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A Little Story from ThriveDC
I thought of a little story from yesterday’s volunteer work at Thrive. A very talkative and articulate woman chatted me up. Frankly, I wasn’t sure whether she was a staff member or a “client.” She was a client. She noticed I was from Boston and we talked about that. Then she asked for extra soap explaining that she was a bit obsessive about hand-washing. She was thrilled to hear I was married to a dutiful (not obsessive) hand washer.
After our first encounter, she came back a little later asked if a lot of people were telling me stories. I said no, not to that point. Then she asked if I would mind if she told me a story. I said of course not. She pointed to a small clear sandwich bag that she had tied to her pocketbook. It contained paper with handwriting on it. She told me that she found the paper on the floor of a bus and that it was a love note from a man to a woman. For whatever reason, she kept it and carried it with her everywhere.
That’s it. The whole story. I told her someone could write a book about that.
Volunteering for ThriveDC
Today was my first volunteer experience at ThriveDC. It was very rewarding. I was surprised with the good humor in a room filled with people living on the edge. Lots of laughter and joshing. These people were mostly homeless and clearly struggling with life. ThriveDC gives them the basics, food and hygiene and the recipients were very warmly grateful.
I was staffing the hygiene corner. My partner was a staff member named Brian. He is young man in his twenties with a pony tail. I asked him what he did outside Thrive? He said he mainly protested. I asked what he protested. He said “Everything.” He grew up on Bethesda and Silver Spring. Graduated from UMD. Good guy.
My job was to manage the waiting list for the showers. They have two big shower stalls, just for the men. When they come in for their food at 8:30 am, they can get on the list for a shower. When their turn comes up, I give them towels and toiletries. They get 15 minutes and I go to the showers to give them a 5 minute warning when their time is almost up. Fifteen guys used the shower during my 2 hour duty. At the same time, Brian managed the laundry, creating lists for people to use the laundry next week and helping those on the list use the laundry today.
I really enjoyed the experience. My regular shift will be on Wednesdays. I’m looking forward to going back.
Roslindale Hits the Bigtime
I grew up in a neighborhood of Boston called Roslindale, also known as Rozzie. The older I get, the more fondly I remember this neighborhood and the more loyal I am to it. It is part of my identity. It is a neighborhood of which few have heard, even those who know Boston pretty well. We are the place you go through to get from the better known ethnically diverse neighborhood of Jamaica Plain to the better known upscale neighborhood of West Roxbury. When I was growing up, Roslindale was a lower middle class blue collar enclave. Most of my friends were of Irish, Italian or Greek descent. All three of my siblings still live there. There were (are) housing projects at either end of the neighborhood along Washington Street, Boston’s main street that ran west from downtown through the middle of Rozzie. I didn’t dare enter those projects until I was in my twenties and had some friends among the few white people that lived there. Continue Reading
A Cup of Joe for the Homeless and Hungry
“Where are the rum and cokes?!” shouted Allan, one of the delegation from the Knights of Columbus as our Saturday morning assembly line hit its stride. We were tasked with preparing 2,500 snack packages for our “Cup of Joe’s” project at the SHARE Food Network Warehouse. Each bag needed to be packed with seven items, including granola bars, juice packs, apple sauce and a utensil. Looking at the pallets stacked high with boxed-up ingredients, the project seemed daunting.
We started out somewhat inefficiently with each volunteer grabbing a bag and filling it with the seven items individually before handing it to the packers. Before too long, Jerome, retired Navy and current human resources expert, suggested we split the tasks into stations and move the bags down the line, adding items along the line. Our
Jerome, the Efficiency Expert
productivity soared and the bags began bunching up at the end of the line. This problem was quickly solved by redeploying resources to those packing the boxes for shipment to the hungry people who would benefit from our labors. Henry Ford would have been proud. Allan’s shout out for a little “hair of the dog” was a joke, but reflected the lively, almost celebratory mood in the cavernous warehouse.
Cup of Joe’s provides a nutritional breakfast for guests at Catholic Charities’ shelters, which houses 1,000 men and women a night. It is a pretty labor intensive project, so requires a large number of volunteers. It is also a very “social” project that allows a lot of chatter and joshing as the work gets done. The day I helped, the camaraderie was established quickly. And, once Jerome rejiggered the process, those bags flew down the line into the boxes.
In short, it was a lot of fun and a great entry level volunteer project for people wanting to get involved in Catholic Charities. And bring the kids along. But don’t expect any rum and cokes, as Allan was disappointed to discover.
The Cup of Joe Production Line
Cleaning Crew for the New York Ave. Men’s Shelter
The New York Avenue Men’s Shelter can serve up to 360 men comfortably. During hypothermia season, they can have as many as 400 guests. Now, imagine how much staff it would take to clean a hotel of that size. Whatever the number, it’s probably more than the staff at the Shelter.
Nate gives us our marching orders
On Saturday, January 3rd, I joined a group of eight volunteers tasked with cleaning the shelter. We were supervised by Nate, one of the full time staff. Of course, the fact that he was there on a Saturday, suggests it is more than a full time job. Nate showed us where all the supplies were and gave us assignments, including sweeping the dorms, wiping the walls, mopping the floors, cleaning the exterior, etc.
It was part of a new program in which, once a month, a team will show up to clean the facility, top to bottom. Ideally, it will be largely the same crew, so that we’ll be able to come in and get the job done without Nate’s close supervision. Maybe he can even take Saturday off.
Our team was an eclectic group. Everyone had signed up online on the Catholic Charities of DC website. There were two young mothers with their sons, a couple of students and one old guy (me).
It was hard, but very gratifying, work. While we were scheduled for 3 hours, we finished in 2 1/2.
Cleaning up outside the New York Men’s Shelter
I was so impressed with the commitment shown by my fellow workers. Not to diminish in any way the contribution of large groups that take on volunteer projects as a community, I think there something special about an individual simply signing up to help on his or her own. One of the young mothers, Ellen, told me that, in addition to her 15 year old son Ethan, who was with us, she had a 4 year old and a 15 month old at home. I asked her how she found the time for a volunteer project such as this. Her answer said it all.
“You make time,” she said.
Falmouth Road Race 2014
Daughter Bridget ran in the Falmouth Road Race today. She clocked in at 1:05, which is a good time.
I’m not a frequenter of races of this kind, but Falmouth seems special. It attracts the whole range of runners, from world class to weekenders. It is just the right length, challenging enough for the pros and easy enough for the amateurs.
But it is also a great event for people with disabilities. I saw one guy walking by with two helpers who had clearly suffered catastrophic burns. And there are a large number of pairs, including a runner pushing someone confined to a wheelchair. Very inspirational.
Always in late August, there is a bittersweet character, marking as it does the beginning of the end of summer. Still it is a very warm community event that has gotten big, but blessedly, not too big.
Rita Takes the Ice Bucket Challenge
The “ice bucket challenge” is sweeping the nation. There are an amazing number of famous people getting dumped on with ice water to raise awareness of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Some not so famous people are doing it, too. Here’s my wife Rita shortly after our daughter, Bridget, doused her on the dock of our cabin in the Adirondacks.
Note the contrasting expressions.
China at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
This is what I love about the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Washington Mall. It’s those moments when a foreign culture mingles with average American tourists to create some magic. It happens every day at this event. Here’s a musical/dance performance from China in which the participants encourage the audience to join in….and they do. The joy in the people’s faces says it all. There’s no better way to bridge cultures.
We’re Doomed
The New York Times tells us that scientists have determined that the Andromeda Galaxy is on a path to crash into the Milky Way. The two galaxies will mingle together, separate and then combine into a large egg shaped galaxy. The video below shows what it will look like from a distance. It even shows that it will look like after the merger from the surface of earth. Of course, there will be no one there to see it.
Leads to the obvious philosophical question, “If a two galaxies crash into each other and there’s no one there to see it, did it happen?”
Kinda makes ya think….
