Location: Britton/Budd Apartments
Date: Monday, June 09, 2014; 6:15 -7:30 pm
I was in a good mood. My friend had been promoted and there’s
nothing better than someone’s hard work being rewarded, especially when it’s one
of your own. So with a proverbial skip
in my step and the proverbial song in my heart, I arrived at the site and as I
checked in with the security, even got my own entry pass sticker. Another high security senior center! I went into the activity room and found that
one of my favorite residents, Elvina was reviewing the large stack of Bingo
cards as if it was the ‘Zapruder Film’. She was going to get the exact numbers that
she wanted and after an extensive search, she sat down at a table satisfied with
her selection. I joined her and another
resident, Sylvia.
 |
| Prizes for this evening |
I asked Elvina if she was
enjoying the weather and she said that she had gone out in a skirt for the
first time this season yesterday and found the temperature to be freezing. I said that’s a shame since she definitely would have looked great in a skirt!
Sylvia pulled out a massive smart phone which looked more sophisticated
than mine. Elvina said that they should
have that as a prize and maybe someday that’s what Chicago Cares would do to surprise
the residents. Speaking of Chicago
Cares, Elvina said that she saw the ‘Serve-a-thon’
rally on TV. I said that I was there, at
which both of them thanked me and others at Chicago Cares for what we do.
I asked what they would typically
do after the Bingo game and they said that there was nothing good on the TV
tonight. Elvina said that she may catch ‘Wheel of Fortune’, though she was
getting interested in basketball. I said
that there was one week left in the season and so she better watch as much as
she can. Sylvia said that tomorrow was
the first episode of a new season of some show that I had never heard of. She described it as ‘MacGyver’ meeting a medical drama, about a doctor who uses
whatever tools are at his disposal to treat patients. They were encouraging me to start watching, but being in its 8th season means that I have missed
a lot. I told them that starting on a new
show is a whole lot of commitment for me and there there is added pressure to stick with
it!
In the meanwhile the game was
about to start and Elvina was not happy with the quality of her Bingo
cards. They had been replaced just last
year but were already falling apart. I
said that I would get her better ones and she said that she wanted the number ‘9’ on it. Then she wanted the number ‘8’ on the other one. Aah, the superstitions. Sylvia had a favorite number as well – ‘4’ – but would take whatever is
available. We made decent progress on
the first game and I even told Elvina that I had a good day and we would
definitely win. Well, win I did and
asked Elvina to select a prize and she took hand soap. It’s always tricky to select which of the
residents would get my winnings and I mentioned to Sylvia that she would be
next. This is one of those places where
everyone wins and they are really nice to give their prizes away the second
time around. So after Sylvia had won and
I won my second round, both Elvina and Sylvia wanted me to give away the prize
and I selected a lady on the next table.
In fact one of the ladies had come late after everyone had won and so
someone offered her a prize. She said
that she shouldn't since she was late, but everyone insisted. What a crowd!
Veronica, our Volunteer leader
asked if I wanted to call the game. I
asked Elvina if I should stay – since I was proving to be lucky – or go as the
caller. She replied by saying that she
did not wish to be selfish and wanted to share me with everyone. That may be the sweetest thing that I have
ever been told. I started in my best “baritone voice” by wishing everyone a
good evening and then spun the hamster wheel, while trying to
calculate the probability of getting a number.
Yeah, I do need a life. Prizes were
now disappearing and soon it was time for the last game. The late comer lady called out and realized that it was a false alarm. She was really
polite and apologized profusely. Despite
me continuing to drop balls we soon handed out the final prize. I left after saying goodbye to Elvina and Sylvia,
thinking the same thing as before: It is an absolute pleasure to spend an
evening with these folks, especially Elvina.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
No comments:
Post a Comment