Valentine’s Day Special: Senior Breakfast Club

Location: Zelda Ormes Apartments

Date: Saturday, February 14, 2015; 9:00 am-12:00 pm

It was ‘Valentine’s Day’ again and no, I was not going to ‘Lakeview Pantry'.  I was in fact going to a new place for a Saturday morning Senior’s breakfast.  Rosie from Chicago Cares asked if I could lead since the regular leader was busy, but when I asked several question about the place, the Bingo game etc., she said that another regular volunteer Francie would lead instead.  There was a problem with the trains that morning and so I just took a cab to the place.  I arrived and went inside to see that Francie was there arranging everything but there were no other volunteers. 

I said that we should get started and my first task was cutting sausages.  There were a lot of packages and not enough pans or utensils to keep them in.  That we could overcome, our main problem was that as time went by, it seemed like no other volunteers were going to show up.  Francie was not a leader yet and did not have access to the leader portal.  This meant that she would not know if people were cancelling on her and for all we knew, this was it…which is exactly what it turned out to be.  This meant that we had to be super-efficient, though it was going to be a challenge.

We had more than enough Sausages

The tray was full of chopped sausages and I started cooking, though it was going to take some time.  Francie was making biscuits in the oven while chopping fruits on the table outside.  Some of the guests came in and they were being a bit demanding.  Francie kept saying to them that it was just the two of us today and we were trying hard.  Fortunately, one lady who appeared to be the resident coordinator was helping us by serving juice and coffee, but the crowd was getting impatient.  Francie was trying her best to remain patient and polite as people kept demanding things.  I was cooking sausages in batches and putting them in whatever containers we could find...and we did not have many of those either.  It is easy to be dynamic with limited utensils when there are more people, but when there are no volunteers, you become static in your process and thus need as many things as you can get.

I started breaking eggs – 18 at a time, and then started cooking scrambled eggs on the stove next to the sausages.  We had everything going simultaneously and to her credit, Francie was doing a terrific job in getting food out just as I was sending it from the kitchen.  I finished with all the sausages and then focused on the eggs.  Because of the speed that I had to work at, I was getting egg splashes and some other stuff all over me.  Just then there was a request for more sausages and so I opened more packs and moved to that… and then there was a call for more eggs!  It was relentless, but finally the lady who was helping us said that it was enough.

But that was just one aspect of the project.  Now the residents were calling out for 'Bingo' and so Francie moved to that while I started on the massive task of cleanup.  Cleaning the pans used for greasy sausages and eggs was a task and a half.  It took me a long time and I was just done with the dishes just as the game got over.  I then cleaned the countertops and stove while the helper lady mopped the floor.  I thought we were all done, but the lady asked me to put the container with Chicago Cares stuff into the closet.  The said container was really heavy and I huffed and puffed there.  Just as I was checking the room to see if anything was left, one resident asked if she knew me from anywhere.  Unfortunately I was tired and so rather than engage in a long chat, I just said that this was my first time here.  I asked Francie if anything was left to do and since there wasn’t anything, I left.  But not before I had to chase Francie to hand her the signup sheet, which the helper lady in turn had chased after me for.  I did not say "well done" to Francie or anything kind, even though she deserved it. All things considered, she had really done a great job. I was just ticked off.  I felt that Chicago Cares had let us down by not having a staff member to help, especially as they should have seen the volunteers drop off.  There was no check-up to see if we were doing well.  Now wouldn’t this be something for the “Auxiliary Board” to talk about!  It was by far one of the most disappointing experiences as a Chicago Cares volunteer…and on this day too.