Category: volunteering

Code2College

I mentioned briefly my “other volunteering,” and now I want to tell a little bit more about it. I can’t say I was skeptical, but I was cautious and wanted to wait and see how it would work out. Same as with OMD, the idea of Code2College is great:

Historically underestimated students – Black, Latine, low-SES and girls – have faced structural & economic barriers to entry into STEM majors and careers for generations. The STEM opportunity gap doesn’t have to exist and Code2College is on a mission to decimate it.

Code2College

In practice, there was a lot of havoc at the start of the school year because the number of students who applied and were accepted into the program increased ten times in comparison with the previous school year, and the organizers had a hard time matching mentees and mentors.

I was matched really late, and it ended up that the person with whom I was matched wanted to do another program. Then, when I thought that I was just not doing anything this year, I was matched with another high school student. She started our first zoom conversation admitting that she was not interested in STEM, but she wanted to go to college, and one more time, I thought that that was a bad idea to try to volunteer in this program, but finally, everything got sorted out.

I am really happy with my mentee; she knows what she wants to achieve, and besides her saying otherwise, she is very organized. I believe I know what one should and should not expect from a high school freshman, and the fact that she always returns my emails and texts and is always on time is remarkable!

I had some doubts about on-line mentoring (she lives in Texas), but now it started looking like this should work out!

Closing Escorting Season

Most likely, Saturday was my last escorting day in 2023. It became sharply colder overnight, and no matter how much I tried to prepare for the temperature drop, I was still not prepared and barely stayed till the end of the first shift. That, and all of the things that are coming up in November and December (Thanksgiving, Anna’s surgery, my conference, and Christmas:)) does not leave me any options.

Saturday’s highlight was police presence! Not like it used to be before, when they would come to protect the antis, or they would come responding to our call and leave. No, this time, seven (or more?) officers showed up before 7 AM, and they stayed till after 9 AM. They were exceptionally friendly and asked us many questions about how things looked like, and we explained to them all of the details and our fight for the quiet zone, etc. A couple of the female officers asked us about the abortion costs (we do not really know) and who pays for abortion (different options), and then our shift lead talked about the influx of patients after Dobbs. I mentioned that I am a MAC host and that now, most women do not need to travel that far, but it was a nightmare last summer. In the end, we got “Thank you for all you do!” which we often hear from the organization leaders and passers-by, but it was the first time I heard it from police officers!

Small Things

Several small “fixes” in different parts of my life, nothing special, but feel nice.

  • Installed a new light fixture in the living room using the same electric company. That was the only one that I didn’t replace when I was replacing “everything.” The usual effect: OMG, how much better it feels now!
  • Renewed Siskel membership. I forgot to renew it almost a year ago, and they changed the system and everything, so I could not even renew online. I went there just before I got COVID, and now I have an online account and everything, and I can even put my tickets into my Apple wallet. Hurray! And I already started using this membership again!
  • Emailed OMD and told them I decided against participation this year. I told them I realized I did not have time, but the real reason was that I sat through the orientation and realized that nothing changed. All the issues I observed several years ago, the ones which prompted me to leave, are still there.
  • It looks like two other mentoring organizations that I applied for and was accepted to are going to do better and more meaningful jobs. I am giving it a try, and we’ll see.

It is going to be a very intense week. I was planning for Labor Day to be a fresh start, but the Universe decided differently. Well, I guess Rosh Hashanah is an even better start :).

About The Situation Around the Clinics

Now we know why the journalists ignored our requests not to come to the clinic: see the article.

It is very well written, and it rightly focuses on Alderman Conway’s activity, which we really appreciate! Also, valid concerns about the bike lane blocking and the noise level.

Here is a picture from the article:

That day, I was there. My shift was over at 9-30AM. I saw that the situation was getting worse, but I was just three days back from our trip, and Boris was arriving on the evening of that day, so I could not stay later.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous blog: when I was staying at the street corner on a lookout, a lady who passed the clinic entrance earlier stopped by me and asked: how are you doing this? I didn’t understand the question first, and she repeated: how are you doing this? I still didn’t get it. She continued: how can you keep doing this and not get mad? I won’t be able to do it! I would kill them! I said: I understand! But that’s why you are not doing this :). We are here for the patients, to make a safe passage for them. She paused: yea, I can see that…

To my point – that’s not the place to express your feelings towards antis. But the article is good 🙂

Art Institute With ODS

Last Thursday, I took a group of youth from the Open Door Shelter to the Art Institute. We used to go there on Thursday nights relatively regularly, but it didn’t happen for a while, and I was very excited to resume this activity.

Yes, as usual, they were delayed to the point that we only had an hour and fifteen minutes left for the museum, and yes, as usual, people got lost on the way (this time, things were complicated by the fact that one person from our group had a double stroller, which meant that we had to search for elevators, which is not an easy task, especially in the older part of the museum.

But with all that being said, and with the fact that nobody except for our volunteer coordinator had been to the Art Institute before, it was a smashing success. At least, that’s what I think. I enjoyed every minute of this outing. Each time I take a group from the shelter to the museum, they surprise me with how they interpret art, how attentive they are to details, and how the art makes them feel. One young man answering my questions about whether he saw that it’s spring in the picture answered with a three-minute monologue telling me about all the things he saw (and I didn’t!) about this landscape. I was listening with my jar dropped!

Also, all of them realized how gigantic the place was and how many things one could see, and everybody resented coming so late. I was glad that I had a chance to spend some “one-on-one” time with three people from the group and listen to their perspectives. One of them replied to my question whether did she know who Van Gough was, replied: I received a very good education! My mother is an artist. But honestly, it didn’t matter: some of them didn’t hear Van Gough’s name before, some knew his works, but no matter what, their insights were amazing.

I hope we can go one more time when I am back form Finland!

ODS

Last night at the Open Door Shelter was one of these, which brought joy and endless satisfaction. When I arrived, two of the residents told me right away that they wanted to cook with me and asked how they could help. Luckily, this time there were several dishes that could be started at the same time, so there were four of us standing around the table and doing something, and three more just standing by and chatting. And one girl said: you know, it reminds me how it was at home when we were all cooking together! And I told her that that’s exactly how it felt for me!

Another girl asked me whether I minded making a TikTok video of us cooking, and I said I do not mind at all, and we had fun filming different stages of the process.

The staff joined us; there were many simple steps that I could delegate to any of the interested parties. It was great to see how in contrast to previous times, most of the youth hurried to package and put away the remaining unused ingredients and clean the cooking surfaces. I almost lost hope I would ever see such an attitude again!

And everybody liked what we made! No, we didn’t sit for a meal together; this is still months apart, even if things will keep going the way they are going now. But we talked! We talked while cooking, and we talked after. I had some really deep and thoughtful conversations, and I hope to keep developing these relationships.

Before I left, I checked how many meatballs were left – not more than a third of what we made, and most of the mashed potatoes were gone, too. I like when people like what I cook!

A girl who already finished eating asked another one, who just started: do you like it? And after hearing “yes,” continued: then say thank you! The second girl looked embarrassed: she didn’t even think about that option 🙂

I left reluctantly at 8 PM, and we made plans for my next visit, and we also decided to try to go to the movies in the park after the holiday.

… and I know very well that one good day does not really mean that everything will be good next time, but I still feel like “the day is not wasted.”

The Night Ministry

Two weeks ago, a couple of days before my upcoming volunteering at the youth shelter, I emailed our volunteer coordinator to check what we were going to do. He replied to me that the shelter and the Night Ministry, in general, were so understaffed that he is working extra shifts at other places, and he couldn’t be there for my volunteering.

That was a very disturbing turn of events, and I started thinking about what I could do to help. I almost felt that donating money makes more sense now than trying to do any volunteering.

Then, last week, it was Lighting Up The Night, the most important fundraising event of the year:

For this event, I was not a sponsor – invited (plus a guest) as a volunteer, which, having all the unfolding situation, felt weird. However, I still wanted to go because I wanted to see people and talk to them. This event is the only opportunity for me to catch up with staff and volunteers from other locations.

I took my mom as my guest so that she would have a chance to see something different (she used to come to the volunteering events with me before the pandemic, and some Night Ministry staff still remembers her).

Overall, the outcome of the evening was positive: I had a chance to speak with many of the staff and the Night Ministry Vice President. The problem with the staff is not the lack of funds, but the lack of people, especially people who would be willing to work with the youth, do the night shifts, etc. And that’s indeed a huge problem, and I have no idea how to help. The staff from the youth shelter told me that I could come even when our coordinator is not there, that they know me, they miss my cooking, and they would help with buying the ingredients. So this should be counted as positive news, even if it does not improve the situation with the staff shortage.

I left the event with one of the flower arrangements from the tables (and I loved it :))

Yesterday, I saw a picture of me in the newsletter:

It almost made me sad, because I think I am doing so little now, and so-so-much-more is needed…

Volunteering And Near-Hostage Situation

Yesterday, I was volunteering in the youth shelter and experienced a situation that had never happened in all seven years of my volunteering. The boyfriend of one of the residents of the transitional living program (that’s not the program I volunteer for, but in the same building) can to the entrance threatening residents with a knife. 

I should mention that the day before, I emailed our volunteer coordinator with a concern that I had a very low engagement level with the residents recently. During these past seven years, I experienced all sorts of dynamics. There would be days when the engagement would be low, especially when there were many new people, but the current situation went on for a very long time without signs of improvement. Throughout all these years, I came and cooked together with the residents. Even if their participation was limited, we had a chance to chat and develop relationships. Recently, it was not that some days were worse than others, but it was constantly not working: I asked our coordinator whether he had any suggestions for improving the situation. We agreed to have a brainstorming session, but not on that day – the residents would go to the trampoline park after dinner.

I should also mention that an assistant coordinator scheduled a “build your taco” dinner. I have complicated relationships with Mexican cuisine and know nothing about making tacos.

It all started like any other dinner recently: only one person was interested in making tacos with me. One staff member added spices to my skillet, where I cooked the ground beef. A couple of other residents approached the kitchen and assembled their tacos, I was about to call it yet another failure, and then that happened. 

There was some motion, and I heard people asking why they couldn’t go to the second floor, and nobody was leaving for the trampoline park as planned. And then I learned about the guy with the knife and that we all have to stay inside and not go anywhere, including me!

The situation remained quite tense for the next hour. Police was called, they came (not very fast), and searched this guy, but didn’t find a weapon (as many commented, most likely, he threw the knife into the bushes by the church, but nobody searched there). Then he walked away, and I had hoped I could leave, but he reappeared (we watched the surveillance camera footage). 

In the end, the volunteer coordinator walked me out of the building using one of the emergency exits (it was another challenge for me to find my way :)), and it was scary because he tried one exit and didn’t feel it was far enough/secure enough. 

But – we had a terrific bonding time! More residents came to make tacos, and people tried their favorite spices, and I told them I loved theirs’ better, which was true. We talked and talked and shared who we are and where we are from and planned three more activities!

So it looks like it just took a near-hostage situation to resolve our participation and communication issues!

The Night Ministry Helping Homeless on CTA

WBEZ article

Volunteering

This week is all about volunteering, and overall it is one of these weeks which are “overloaded” with different activities.

Tuesday was an ODS day. I didn’t go there for six weeks (not because I didn’t want to, but because our volunteer coordinator was unavailable). As usual, when I am away for a long, and when lots of residents leave and lots of new ones come, it is challenging to start developing new relationships again.

Besides, I was asked to make a salmon soup, and I accidentally burned the leek, and there was no extra. I had to substitute with onions, but that’s an unacceptable substitute, so the soup didn’t come out as good as it should. I need to come and make it one more time soon!

Today, The Night Ministry had a career workshop so residents from different programs could prepare for the career fair for next week.

It was organized exceptionally well, and I was happy to tell the staff how awesome it was. It was the first time The Night Ministry had such kind of an event, so after the youth left, we talked a little bit about how it could be improved even more.

All is great, but I am really tired, and tomorrow, I am going to the Planned Parenthood fundraising, and of Friday, I have friend’s birthday.

At work, two projects are finally moving, and also, I started my Advanced Postgres series for my co-workers, and also, there are two million little things related to the conference.

So it feels like I am busy 24X7,and still have too little done!