Celebration Of Service In Honor Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Location: Burr Elementary School

Date: Saturday, January 18, 2014; 7:30 am-2:00 pm

Last year I had the absolute privilege to lead the good people of ‘Target’ at Chicago Care’s annual ‘Celebration Of Service’ program.  It had been a fulfilling experience, one where I had seen generosity of spirit that one seldom encounters in their professional life.  So I was definitely intending to be a part of this years project, though Chicago Cares had stopped putting their Annual events on the calendar, preferring instead to send out invitations.  Indeed, I received an email inviting me to join as a leader and I was also presented with a variety of sites to choose from. I went with ‘Burr Elementary School’, which was nearer than any of the other venues, though it would still be a hike for me.  Andre, our Chicago Cares rep sent an email asking if we could come for an on-site meeting on a Wednesday afternoon.  Obviously I would not be able to, and so he said that there would a conference call later for those who couldn't attend.  Being a fan of the telephone, I said that would work!

Burr Elementary School

Besides Andre and myself, the other attendees on the conference call were someone from ‘Target’ and Stacey, who was our Primary Leader for the occasion.  I had shadowed her for a ‘Youth In Services’ project and found her to be an excellent leader.  I knew we would be in great hands.   I learned that there were 6 projects - painting each of the 3 floors, painting stairwells, painting a wall mural and making a tile mosaic.  Since I had missed the on-site meeting, all the other tasks had been claimed and I had been assigned painting the stairwells.  My only prior painting experience had been helping my graduate school roommate paint a room in his house and to this day he reminds me of the terrible job that I had done.  So needless to say, I wasn’t feeling too confident!  One of the major changes to the way things were being done this year was the integration of leaders from ‘Target’ to work with the leaders from Chicago Cares.  In fact, at this location I was the only other Chicago Cares leader besides Stacey.  Before getting into the specifics, Andre started with an icebreaker and asked about our favorite pizza place.  I said that at the risk of being ridiculed, I was not a big fan of the ‘Chicago Deep Dish’ pizza.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I will wolf it down if it were in front of me, but I don’t seek it out, preferring the thin crust or the 'Neapolitan' pizza, as served in ‘Bar Toma’.  Following this, we discussed our tasks for Saturday and then that was it.  Now I had to show up and somehow get the stairwell’s painted.

The stairwell we had to paint 

I took a cab to the school and arrived to find that Stacey was already there, as were all the ‘Target’ leaders.  Also present was Rich from Chicago Cares, who would be our staff rep.  Stacey introduced me to Principal Klee and I requested him to take me around the stairwells, so that I could see what we were up against.  Well, it wasn’t just one, but two sets of stairwells that we had to deal with, and there were three floors on each!  There was a wooden molding running halfway across the hall and Principal Klee told me that they wanted the lower half to be painted purple and the upper part white.  Seeing everything, I knew that it was going to require all of the 28 volunteers that we had been allocated.  Stacey asked all of the leaders to assemble in the auditorium and got everyone excited for the day.  She really is a good leader.  I was pleased that one of the ’Target’ leaders, Nikki, was going to be helping out on one of the stairwells, meaning that I would have to supervise just the other one.  Furthermore, she had some experience in painting and I told her that I would be leveraging that. 

The cards that the kids had made for us

All of our supplies were on the stage in the auditorium and our immediate task was to take them to the station where we would be working.  The paint cans were gallon sized and carrying a box of 4 of those wasn’t much fun.  But I looked at Nikki doing it and that was all of the motivation that I needed.  Once upstairs, the two of us split all the supplies into two and I then had to carry half to my stairwell.  Principal Klee introduced me to a couple, Toric and Rochelle, who are parents of two kids in the school and they had come to volunteer with the rest of us.  This was a fantastic gesture and I appreciated that a lot, especially when Toric mentioned that he knew a bit about architecture and construction.  I told him that he was going to be an important asset for me on this painting task.  I learned that their daughter is in 2^nd grade and son in pre-K.  All the kids of the school had made “Thank You” cards for the volunteers to take home and they showed me the one that their daughter had made.  I said that I would definitely like to keep that one once we were done. 

As we were preparing, the bus with the ‘Target’ volunteers arrived and all the leaders assembled back in the auditorium to greet them.  It started with Rich showing a video of ‘Target’ and their association with the ‘MLK Celebration Of Service’ day.  It seems like ‘Target’ has a corporate goal of contributing a certain number of volunteer hours per year.  Kudos to their commitment!  After the video, Stacey introduced her leadership team, all of whom were women.  When she came to me, she said that I may not be a pretty woman, but I was a good leader.  Hey, at least half of that “pretty woman” thing is true!  After this the Senior District Manager of ‘Target’ spoke to welcome everyone, as did Principal Klee, and we were ready to start. 

The volunteers were from different stores and everyone wanted to stick together and work with the leader from their store.  From the ones who had signed up, not everyone from Nikki’s store had come, meaning that we were going to be woefully short.  We split whomever we had into two teams with one person, Emma, looked like a natural leader and I told her that she was with me.  We came over to my side with about 6 people, half of what we were supposed to get, though I also had Toric and Rochelle.  I asked Stacey and Rich to find me more people, and then we got down to work.  I put 2 people each on Basement-1^st Floor, 1^st-2^nd and 2^nd-3^rd floor.  We started by sanding the wall, which was to be followed by giving it a wash.  Only then could the actual painting start.  The trick was to get the trim done first around the railing and moldings and then roll over with the paint.  Now, these are things that I wouldn't have known without being told.

Even I had to chip in

As people scrubbed, I started laying down the drop cloths on various floors and Rochelle helped me tape them to the floor.  That took some time and next I told people that someone should start with the trim while others followed with the roller.  Initially I was scrambling to get basic things for them like gloves, extenders for the top half of the walls etc.  In fact, the extenders were a precious commodity and when I found one, I told a volunteer to guard it with her life.  I said that I would send people to her if they needed to borrow it.  Rich sent over two volunteers and I promptly assigned them, but they soon disappeared.  Was it something that I said?  But even then everyone was on their way and since we were short, I picked up a brush and started doing the purple trim between the 1^st and 2^nd floor.  It was a bit tricky going around the hand railing and I was sitting on the stairs to do the base, then the hand rail and then going up the stairs.  Between the two floors I had to also do the trim around a window.  It was slow, but steady work.

Rich had found two new volunteers for me and I asked them to follow me by painting with rollers, the wall on which I had done the trims.  Fortunately they stuck around, though they were fast and soon catching up to me, meaning that I had to pick up my pace.  It was like putting down the rails when the train is approaching. I finished my trim work and then went over to help Emma, who was doing the same on 2^nd-3^rd floor.  The folks in the basement were on their second coat of paint, but there was a lot of work still remaining on the top floors.  The groups painting the hallways were almost done and so I requested Stacey to let me borrow some of those people, and they did come.  Since basement- 1^st floor was the one completed section, I asked that team to start the clean-up and work their way up.  We were up against the clock and it would require everyone working strategically. 

Emma had been fantastic and I had enjoyed working with her.  She was also fearless as she climbed on top of a steep ladder to do the higher sections of the wall.  She said that she was a night manager and is used to climbing ladders to stack supplies.  She also goes to college during the day, studying business.  I asked if she ever slept and she shrugged.  And here she was on her day off, not just contributing, but with tremendous energy and enthusiasm.  An organization that has someone like her will always succeed and ‘Target’ is lucky to have her…as was I.

Our stairwell, painted!

A Chicago Cares staff member, Patty, was doing a walkabout and Rich introduced me saying that I was a super volunteer.  As much as I would have loved to stay and chat, I had work to do and was trying to direct people to finish up their tasks and clean at the same time.  Soon we were done to the best of our ability, in the time that we had, and now it was cleaning-up and storing the various ladders and the other remaining supplies.  Some of the paint had spilled on the stairs and it wasn’t easy to get it off.  A couple of men were on their hands and knees’ trying to take it off using sponge and it was a bit tricky. There was a big spill elsewhere and I tried to mop it off, though it was stubborn and required hands and knees approach as well.  Everyone who had come had worked hard, not least Toric and Rochelle.  It had been a true team effort and while it wasn’t the best clean-up, the team had done their best.

The kids would be pleased

I carried a heavy ladder from the 2^nd floor to the auditorium, where the volunteers were having their lunch.  The school was looking fantastic and Principal Klee said that they would patch-up whatever was still unfinished.  Stacey spoke at the wrap-up and thanked everyone for their participation.  I told her the quotes from MLK that I had heard last year and she used one of them, “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve”.  Rich also thanked everyone and said that we were one of the 15 sites around Chicago that had projects going on today.  We took group pictures before the volunteers left and Stacey said that she would give me a ride to downtown, which was good since it was snowing.  It had been an exhausting day and I was tired.  But the energy of the volunteers had been infectious.  Unfortunately the cards that the kids had made we gone and I couldn’t get one as a souvenir.  But I have the memory of the day and the paint that we had put on the walls would hopefully last a long time.  The Principal had said that it would be great for the kids to come in on Monday and see their school painted a bright shade of purple.  I wish I could be there to see that, but this sense of accomplishment will do for now.  It was the hardest that I have worked on a project and someone later asked me if I would do it again. 

"Always".