Category: volunteering

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Yesterday, I finally stepped down from one of my activities: The Howard/Evanstone Community Board. I was very hesitant to join this Board from the start, and the reason I ended up joining was my desire to help my local community in addition to helping the world at large :). Also, I indicated from the very beginning that my commitment will be limited, and I will only participate in the strategic initiatives group.

However, during these last two years, I was still unable to get an answer regarding our budget and measuring the effect of any of the programs that we ran. And there was a huge push to participate in the direct fundraising efforts, which I refused from the start.

When I agreed to run for the LPI Board, I promised myself that in the unlikely event I am elected, I will drop one of my existing volunteering activities, and that was the one. I am actually proud that I did it – I do not take these things lightly. Also, I didn’t want to resign by email, so I came to the quarterly meeting and talked with the CEO and explained.

It seemed as though he had expected it, and he said he completely understood. I still felt bad, but it was the right thing to do.

ODS

As I keep saying, there are more misses than hits with ODS dinners, but it was really good today. First, I met a resident who had been there for a while, and we had several in-depth conversations over the past few months. Also, I know that these conversations are important for him, and even if it’s a small part of his life, it’s a positive part :).

There were just a few people when I arrived, so at first I thought that we would have to make pizzas only with the staff helping me, but then the residents started to appear, and a couple of late arrivals expressed interest in making their own pizza. I started the oven again, and helped with the process, and it was a very good new connection.

The kids in the shelter continue to surprise me. It so often happens that some of the residents have previous experience in catering or hospitality, and often are more comfortable cooking for a large number of people than I am. Today, one of the boys told me that he worked in the pizzeria before, and I could tell by watching his professional pizza slicing. I ended up asking for his recommendations on how long to keep pizza in the oven (the ODS oven functionality has always been imperfect, to put it mildly).

LPI

LPI stands for Linux Professional Institute, and that’s yet another not-for-profit I got involved with. Last Thursday, I participated in my first Board meeting, where I was officially installed as new board member. The meeting was scheduled for two hours, and I was wondering why we need two hours for such a small adgenda. But the actual meeting lasted for two and a half hours!

All discussions were very interesting and informative, and I learned a lot (and next time I will know that it might take that long!) but my Thurday feelings were: OMG! How did I end up here, and how I have to do this for three years!

Board of Directors List

The Power Of Canvassing

Not sure whether this article is available for non-subscribers, but leaving a link just in case, and copying the article, because I couldn’t agree more! That’s how it works! And always worked, and will always work!

Continue reading “The Power Of Canvassing” →

A Video Of Last Week’s Event

That’s the showcase I attended last week:

This Week’s Events

Pizza-making at the Youth Shelter on Tuesday:

Kimberly Akimbo in the CIBC Theater on Wednesday

I stopped at Amorino before the show – I have not been there for a while, and they have new flavors!

Today: Howard and Evanston Community Center Program showcase (I am on the Community Board and miss almost half of the board meetings, so I felt like I should show up). The event was way bigger than last year’s one, and more upscale, so one more time I felt inadequate in jeans and a t-shirt, but I guess it was just me.

The event went really well; I noticed an older gentleman in the Knox vest and asked him whether he was Knox, and he sure was, so we had a very lively conversation with him and his wife. This worldwide Knox brotherhood never ceases to amaze me.

Oh, and we had Pride cookies at work!


There Was One Thing I Gave Up…

… when I moved to Rogers Park. The one volunteering activity I stopped doing was nature restoration. For the past two years, however, I thought that I might get involved in the local lae shore restoration, but I didn’t make practical steps; each time I saw a workday ad, it was time I couldn’t make it, but I know that if I “can’t make it” it means that I do not want to make it that much!

So, this Sunday, here I was, learning about new invasives (wild Morning Glory), or bindweed and new natives (silverweed), and pulling out the former, and planting the latter, and planting something in the sand for the first time!

I made connections with other nature volunteers, and learned about other workdays on other beaches, and we agreed that I would be coming to pull out the bindweed whenever I have a moment, because consistency is critical, and because we can’t use pesticides that close to the water…

I know, I know… I am hopeless 🙂

ODS Dinners

On a local front: on Wednesday, I rehabilitated my cooking skills at the ODS. Last time I was there (at the beginning of April), I tried to cook the Boudin Balls, which I had no idea about! How they should look, how they should taste – nothing! Yes, I said – ask the residents what they want, but now I know better – “want” should be a subset of what I “can.”

After my attempt was declared an experience rather than a success, we decided that next time we should make a baked salmon, but then I had to cancel my volunteer shift because I had to go to Helsinki, and I was only able to come this Wednesday.

Baked salmon was a smashing success, and homemade mashed potatoes too, but they are always a success. One of the residents asked me to put aside some boiled potatoes before I mash the rest because “he didn’t like how mashed potatoes are soggy.” I put several pieces aside, but told him: just you wait! In a little bit, he was telling everyone that I proved him wrong 🙂

I am glad that I had a couple of people who actually participated in the process, and even suggested the spices, and that I could share the love :). And I forgot to take pictures again!

On Abortion

At the PAC event on March 18, the speakers mentioned the number of out-of-state abortions performed in Illinois per year. Even before Dobbs, the numbers were high: 19K in 2022 and 87K in 2023. They didn’t have the numbers for 2024 yet, but I can only imagine!

That’s for this Saturday morning, when I was once again in escort by the FPA clinic on West Washington.

The anis are trying to blend in with the colors very similar to ours, but you can still tell them! And you can see how close to the clinic entrance they are!

One woman I was escorting to another clinic entrance said that she “didn’t expect these people to be there” and asked: Are they here every day? I said: yes, and they are not coming from other states, those are ours, “homegrown” antis. And she said: Oh, I am not from here, I am from Texas! Then we had a usual conversation about ” why are they doing this? what are they trying to achieve? that’s my choice.”

I knew that people from Texas come to Illinois to have an abortion, but that was the first time I met someone who went such a long distance to get the care they needed. And once again, it reminded me how important it is to preserve all rights and freedoms in our state.

Pizza With ODS

I’ve been to the ODS twice in the past two weeks, which is a record, especially considering everything that has happened in the past year. Both times, it was pizza-making, and I have no idea whether we will ever graduate to something more advanced, as we used to cook for years. But again, that’s progress.

There is better staff in the shelter than we have had for years, and even when the youth are not actively participating, I feel that my presence is important to them. I receive more thanks than I deserve. Last week, I said I would be able to come on Tuesday, forgetting that my meetup was scheduled for Tuesday, not for Wednesday. When I realized this mistake, I messaged the volunteer coordinator, who said it was fine. They had the kitchen ceiling painted, so it was not exactly fine. I had to bake upstairs (in the kitchen of the long-term program), so the kids were assembling the pizzas without me – all not ideal, but yay, better than nothing!

Last week was way more fun because we did everything together, but the downside was that we had unbaked dough, so we had to half-bake the crusts and then the pizzas, which took a very long time!

… I am glad I kept trying 🙂