Lincoln Park Zoo Interview

Location: Lincoln Park Zoo Administrative Building

Date: Tuesday, April 08, 2014; 12:30-1:00 pm

During the volunteer orientation session at the ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’, I had realized that scheduling my interview was going to be a challenge.  I had tried to convince them to schedule me early on a Saturday, but that did not work out.  So I called Jen, the volunteer coordinator, while at the TSA security line at the Airport and mentioned that we had to find a way to make this work.  I realized that some adjustment would be required and so decided to go for an interview during lunch time on a Tuesday.  Considering that the commute from my office to the zoo and back would take a longer time, I decided to work from home, which would be a much faster way for me to get there.  But getting there was just a start, since they had asked me come prepared with a short presentation.  When I asked on what, they said that it was totally up to me since all they wanted to do was evaluate my public speaking skills.  Aah well, I could talk about my presentation on ‘PJM Capacity…Unpacking the Issues and Developing Cost Management Strategies’, that I had delivered at a conference a couple of months ago, but perhaps that would have been an overkill!  I spent way too much time thinking about this and at one point thought about doing a presentation on why ‘The Lion King’ is one of my favorite films, but then decided to go with a recollection from my childhood – a visit to a zoo.

The beautiful Administrative Building

In the morning I received an email from Jen saying that the location of the interview was not the place where I had gone for the orientation, but an administrative building outside the zoo.  I arrived right on the dot and was immediately impressed by how good the building looked from the outside. I checked-in at the reception and then Jen came and handed me a form to fill out for background check.  One of the things they ask for is your residence for the past 7 years, meaning I had to use Google Maps to get the zip codes for some of my past addresses!  Shortly thereafter I went inside to interview with Jen and another lady, Betsy.  They asked about my volunteer history and I went over the list of some of my usual organizations.  Then they asked why I volunteer – a question which is not the easiest to answer – and I told them the story of how I had moved here and spent a year not knowing many people, and so got involved in the community.  Next up was my presentation and I said that I was going to talk about an incident from one of my earliest visits to a zoo.

I must have been 5 or 6 years old and had gone to the zoo with my parents.  I remember getting close to a Monkey’s cage and on display was a younger one, who was looking to play.  That meant that he reached out and grabbed hold of my hair in both of his paws and wouldn't let go for a long time.  I honestly don’t know if my dad was worried or amused at this but my mom definitely freaked out.  It ended well since the little one was just trying to say hello, but considering I was a kid myself, something like this could have scarred me…but it didn't.  Betsy and Jen enjoyed this story and I guess this covered my “presentation” requirement.  I told them that my mom always said that being the dominant species means we have a responsibility towards the others and that’s what people at zoo’s do.  Jen said that the zoo is not just a collection of animals on display, but it also helps with endangered species and several other conservation efforts that people have never heard of.

Next they asked me why I was interested in volunteering for ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’ and I said that to be very honest, while I liked animals, I did not love them.  So that was not the reason why I was there.  But I did want to learn more about the other species and this was a way to do it.  Plus, I loved immersive volunteering experiences and this one would definitely be one of those.  They asked what role I wanted and I said that while education role was an interesting one, the commitment was a lot in terms of the upfront training.  Also, the retail job would be fun since I would love to see kids try and convince their parents to let them buy plush animals.  However, I said that I would stick to guest relations since it covered the entire zoo.  Jen said that she agreed and it would be a good fit for me.  Next steps were scheduling two additional rounds of training and I knew that I would need to move things around for those.  Plus, Sunday’s from 1-5 pm was when I would be working, meaning that I would miss out on the afternoon ‘NFL’ games.  But I think I am going to enjoy doing this one, and know that I will be amongst some really nice people…and animals.

Job Coaching

Location: Open Door Shelter

Date: Monday, April 07, 2014; 6:45-8:30 pm

As with most Chicago Cares projects, I had not been to this one in a long time as well.  I arrived early and settled in the familiar lobby to wait for Claire and other volunteers, who arrived shortly after.  All of them were new to the place and many were in fact volunteering for the first time, including a group of 4 guys who had a lot of energy.  They had several questions for Claire and me and it was clear that their positive attitude would help.  We went upstairs and I did not recognize any of the youth from before, which was understandable owing to my absence and since they keep rotating residents after a few weeks stay.  It looked like we would have 7 youth this evening, which was perfect since there were 7 volunteers and so everyone would get individual attention. 

There I am!

We gathered around the table and after introductions, Claire started us off with an icebreaker game.  For this one she taped the name of a personality – either real or fictitious – on everyone’ back and we had to guess who we were by asking others questions.  The youth next to me had ‘Barack Obama’ taped to her back and she was very keen on discovering her identity.  She asked plenty of questions and was able to guess correctly.  Next to her was ‘Batman’ and that was a trickier proposition than ‘Obama’.  Another one was ‘David Beckham’ and the youth had absolutely no idea who that was.  I was ‘Michael Jordan’ and I could guess that in a few questions, especially when I learned it was a Chicago based ‘NBA’ athlete.

It was time for the main activity and today’s topic was ‘Networking’.  I was paired with a youth who certainly looked the part since he was wearing a suit and tie.  He said that he wanted help on his resume and I said that we could start off with what he already had and then build on it.  He said that never had one before and so we decided to make one from the scratch.  We went to the computer room and he told me that he wasn’t very good with computers and so I took over and we started with a blank sheet.  I asked for his email address and at first he couldn't remember what it was, but then gave me a gmail address.  We then added the phone number and address of ODS and that took care of the header.

Next, we outlined the 4 main sections – “Objective, Education, History & Accomplishments and Other Interests & Activities”.  I asked what he wanted to become and he said a psychiatrist.  I said that we would write the Objective accordingly and so looked at an online template of a resume for someone applying for a psychiatrist’s position.  We borrowed some of the language for our objective and I mentioned that as a practice, he should use this as an example to craft objectives for other positions.  For Education we put down his expected High School graduation date and for fun, also added a college and graduate school, including a PhD.  He wanted to add ‘Ohio State University’ as his school of choice and why not!

He had never held a job or worked at all, so the History section was going to be a challenge.  He said that he was a member of ‘ROTC’ or ‘Reserve Officers Training Corps’ and I said that while it would typically go in the final Activities section, we could include it here.  I had never heard of this organization and so once again we relied on the internet for reference.  He told me that he had volunteered with them at Homeless shelters; packing and delivering Christmas presents.  Besides that he had other volunteering experiences with them, such as being a school usher for parents during Open House etc.  I said that we should definitely use all of this and asked him some additional questions to quantify these activities; once again preaching the importance of quantification, for it shows people that you are not just making things up.  So we wrote sentences such as, “Part of a group that twice served dinner for over 250 homeless people”. 

I learned that he was a part of the Wrestling as well as the Track team, and so we decided to include that in the Activities section.  Furthermore, he said that he was a “Competitive Poet”.  What?  He said that he had taken part in poetry competitions!  I said that this was definitely making the resume, which was looking quite decent at this stage.  I said that it showed that he had Compassion because of his volunteering, Discipline because of ‘ROTC’, Teamwork, because of his sports and Artistic qualities due to his poetry.  I told him to use this resume as a template for future opportunities.  He seemed pleased and thanked me.  We discussed the importance of a cover letter and decided to write a sample.  I told him about the difference between the cover letter and resume and then created a framework with 3 paragraphs, with the 1st stating interest in the job, the 2nd  introducing his skills and the 3rd requesting an interview.  He wanted to know how the cover letter would be used and I said that it should be the main body of his email application with the resume being attached. 

Claire called us out in the main room and asked all the volunteers to stand in a line with a youth in front of each.  This was our version of “speed networking”, where we would have 2 minutes with each youth, and they would ask us questions like, “Where do you work”, “Do you like your job”, “What education or skills do you need for that job” etc.  I started with the ‘Barack Obama’ girl and she was asking the right questions.  Some of the other youth were not taking this seriously and were more interested in my personal background, which would not be relevant in a professional networking environment.  But not all were like this and one of the guys was exceptional in the way he was conducting himself and it looked like he really wanted to learn and practice.  Claire then had a debriefing session with all of us and then we left after another successful session.  The youth I had worked with had learned something and hopefully he will use it as a springboard.  For me, it had been a nice return after the extended layover. 

Art Smart At Brunson

Location: Brunson (Milton) Math & Science Specialty Elementary School

Date: Saturday, April 05, 2014; 9:50 am-11:30 pm

Back after a long time

It had been a really long time since I had done this project.  In fact, it had been a long time since I had done any Saturday school project!  I signed up for this and then debated switching to ‘Mad Scientist’, but decided to stick with my original plan.  This meant the extended bus ride which took its time, but eventually deposited me a block away from the school.  As I walked up to the entrance I found it to be locked.  Since it was time for the project to start I thought that they may have changed the entrance since I had been here last, but then someone came and let me in.  Went to the usual classroom and saw that Sara was already there with a couple of volunteers, including a regular leader for the Chicago Cares’ ‘Boys and Girls Club’ project on Monday’s.  It had been a year since I had been here last, when we had done projects to celebrate ‘Earth Day’.  Sara said that it was the theme for this morning’s project as well.  Well, if nothing else, at least I am consistent!

Through this project we were aiming to educate the kids about being "green", but Sara was concerned that we were using Styrofoam plates for one of the activities.  I said that my background was in polymers and although this was a stretch, we could mention that Styrofoam was a polymer and some plastics could be recycled.  Plus we could use them to make products to replace wood, thus preventing trees from being chopped.  There’s always a teaching moment in everything.  Soon we were joined by the kids as well as another volunteer.  Sara handed out a printout of the ‘Earth Day’ facts and all of us took turns in reading it.  I must say that of all the school projects, the kids over here are some of the best-behaved and all of them were keen to read – something that we struggle with in other places. 

Now where have I seen this before?

Our first project was a repeat of something else that I done here before, ‘Marbled Paper’ made from shaving cream.  As we distributed the supplies, I reminded the kids that this was shaving and not whipped cream, lest they try to taste it!  There were two little girls on my table and the younger one was making a green heart on her shaving cream, saying that green was her favorite color.  It certainly went with our theme for the day. The older one wrote, “I love school”, something that I would not have expected.  I asked them what they liked about school, and the younger gild said that she liked Math, though she wanted to be an actor!  I made the exact same design as last year, colored circles, followed by designs using the back of a brush.  I transferred it on paper and while it was smudged on the edges, it looked passable.  That was until I saw the design's that the kids behind me had made - full of colors and creativity.

Now that's a tote bag!

Next, we were decorating tote bags, again something that we had done before. The bags this time were a lot bigger, meaning more real estate for kids to play with.  The younger girl picked a green bag and then using green paint, started drawing hearts on it.  There was definitely a pattern to her art work!  The older girl was finishing her design on the shaving cream and needed my help in transferring it to paper. While the transfer wasn’t perfect, she was a sweet kid and said that she liked it anyways.  She then selected a purple bag and started painting the base blue like an ocean.  I told her to use two shades of blue to show the waves and she liked that idea.  She said that I was going to be her co-painter and consultant and with that decided, we got underway.  Next came white clouds, followed by an island.  She then drew a tree and I put red dots on it as apples.  Next was a boat with sails and finally a man picking the apples.  It really looked good and she was pleased, thanking me twice for helping, though it was all her.

Next, the kids went to the gym to run around.  It seems that they get just one session of gym a week and this is their opportunity to get some additional playtime.  I mentioned to Sara that it was sad that it was so little time, but at least they were getting something.  The kids invited me to join them and I went for a bit to see them play with skipping ropes, do handstands and also shoot some hoops.  They looked happy, though it was hardly 10 minutes before they had to leave.  I chatted with the other volunteers as the kids prepared to head out.  It had been a lovely morning and a refreshing reboot for me.  I had not done a Chicago Cares project in a long time and I realized what I had been missing.  And it’s all because of the kids over here.  It definitely makes the long bus ride worthwhile.  

Lincoln Park Zoo Volunteer Orientation

Location: Lincoln Park Zoo

Date: Sunday, March 23, 2014; 10:00-11:00 am

The summer that I moved to Chicago, I spent many an afternoon exploring the city and on one such walk came to the gates of ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’.  The thing which amazed me the most was the fact that it was completely free…I mean nothings free right?  Then I attended the incredible ‘Zoo Lights’ event two years in a row, once as a visitor and then as a volunteer with One Brick. I saw the staff members at the same Volunteer Expo where I had met the 'Adler' staff, and I signed up for opportunities.  I received an email saying there was an orientation session this Sunday morning and I responded in affirmative. 

It was still frozen outside

I arrived at the zoo early enough, but since the main entrance was closed, I had to find my way through to the other entrance in slick snow and ice and then make it to the Grand Carousel.  Apparently the meeting place was in a room below that!  I was greeted by two very friendly ladies who offered me coffee and munchkin donuts before entering into the auditorium.  Well, we were off to a good start.  I went inside to see that about 30 people had shown up, and it definitely was a big gathering for an orientation.  I took a seat and next to me was a table with some items and a few people dressed in zoo uniforms standing next to it.  I noticed a round dirty looking thing and asked one of the staff memebrs what it was.  She asked me to guess and I said, “Prehistoric Dirt”.  Well, it was “Rhino Poo”, so I wasn’t too far off.  There was also something that looked like a small skeleton of ‘Batman’, and indeed it was a bat. 

At 10 am sharp the chief of volunteer coordination started her speech by welcoming us and then said that she would soon invite the various team leaders to talk about opportunities in their groups. She gave a general overview by telling us that the zoo had over 300 volunteers and that resulted in an overall savings of over $1M.  She then asked if the people in the audience had any volunteer experience and almost everyone did.  First up was the girl who had shown me the “Rhino Poo”, and she talked about her group, which was Education.  They were recruiting for “Guest Engagement Ambassadors”, who would educate guests by having various learning stations throughout the zoo.  There would be carts with props and that would help the education volunteers explain concepts such as key differences between species etc.  It sounded similar to the tasks at ‘Adler’, though it would require extensive training for 3 days.

Next up was a lady who talked about ‘Guest Relations Volunteers’, otherwise known as the folks in green shirts who are spread all over the zoo. They usually help in answering visitor questions, most of which are directions to the bathroom.  The main requirement was a friendly demeanor and a willingness to meet people.  She told us how this would be exciting since the volunteers would get to move all over the zoo and be stationed at different locations.  It required a one year commitment of 4 hours per week.  Next was a lady who spoke about volunteer positions in retail and used a plush polar bear toy as her prop.  She said that working in retail meant that the volunteers would always be in A/C or heat, irrespective of the outside environment.  It was clear that all the speakers were engaged in a friendly game of one-upmanship, trying to woo volunteers to their respective departments.  Next were folks who talked about gardening and nature pond conservation projects as well as the opportunities in food farm.  Obviously these were areas I was not interested in and so it was down to one of the others.  We also learnt that zoo had several “Special Events” throughout the year and need volunteers for that as well. 

We now had an opportunity to meet with the various groups individually and also sign-up for interviews.  I told the main volunteer coordinator about my schedule and they said that they could work around that.  There was only one interview slot that would have worked for me, but that was taken.  I managed to convince the ladies to schedule me for a slot earlier than normal start, but it wasn’t 100% certain that they could make it work.  For the interview I had to come prepared with a short 5 minute presentation to showcase my comfort in public speaking.  Well, hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem.  As I left the zoo, I knew that if I was to do this, I would be working with the friendliest group of people that I have encountered with any organization.  I think I am going to enjoy this one. 

Adler Planetarium Interview – Part 1

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2014; 6:00-6:30 pm

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

-          Carl Sagan

I was a kid when I first saw ‘Cosmos’ and to be honest, was completely underwhelmed; preferring instead to travel the galaxy with ‘Captain Kirk’ and his merry men on ‘USS Enterprise’.  It took years before I could truly appreciate the brilliance of Carl Sagan, for he was not just trying to wow us with the wonders of the Universe; he was aiming to awaken the curiosity…the passion, for discovery.  He took us to our past in order to show us our future.  And it wasn’t just him or ‘Star Trek’, there were the ‘Voyager’ missions, the ‘Space Shuttles’, the ‘Mars Explorer’, the ‘Cassini’ mission…everything contributed towards me becoming fascinated with our Universe and its exploration.  Years ago I had visited ‘Adler Planetarium’ during a trip to Chicago.  Little did I know then that someday I would be applying to be a part of the team.

The final frontier

I had met the staff of Adler at a ‘Volunteer Expo’ last month and learned that like any other organization, they too required volunteers for their museum as well as special events.  I had submitted an application and felt that if selected, for once I could use my science background as a volunteer.  Not having heard back for several weeks I filled out another application online and then received an email from the volunteer coordinator Natalie, requesting an interview.  The times that she had proposed were going to be difficult for me, so after a bit of to-and-fro, we settled on this evening.  I tweeted in the morning that I was interviewing at Adler and tagged them.  I had said that it was my chance to “finally reach for the stars”.  They immediately marked it as “favorite” and wished me luck.  Looks like I was off to a good start.

I arrived to find that the door was locked, so I called her and a security lady then let me in.  Natalie met me and took me into a classroom.  She had asked me to get my resume and I handed it to her, saying that this was my first interview with a resume in several years.  She asked me why I was interested in volunteering for them, and I told her about watching ‘Cosmos’ as a kid and the other events that had led me there.  She asked about my science background and I said that while I was trained as a Chemist rather than a Physicist, she should not hold it against me!  She said that they would bring me in as an ‘Adler After Dark’ volunteer.  I had been to that event a few times last year and enjoyed it quite a bit.  She said that I would be managing carts with experimental set-ups on them; engaging and educating the visitors.  Plus there would be other roles that I would be helping out as required.

The next step was a group interview with the staff leader Michael, where I would need to do a 15 minute experiment as a demo.  Yikes!  Fortunately that was almost a month away and I had some time to think of what I would be doing.  Then there would be a 4 hour orientation before they could let me loose on the visitors.  They needed a one year commitment, with the events being once a month.  I said I could do that and now it was just a question of me preparing for my demo experiment.  As I left that day, I thought about the famous dialogue from ‘Seinfeld’ when ‘George’ goes to work for the ‘Yankees’ – “Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle ... Costanza?”.  In this case it was – “Einstein, Hawkins, Sagan, deGrasse Tyson…Tipnis?”  Well, it would be an interesting ride to the final frontier for sure.

American Cancer Society Making Strides Steering Committee Meeting

Location: American Cancer Society Office

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2014; 6:00-7:00 pm

Carrie had made it clear during our kick-off meeting that there would be no passengers this year and everyone had to be serious about their time commitment, as well as thoughtful regarding their role.  Prior to this meeting she had sent some forms to be filled by prospective committee members, and which included things such as preferred meeting schedule.  She also asked us why we wanted to be on the committee and what we would bring to the team.  I said that I had enjoyed my time on the committee last year and would love to repeat that.  I also stated that I was an event leader with One Brick and as such would be in a position to request volunteers as needed.  One of the questions was what my ideal ‘Strides’ event would look like and I said that I had just seen one last October.  Finally, I said that I preferred to be a “General Volunteer”, contributing wherever needed and that I would prefer Tuesday’s to be the day for the meetings.  Well, I don’t know if she agreed with the other things, but Tuesday’s it was going forward. 

My favorite studio

I arrived at 6 pm to find some new faces and a bunch of paperwork in front of Carrie.  She handed us each a binder and said that we would be filling it up over the course of the year. Looking at the stuff on the table, it looked like we would be filling it up this evening! We were going to be chatting with the team in Indianapolis over ‘Skype’ since they were having their meeting at the same time as us.  In order to get us all in the camera shot, we had to re-arrange our seating positions.  But even with all of this planning, we were having some technical difficulties and while we could see their team, the reception was shoddy at best.  So we disconnected and moved back to our original spots.  First order of business was an icebreaker for everyone to get to know each other, and Carrie asked us for our favorite movie, this after all being the awards season.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear many off-beat movie names such as ‘Dirty Dancing’, ‘Saturday Night Fever ’and ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’.  Surprisingly there was only one ‘Academy Award’ winner in ‘Gigi’, not exactly a well-known film.  When  my turn came, I said that I favored anything made by ‘Pixar’ and there was a lot of nodding on that one.

Carrie showed us the meeting schedule for the year and it looks like she is going to be firm on the rule of 7 out of 9 attendances.  She also made us sign some sort of a “pledge form” and said that people could potentially be kicked off the committee for not following guidelines.  Then she started passing out documents that would go inside our binders, starting with maps for “Lake Area" walks such as the ones in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.  After this she talked about ‘ACS CAN – Cancer Action Network’.  ACS does not have any paid lobbyists and so they rely on ‘CAN’ on being the “voice of change” for policies.  She insisted on all of us joining – a requirement to be on the committee – and our job as a member would be to respond to a call for action, such as petitioning local politicians etc. 

Statistics on ACS funds and spending

Next, we saw some statistics on how ACS spends its money and where it comes from.  Almost 72% is directly spent on Cancer related programs and services, such as research, patient support and education, whereas the remaining 28% is utilized for covering expenses.  Furthermore, 62% of the money comes from funds raised through people.  Only 5% comes from Government grants and 33% is via investments.  This means that promotion is of critical importance and one of our key promotional events last year was the “Kick-off breakfast”.  Carrie said that the aim for this year was to improve on the number of attendees from last year and she was aiming for at least 450 people.  She then went into details of what each committee would be doing including the appointment of two co-chairs to work with Carrie and Jessie throughout the year.  We had some feedback from the walk last year and there were a few areas where we were ranked lower and needed improvement, such as Entertainment.  Well, that was good, since we now knew what we had to work on.

In the end my binder was quite thick with all of the handouts from this evening’s session.  I gave my pledge form and while I wanted to sign up for 'CAN', Carrie did not have change and so I said that I would do it next time.  I left soon, but only after collecting a pin to promote the “Colonrectal Cancer Awareness Month”.  As an assignment, we were to register for our committee team – or start one of our own.  Plus, for the next meeting we were to come with 3 ideas for the walk and also their execution strategy.  It was definitely a lot to think about in the interim.  But something tells me that it will all be worthwhile. 

Meals On Wheels King Of The River Casino Night

Location: Chicago Cultural Center

Date: Friday, March 07, 2014; 5:30-11:30 pm

Under the dome

I had done the ‘Meals On Wheels, Celebrity Chef Gala’ back in October and it was one of the most upscale One Brick events that I had been a part of.  This was another fund raiser for them – a good old fashioned Casino Night!  I had opted in as the EC and Kinga was going to be the EM.  She sent out an email a few days prior asking if people were comfortable dealing.  Well, I was not and told her so, even offering to find another EC.  But she said that as event leaders we would not be required to do any dealing and so I was good.  The venue was the fantastic ‘Chicago Cultural Center’, a place I have visited several times.  I arrived to find that the grand hall had been transformed into a casino floor, all under the beautiful ‘Tiffany Glass Dome’.  It definitely was an elegant venue for the event.

I found Kinga assembled with some of our volunteers and she handed out some fancy looking lanyards, saying that they had to be returned at the end of the evening.  Being winter, everyone was wearing heavy coats and the first thing to do was take them over to coat check-in, which was at the lower level.  I was hoping that the organizers wouldn't require any of our volunteers to be at watching the coats and fortunately two members from the catering company were going to be there for the duration of the evening.  Well, as long the guests were getting food, the arrangement would work. 

Our team was ready

Back upstairs it was time for some training and for that we had to fill out a form, which was essentially our background check with Illinois State Department…or someone equally bureaucratic. They required our social security number and that ruffled a few feathers, when someone did not want to give it in writing on this form.  He had a point though since these background checks should have been done earlier, and plus this volunteer had submitted their information multiple times in the past for other ‘casino’ events.  So why couldn't the state agency just use that?  Well, the situation was getting a bit heated, with the guy in charge stating emphatically that our volunteer will not be allowed to deal and should return his lanyard.  We had reached a standoff and it was only diffused when another gentleman stepped in and said that our volunteer could stay as long as he provided a phone number for them to reach him later.

The next step was the actual training for the dealers and for that, a retired gentleman called Nick was going to help the volunteers.  He looked like he had stepped out of a movie and immediately put everyone at ease by saying that if there was any sign of trouble during the tournament, the dealers were to defer to him and he would take care of the situation.  He then took a group to a table for training them on ‘Texas Holdem’ and I could see that people were having fun learning from him.  On the other side of the room were ‘Blackjack’ tables, ‘Roulette Wheel’ and ‘Craps’ table.  While most of our volunteers would be dealing at poker, the rest of our team spread out at each of these stations.  We also had someone selling raffle tickets and a few others as “floaters” in case anyone needed a break. 

What does fate have in store for me?

The guests started filtering in and although the game floor wasn’t open yet, they were enjoying the bar and appetizers that were being passed around.  While they waited, there were other stations to entertain them, such as a hand massager, wine tasting, a woman doing henna and a ‘Tarot’ reader.  It did appear that people were more interested in the open bar than any of these activities, and so I went over to have my “fortune” read.  The ‘Tarot’ guy seemed liked a decent chap and said that he would draw 4 cards and use them to discuss my future.  The 1^st card represents things as they are, 2^nd is the obstacles, 3^rd is the outcome and the 4^th ties it all together.  My 1^st card was a “luxury” one and he said that it means that I currently have materialistic things in my life and those have been achieved, or acquired through me not caring about what others think…through doing things my way.  Well, he was definitely right about that!  The “obstacle” card said that I would be facing a decision soon, for which I would use my heart, when I should be considering every possibility and outcomes.  That also sounded like something that I would do.  The “outcome” card was an upside down moon and he said that in 10 months I will have a life-changing opportunity, whatever that means.  The final card looked like a bored woman and he said that it means that when that opportunity presented itself, I should not be apathetic.  Whether or not I take the opportunity would eventually depend on me. 

With my fortune read, I thanked the guy and moved on to check on our volunteers.  The raffle team was selling and now the poker tournament was underway as well.  It looked like the dealers were doing well and Nick was at hand to answer all of their questions.  I walked past the Roulette table and remembered my time at another event last year when I had run that for over 4 hours, and enjoyed every minute of it.  At the Craps table, one of our volunteers was doing a fantastic job of encouraging people to play.  This is one of the casino games that I never figured out, though it seems to have one of the busiest table layout in terms of the playing options.  The crowd was enjoying themselves at this station and alcohol definitely had something to do with it.  As the evening wound down, some of our volunteers came off their shift and Kinga said that they could go enjoy the party.  The poker tournament was now consolidated at a “champions” table and there were 9 players left.  As people got eliminated, Kinga was handing them a certificate with their final rank as well as prizes.  One guy was playing for a 3^rd place prize, which were ‘White Sox’ tickets. I kept telling him how to manipulate his bids in order to ensure that he did that.  He came close to finishing 5^th which were ‘Cubs’ tickets, and he said that there was no way he would accept them.  He finally finished 4^th, which was a golf outing for 4 people. His friends in the crowd – who really wanted this one – cheered loudly as if he had won the tournament.

The great cause that this supports

The evening was almost over and I chatted with one of the girls who had been doing coat-check earlier, and learned that she was from Connecticut.  That gave us an opportunity to talk about‘UCONN’ and the ‘Huskies’ basketball team.  Our shift was over and some of our volunteers were headed to the after party at a bar, where it seems the password to get in was “King.”  As appealing as that sounded, I had stuff do the next day and so I left.  It had been a busy evening and while it wasn’t one of the better One Brick projects, at least I had my fortune read! Plus, it was for a great cause.  Recently I have done a lot of gala events for One Brick and I was feeling a bit jaded.  While typically I would sign up for events way in advance, for the first time in almost a year, there wasn’t any upcoming project on my schedule.  It was time to take a break from One Brick, so that I could return back refreshed, and with the enthusiasm that had made me a top volunteer with the organization last year.  

Help With The Francis Xavier Warde 2014 Gala

Location: Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile

Date: Saturday, March 01, 2014; 6:30-9:30 pm

I had heard about this event from Amanda, who had gone to this school and was volunteering for this event directly with them.  When it showed up on One Brick calendar, I had to get involved and so opted in as EC. The event was being conducted in the downtown Marriott and was expected to have an attendance of 1,000 people, all gathered to raise money for the school.  So the question in my mind was why One Brick would get involved in a school fund raiser.  Well, the answer was on the opportunity description on the website, which read, “The Frances Xavier Warde School is a Catholic elementary school in downtown Chicago that provides an academically excellent, values-oriented education to students of all ethnic, religious, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in a child-centered urban environment. As a keystone of its diverse community, The Frances Xavier Warde School provides need-based scholarships to 30 percent of its students. The Frances Xavier Warde School partners with its families, nurtures faith development for its Catholic students, and engages all its students to learn about and respect other faith traditions. The Frances Xavier Warde School uses a rigorous curriculum that enables students to grow, clarify their values, and develop decision-making skills and a sense of responsibility for themselves and the world they will inherit.” Well, there was no doubt that everything they said was absolutely true, considering that I know a graduate of that program and the person that she is.

Being a gala, I was wearing a suit and dress shoes, meaning the walk in the snow was going to be interesting as usual.  It was the same location as the ‘Aspire’ gala that I had done recently and so it wasn’t too difficult for me to make my way to the 7^th floor where they have the grand ballroom. There was already a buzz with the guests having arrived, and Michelle – the organizer – told me to go to the 6^th floor where our team was assembling.  I went there and checked-in with Tiffany, our EM for the evening, and saw a woman who had volunteered with me at the ‘Aspire’ event as well.  Some of the other regulars started arriving, including Gary, who owed me money for a ticket and so handed me a huge wad of cash.  As everyone stared at this exchange I said, “Let this be a lesson to all of you on why one should become an EC!” 

The ballroom

Michelle came down and said that there was an immediate need for 4 pairs of volunteers to go and sell bracelets for a game called “Heads or Tails”.  In this game, everyone who had bought a bracelet from the volunteers would be asked to stand up at one point during the evening’s celebrations.  Then the announcer would go “heads or tails” and the people would either touch their head or…well, tail.  Then the announcer would flip a coin and depending on how it fell, some would be eliminated and the game would continue till there was only one person left standing; and who would win $1,000.  Hmm, looks like someone had spent a lot of time thinking about this one.  We assigned 4 pairs to go sell the tickets, while I stayed in the volunteer room with Tiffany, since people had left their stuff there and the room did not have a lock.  Plus we were expecting some more volunteers to show up as well.  The next task for us was to have a few volunteers guard their high-valued ‘Silent Auction” items and so we sent the remaining people there. It seemed like our immediate task for the evening was complete.

Tiffany said that she could stay and watch over the room and so I went upstairs to check on our folks.  They were spread out amongst the big crowd and I could see some of them selling the “heads or tails” bracelets.  I saw one of our volunteers guarding a necklace at the auction tables and I guess this was what they had been referring to as a high-priced item.  I took some pictures and around 7:30 pm the crowd was ushered into the ballroom for dinner, meaning we could take a break.  As we went back to the volunteer room, we saw that there was a food spread, though we were told that it was for “their volunteers”.  I said that we were with One Brick and as such one of “their volunteers”, but it looked like it would take a lot of argument and it wasn’t worth our time. 

We sat in the lobby awaiting instructions for our next task and it allowed me an opportunity to talk about One Brick with some of the first time volunteers.  Now that the dinner for the guests was done, our task was to spread out all over the room and point when people stood up to participate.  A same approach was required with the ‘Live Auction’ to follow, though we weren't given the fancy airline torches like my previous visit here!  While our team spread out, I went back downstairs to wait with Tiffany and after some time excused myself to go watch the conclusion of the festivities.  I arrived just in time to see a video on what the school does and it was impressive to see the effort they put into integrating the various kids from the community and they truly have a diverse program.  Before commencing with the auction, they had a call to “Fund a Scholar”, which was essentially asking for donations; similar to something that I had seen at other fund raisers. 

The rewards of our labor!

The ‘Live Auction’ began and despite the huge size of the room, I was impressed by the auctioneer’s ability to cover the entire crowd.  The prizes were impressive, including one to visit ‘United Center’ and meet with an NBA referee.  He was in attendance, since his kids went to the school, and was more than happy to come up to the stage and “sell” to the crowd.  One of my favorite prizes was a lunch with 4 priests, including private dining and conversations, accompanied by 2 bottles of ‘Dom Perignon’ champagne!  This one turned out to be a bidding war between two gentlemen and went over $8,000.  Due to its popularity they decided to have one more of these so that both of them could purchase it.  Last item was a “Casino Night” at the school and there were only 125 spots that were open.  So everyone stood up and then as the price kept going up, people backed off, till there were only 125 left.  It was time for us to leave and I gathered our team, we collected our stuff and left.  A few of us went to ‘Eataly’ for a drink and 'Nutella'!  It had been a wonderful event and I had been wrong about this just being a fund raiser for a school.  It was much more than that.  It was hope for those kids and families who wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to go to a school like this.  It was definitely a worthy cause.