me to the guest who was to be served. The line was moving rapidly and every time I
passed Wilson’s station, he would add a number to my tally. Lisa and I on the other hand were having fun
selecting which dessert went on the plate and she would wait for me to point
out. I usually choose the one I would
like – easier said than done since I like almost all desserts – and would then deliver the plate. Once all the guests
had been served, our job was to fill up take-home boxes. The same process was to be followed where we
would hold a box and walk past the servers and down the line. The only difference was that the take-home
box did not get a dessert. At one point
I walked past Lisa and asked her to put one in anyways, telling her that one
lucky person was going to be extremely happy once they opened their box.
 |
| From a Garbage Man to a Chef: All in a days work |
Today’s turnout had been quite
high and soon the food was over. The
guests left and we were required to clean, not only the dining area, but also the
dishes in the kitchen. I was assigned the duty to dry the dishes and went in to see that a couple of volunteers were
scrubbing, while Ellen was rinsing. Once
she was done, I would pick up the dishes and dry using a towel. The team scrubbing was complaining about the
grease, especially with the utensils used to cook the bratwurst and having done
this job at my Senior Breakfast Club project, I empathized with them. I chatted with Ellen, who is an avid
environmentalist, about some of the projects that she does and her views on ‘Green Roofs’, of which she is not a
proponent. Wilson had arrived to help
with the drying and he engaged Ellen in that debate, not being one to let any
topic go unchallenged. Wilson told us
how efficiency was important in all walks of life, including drying dishes and
demonstrated by using a towel in each hand to do front and back of a plate at
the same time. He then wiped bigger
trays with both hands and was done with his pile in record time!
I was clearly not as efficient as
Wilson, but managed to finish everything and soon all the dishes and utensils
had been washed, dried and stacked in the right place. Jody thanked us for coming and Wilson gave me
a ride home. We talked about our day and
how remarkable it had been. He was
probably headed to find some other people to help, but I was going to go home
and relax. It had been a truly
extraordinary weekend and I had done projects dealing with Senior’s,
Environment and Hunger. Why, I had even
done a Fairy Tale themed project. Having
been on my feet for most part of the day, I should have been exhausted, but I
was feeling great and refreshed. There
is something incredible about surrounding yourself with positive energy,
something that lifts your spirits. The
people with whom I had the privilege of serving today had definitely
contributed to that, and I was already looking forward to the week ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment