Chicago - Children

Hey! 

Okay so our site didn't have internet until late last night, so we are trying to play catch up for blogging. I don't know if it's allowed to post for days that have passed, but we have written a blog for Sunday and Monday so far. We haven't done Tuesday's blog yet. I was planning on writing it tonight, but frankly, it's past midnight and we volunteer from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. and I need to get to bed. But here's what we've got so far!!

Sunday, March 24

After a day spent cooped up in a humongous Yukon XL and a super-soccer mom Dodge minivan, a free day in the city was much needed. In the morning, some of our participants attended the 10:00 Palm Sunday service at the church we're staying in. They got to jump right in with the church; the pastor asked four of our participants to take a part in the Palm Sunday drama they read during service!

Since the church we're staying in doesn't have showers, we are only able to shower at the local YMCA a few blocks away. On Sunday we weren't able to shower until noon, so we all walked over together to get ready for our free day. We reserved tickets to a Second City improv show in Old Town at 4 p.m. We left the church extra early so we would have plenty of time to explore.

As it turned out, Old Town was an awesome area. We explored some of the city and finally made it out to the beach of Lake Michigan. It was 23 degrees out with the windchill, so the wind was whipping right off the lake on us. However, a nice man with a cute dog was able to snap a quick picture of our group. We were jealous that all the ASB groups in warm states were showing off all their beach photos, so we finally got one of our own!

The wind was pretty unbearable though (most of us still have wind burn on our faces), so we headed to the Second City theater for the show entitled "What the Tour Guide Didn't Tell You." It. Was. Hilarious. None of us had been to a Second City show before, and we were laughing the entire time.

After Second City, I expertly navigated the Chicago L train to get us to downtown Chicago for our ultimate destination: Lou Malnati's for some authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza. We ordered a massive amount of pizza and finished every last slice. Since it was later on a Sunday evening, nothing much was still open, so we headed home to get to bed because our first day of service began with a 5:00 a.m. wake up…

Monday, March 25

Our group is working with two organizations this week that work with children and adults with disabilities. The first organization we work with in the morning, Western DuPage Special Recreation Association (WDSRA), has us split into two groups: six of our participants work with a children's day camp and the other six work with an adult rec-and-roll camp. The second organization we work with in the afternoon, Asipre, allows us to again split into two groups of six and go to two different group homes that house adults with disabilities and provide them staff members to help with daily tasks, transportation and cooking meals.

After waking up at 5:00 a.m. on Monday to shower and travel to WDSRA, we had arrived to a delicious breakfast at the office and an orientation prepared for us. First, we learned a couple cool things about the organization:

-The mission and motto we will live by with WDSRA this week is "Equal fun for everyone."

-SRAs are unique only to Illinois; you won't find them anywhere else. They provide varied services and resources for people with disabilities throughout the state.

We also were given some information to help us while serving. We first learned that some of the participants we might be working with are non-verbal and cannot talk with us. We learned a few sign language signs that we may be able to use with some of those participants.

We also learned that with the kids, WDSRA uses picture signs to communicate and show the day's schedule. We also found out that it's easiest to communicate in very short, direct commands such as "Put on coat" or "First lunch, then toys."

Finally, we were let loose on our own. Six of our ASB group members went to the kids day camp and the other six went to the adult rec-and-roll camp. I went to the kids day camp and was put with the youngest age group of the kids with disabilities. All the kids in our room were under 8 years old, with the youngest being about 4 or 5.

When the camp began at 9:30 a.m., it was absolute and utter chaos. All of the ASB volunteers were nervous because we didn't know what to expect, and the kids were just as nervous. It was their first day of spring break camp, they were meeting new people and they were not used to not having a school-day schedule. Many of the kids screamed, cried and threw tantrums when their parents left, just as any child would do on the first day of school or when they're being dropped off for summer camp.

It was very difficult to learn how to work with the kids at first. As we watched the other staff members who had worked these camps before, we began to pick up on some techniques to use when dealing with the kids. Eventually, we began to break through and connect with some of the kids, even the ones who are non-verbal and cannot speak directly to us.

Today's activities involved animals and the outdoors. We went to the Morton Arboretum and played outside (even though it was snowing) and ate lunch there. Afterwards, we headed back to our church location and played with toys until the parents came to pick them up.

Needless to say, looking after a lot of kids can be exhausting. We had to refuel with coffee after our morning before we headed to our next service site for the afternoon.

The other group worked with the rec-and-roll day camp for adults. One site leader, Kyle Dickherber, wrote about his experience with the rec-and-roll camp on Monday:

"On Monday after orientation, group 1 started off with some title boxing with the adults. Let me tell you, it was a great workout, but a challenging experience at the same time. Some of the adults are very into the whole experience, but others are not to willing to participate or at least give the full effort. The challenge didn't come in the form of getting these individuals to do the boxing workout, but in the form of interacting with our group. I think that is where we all came to our first agreement; initial contact is a hard barrier to break. Of course, not everyone is like this, and some are even better with interacting than we are ourselves.

After title boxing, we headed back to the central location to eat lunch, and get to know the participants a little more. We talked about what each of us like to do, our majors, their favorite sports, our favorite sports, what we would like to get out of this experience, and much more. Eventually, we head to the library in Naperville for some reading and quiet time. The first day with Western DuPage Special Recreation Association went by quickly and made for a smooth transition into the following day.

Once we finished up at the library, Group 1 took a 30-minute self-directed tour through the beautiful town of Naperville. We checked out the parks, downtown, and municipal hall (the latter is not a joke). Naperville is a truly peaceful and aesthetically pleasing town."

As you can tell, our first morning was packed with learning and building new relationships. After this, we drove to the Aspire office for another orientation. This training was also helpful for us because we learned about the program and our duties. A couple things about Aspire:

-They have 22 locations in the area and serve over 1,000 individuals per year.

-Some of the services they offer are child services, residential services, life skills training, employment services and Coffeeworks, Aspire's very own coffee company that employs Aspire participants.

We were also given a brief training on different types of developmental disabilities and the best ways to work or communicate with people who have them. Afterward, we were split into our two groups and left for the group homes.

One of our participants, Tyler Carron, wrote a bit about our afternoon experience at one of the Aspire homes:

"Aspire has been an amazing experience for myself and the others in my group here in Chicago. Visiting our house on Monday and Tuesday evenings, I have been overwhelmed with the joy and excitement that our visits bring the six gentlemen who live there. Arriving the first day, we were first greeted by Patrick—the most talkative member of the house. He was absolutely ecstatic that he had visitors even though he had never met a single member of my group. He welcomed us in and handed each of us a hanger to hang up our coats and began to introduce himself and his housemates as they filed down the stairs to meet us. He showed us around his home—pointing out whose bedrooms were where and presenting us with the movie and game collections in the house.

Patrick and Marcus decided that Men in Black was a must-watch for our first visit. So they took us into the family room to sit us down. We talked and watched the movie until dinner was prepared. Much to Patrick's dismay, there was not enough room at the table for all the housemates and my group to simultaneously eat dinner at the table together, but we all managed to eat in the same room.

When we returned to their home Tuesday, Patrick stood waving in the window as we got out of our car. When we came in the back door, we were received with big smiles and embraces. Although they didn't remember our names, they certainly recognized us and were overjoyed that we were back. Throughout both nights, Patrick repeatedly asked us what days we were coming back to visit and if we could come back for his birthday party in July.

After being prefaced that we were going to be helping cook dinner and do activities with residents in group homes for adults with developmental disabilities, my expectation was far from the reality of what we would be doing each evening with Aspire. I expected to be helping out in a nursing home type setting in which we would be spending time with a group of 30+ residents. It was until about an hour before we left that it was explained to me that we were going to average neighborhood homes where there were 6-7 residents per home. And unlike the nursing home-like setting I expected, these homes were typical homes in regular Chicago neighborhoods.

This was the coolest set-up I had ever heard of for adults with developmental disabilities to live in. The residents live and rely on their housemates and home-helpers who come to give assistance and help cook each day. This gives the residents the opportunity to live out a normal life with privacy, freedom, and jobs in some cases. It opened my eyes to an awesome system and an amazing organization I never knew existed.

Aside from my expectations being far from what I thought was coming, this service experience has helped remind me of the importance in being a friend to others. The residents of these homes are so happy to have friends visit them and spend time with them. They go out of their way to hold doors open for us, get new batteries for a game we are trying to play, and even share cookies that Patrick's dad dropped off that day simply because of our newfound friendship. They are all so genuine in asking questions about us and wanting to tell us about any and everything happening in their lives.

In two days, they already act as a genuine friend and treat me in the same way that my friends at Mizzou act around and treat me—which took weeks of getting to know each other before my Mizzou friends and I felt entirely comfortable around one another. They have enjoyed making new friends and we have definitely enjoyed listening to their stories and laughing at the jokes that they make with each other. Overall, in our first two days, I have been overwhelmed by the awesome new friendships my group has made at Ridge House."

Site leader Kyle Dickherber wrote about his group's initial experience at the other home on Monday evening:

"At first, it was extremely hard to connect with 7 of the 8 people who lived in the home, but we have since been able foster a more comfortable experience. These few hours spent with each other and the people we are serving have been a real blessing, and we all have so many people to thank for the opportunity we have been given. We can't wait to share more with all of our followers!"