Location: UIC Student Center
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2013; 10:30 am-2:15 pm
This project had been the
highlight of my previous year and I had been checking the MAW website
since…well since summer for this one.
As soon as it showed up on the calendar, I signed up faster than one
can say “turkey”. The week of the party we got an email,
which said that for our project this year we would be making a ‘Thanksgiving Turkey’ and a ‘Thanksgiving Wreath’. Having done a couple of Arts & Crafts
projects through MAW, I knew that kids enjoy it a lot and I had no doubt this
occasion would be the same. MAW
asked if anyone had a car that could be used to transfer the supplies and
fortunately someone else volunteered to do so. I do not own a car, meaning that I took the Pink Line train
to Polk station and just like last year, got lost in the maze that is the UIC
campus. After roaming about for a
bit I found someone who pointed me in the right direction. Some things never change.
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| Our table |
I went upstairs and into the
grand hall, which was busy with various groups setting up their
stations. This year our table was
in a different location and right next to the table having all of the presents,
which was perfect in terms of attracting traffic. I was the first of the MAW team to arrive and so was looking
at a bare table with two boxes on it.
I looked inside and found a MAW tablecloth that I put on the table. Next were some MAW banners, which I
wanted to put on the wall behind us.
However I required some tape to do so and after asking each of the other
organizations, finally located it with the photographer. After the banner went up, our area was
looking presentable, though it was nowhere as cool as our neighbors – ‘The Starlight Foundation’, who had a
purple tablecloth with stars on it.
“Not fair”, I joked with their
people.
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| 'Thankful Turkey' |
Soon another volunteer arrived
and introduced herself as Valerie.
She was new with MAW and had the enthusiasm that new volunteers usually have. I had laid out the supplies
and instructions for our two projects and Valerie said that we should make some
samples to display. I agreed and
while she cut “turkey feathers” from
the craft paper, I started making the “turkey”
using a toilet paper roll. Who
knew that we could use it for this purpose! On the “feathers”
we wrote some of the things that we were thankful for, such as MAW, UIC
Hospital, family, friends, toys etc. and soon we had a working model of our ‘Thankful Turkey’. Our 3rd colleague – Fred, now joined us
and this was it as far as MAW volunteers were concerned. The kids had started arriving and
besides us there were 5 or 6 other tables with arts & crafts and so they were
spoilt for choice. Starlight was
making headbands, which was popular with the kids and so had big
gathering. However some of the
kids came to us and almost everyone wanted to make the ‘Thankful Turkey’.
While Valerie – who was great with children – and I helped them, Fred was
out on the floor playing with kids.
He has a talent for that and was tossing a ball with a little girl. I was helping with a task that most
kids were having trouble with, peeling off the ‘googly eyes’ from their sticker backing so that they could be put
on the roll. It was then that I saw her.
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| 'Thanksgiving Wreath' |
Last year had been special for
sure, but one of the reasons was a little girl, Olivia, who had stolen my
heart. She had played with colors
and had smudged her way to two “portraits”,
one of which hangs on my wall to this day. I spotted someone who looked like her and to my immense joy,
it did turn out to be Olivia, now a full year older. She had grown so much and I chatted with her mom and
grandma, showing them the picture of her painting from last year. Her little brother Jerry, who had been an
infant, was now a little toddler.
Olivia was playing with a ball and I excused myself for a couple of
minutes to go play with her.
Whatever else I was to achieve today…this year, seeing Olivia had made
everything worthwhile. Olivia was
not the only person that I recognized; there was Steven, whom I had called “the most well dressed man in the room”
last year because he had been wearing a stylish vest. Well, he was back and wearing another vest. Now here’s a fashion model in the
making. One girl came with a
younger sibling who had been a ‘Wish
Child’. I asked what her wish
had been and she said that they had visited ‘Disney
World’. She went on to say
that the whole experience had been fantastic, especially staying at ‘Give Kids The World’ village.
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| Donut Decorations! |
Lunch was being served and so we
had a lull in proceedings and I took the opportunity to walk about and visit
the other tables such as ‘Bear Necessities’. Like the
previous year, they were once again making colored bulbs. They always ask the children to make
two, one to keep, while the other is auctioned off to raise funds. Like us, there was other organization
that was making Turkey related props and they did not have extensive supplies
like we did. They had white eyes
that they were putting on the turkey and so I donated a bag of our colored eyes
to them. Another organization was
getting the kids to decorate donuts.
How can one beat that!
I came back to our table and we
had a new onset of visitors. One
lady came over and thanked us for the ‘Bat
Kid’ wish that had made headlines recently for MAW. She told us about a ‘Wish Kid’ that she knew who had gone to
Hawaii. She said that he really
wanted to go to ‘Disney World’, but
had changed the wish for family’s sake.
Now, wait a minute. That’s
exactly the kind of situation that we as ‘Wish
Granters’ are supposed to not let happen. Well, for his sake I hope they all had a good time. One overactive kid came over, looking
extremely confident and knew exactly what he wanted to make. He was Olivia’s elder brother Brodie,
and proceeded to make a ‘Alien Turkey’,
complete with 4 eyes! In fact all
of Olivia’s siblings were in attendance, including her elder sister
Kennedy. Seems like this event has
become an annual tradition for the family. A sweet girl came over and introduced herself as Emelcee,
and she was Steven’s sister. I
enjoyed making the turkey with her and every time I asked her a question on
what she wanted to do next with her design, she would purse her lips, squint,
and strike a thoughtful pose. I
asked her what she was thankful for and after doing her routine; she said that
she was thankful for her “fishies”. She already had 20 of them and wanted
more! I asked if she had named all
of the ones that she had and she said no.
I said that perhaps that would be a good start before getting more of
them. Almost all of the kids were
making the turkey and finally we had one child request the wreath. Even then she got bored and ended
up just coloring. The turkey was
by far the most popular.
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| Everyone was dancing |
The party was well and truly on
and all the kids were having a good time.
I chatted with a Dr, Schmidt and it seemed like she was in charge. She thanked us for coming and I said
that on the contrary it was us who were grateful for this opportunity. She
talked about how with the treatments and kids in the hospitals, this was the
only Thanksgiving that these families would have. Looking around us we would not have known, but it is very
easy to forget that most of the people here were going through some tough
times. She said that she has been
doing this for a long time and many of the kids under her care had their wishes
granted. She said that now she
wanted to nominate a kid who was 17 and undergoing treatment for leukemia. I said that she should do it before she
turned 18 since that was the cut-off for MAW. I told her how much I admired the doctors who dedicate their
lives to this, telling her about some of things I had witnessed at ‘Comer Hospital Summer Picnic’. Before
she went over to receive a donation check, I asked how it was possible for her
to be surrounded by such precious kids and yet maintain professionalism and not
get too emotionally involved. She
said that it is difficult, but now she’s used to it and that being a professional
is one of the most critical things that these doctors learn to follow.
The DJ was out and there was
dancing going on with the kids, who were being led by Dr. Schmidt. Despite these activities, many were
still visiting us to make turkeys and we were kept busy. When I say we, I mean Valerie and
myself. Fred had spent the entire
time playing with kids, and at one stage I had gone to request him to come help
out since we were short-staffed.
Now, while he is a genuine person who is fantastic with children, he is
a lousy team player and I told him that.
I wanted to play with the kids as well and Valerie could have used a
break. But we couldn’t, because no one was present to relive us.
So while he was a great ambassador for MAW, I found Fred to be a
difficult person to work with and he was annoyed when I told him in a stern
manner that I wanted him back at the table. Not once had he asked us if we wanted anything or required any help, and being a team player is all about ensuring everyone gets what they
want. I was disappointed that such
a great occasion had turned a bit sour for me because of our argument.
However, for me it was a minor glitch
in what had been another unforgettable day. I had met some amazing kids, including precious Olivia. The party was coming to an end and we
started packing up and cleaning. Some
of the kids had left their turkeys and wreaths and I took some as souvenirs. So ended one more year at UIC and I had started my countdown to next years event even before I had reached the train
station.
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| It had been another fantastic day |
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