At the end of 2011, my wife Jen and I decided we would give of either our time or our money at least once per week in 2012. We decided to donate at least two hours of our time or at least $25 each week. As we began the new year, many of our friends were interested in our new commitment, and so I decided to write about the organizations we work with and the experiences we have. The stories told here are meant to shed some light on volunteering - the kind of work that is out there, and the clientele that is served, and to provide information about who is making a difference out there, and what you can do to help. Please come back often and share our experiences as we move through our giving year.

Also, we are always looking for new organizations to work with, groups that are doing good work and could use either our hands or our money. If you know of a volunteer opportunity or worthy cause, please leave it in a comment. Thanks for your help!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Weeks 40, 41 and 42 - Circling back to those we know

Well, as you might guess from the title of the post, our crazy busy fall season has not abated and I have not been keeping up on posting.  As always though, we have not missed a week.  In the last three weeks, we had some great times visiting the organizations we have become very fond of.

Longest ago, in week 40, we returned to the House of Mary and Joseph for another night of feeding the patrons before they retired for the night.  Or so we thought...  As it turned out, there was a food truck parked outside the shelter from a local church group.  The food truck fed almost everyone that had been waiting to get into the shelter, so almost no wanted the food we had to offer.  We did not know about the truck outside, so it was a strange night for us.  Usually, the patrons can't get enough, even though the House serves almost the same thing every night.  But on this night, everyone kept turning down the sandwiches and eating only one cup of soup, or none!  We were mystified for most of the night, until one of the program residents (the ones who live at the shelter while they work on getting housing, work, etc.) told us about the food truck.  Then it all made sense, except for the logic of feeding people where there already was food.  I am sure the patrons of the House enjoyed the change of pace, but I have to believe that the food truck could have gone somewhere that people had nothing to eat.  In any case, everyone was in a good mood.  It was a nice fall night, not too cold and there was variety - something that the people who depend on kitchens and shelters almost never get.

Next up was Common Pantry, for Wednesday night food distribution.  Unfortunately, I wound up having to work late and had to cancel at the last minute, something I try very hard not to do.  Jen went and worked without me, though, and had a good time.  It is always busy there on Wednesday nights, and this one was no different.  They had a large number of what they call "courtesy" cases.  These are people who live outside of the service area for the Pantry, or who have already gotten their allotment of food for the month.  The pantry workers will not run someone away outright, so these people are given food, although less than a regular patron, and sent on their way.  The problem is that some of the patrons try to come almost every week to get a courtesy package.  These people have to be dealt with by Scott, the Pantry manager.  He tries to be as generous as possible, but he has found, as have so many others who run pantries and kitchens and the like, that he must stick hard and fast to his rules because any little slip brings in a flood of people looking to take advantage.  Sadly, this makes it harder for honest people to get the help they need.  In spite of all of that, Jen still had a great time.

Since I could not make it to the Pantry, I decided to make another loan with Kiva.org.  This is the organization that acts as a clearing house for micro-loans from all over the world.  The idea behind micro-loans is that many people in impoverished countries could benefit a great deal by getting very small loans to start or improve a business.  These loans are so small that normal lending agencies overlook them and would never extend credit to the people in this situation anyway.  Kiva makes these small scale loans to people all over the world through a network of lending partners and the "backfills" them with money from donors all over the world.  The loans are repaid in very small increments over about a year, so if you loan $25 (the base suggested loan amount) as part of a $600 loan, for example, you would most likely see that money back in a year or so.  Ideally, you would then use it to make another loan.  The borrower gets the cash infusion they need and no single person has a major amount of risk.  Most of the loans are repaid, but if there is a problem, no one is out very much money.

Since I think this is a pretty good system, I went looking for a loan to make.  I started by narrowing my search down to women borrowers, because the plight of women in impoverished nations is far worse that the plight of men.  I looked for loans in the arts, but there were none available, so I looked for loans that were almost complete.  I like to give the last chunk of money on a loan. Even though the loan has already been dispersed, it still feels like an accomplishment.  From the loans that were nearly complete, I found Asina, a woman in Kenya.  She has used Kiva loans in the past to start a boda boda business - a motorcycle transportation business.  She used Kiva loans to buy her first and second motorcycles and is now looking to buy a third.  her business is growing and she is considering opening a retail store as well.  This is Asina:


It seemed like an interesting story to me, and so I was able to make the last donation to her loan.  I kind of like the idea of this woman kicking around Africa on a motorcycle.  I hope she continues to do well and improve her life.

Last week was perhaps the most fun we have had in a long time volunteering.  Jen and I were scheduled to work at Feed My Starving Children to pack food bags when we got a call from my sister Virginia.  She happened to be coming to Schaumberg, where we pack the bags, on business, on the very night we were going to go work.  We asked if she would come with us, and she agreed.  We met for dinner and then went to work.  Virginia had never been to FMSC before, but had heard about them, and another organization like them.  As it turned out, we had a blast.  Usually, there are a lot of kids at the packing sessions because they are so popular with school and church groups.  This time, there was a big contingent of high school or college age kids, and no really young kids at all.  I have always said that we could really cruise if we got a group like this, and cruise we did.  Virginia took to it right away, and we hooked up with a few people we did not know to make a table with all ten worker spots filled.  Theoretically, in during one session, we should pack a box for every worker, so we should have packed ten boxes.  We packed sixteen.  It was the most furious work we have ever done there, and so much fun.  We just blazed though it.  It was a big rush for everyone on the table, even though we were all exhausted at the end.  Overall, we had 54 workers and packed 64 boxes, so the whole room was not moving quite as fast as we were, but it doesn't matter.  We had a ton of fun, and my sister will definitely be back.  This is her with Jen and I after the session.


These three weeks have proven to be just as fun and interesting as all the others.  We learned new things, made new friends, and helped out some people who needed it.  Next week we head back to the Lakeview Pantry, where we will give out food and, hopefully, fix a busted door latch in their cargo van.  I will tell you all about that next week!

For more information about the Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph, click HERE.

For more information about Common Pantry, click HERE.

For more information about micro-loans at Kiva, click HERE.

For more information about Feed My Starving Children, click HERE.