Friday, June 08, 2007
A "Care-Full" Breakfast
Thursday morning was the annual kick-off breakfast for the United Way's Day of Caring. Saturday June 23 will be the 13th annual Day of Caring in the Kansas City area, a day when companies and organizations head out into the community to make a compassionate difference. For example, employees at the Social Security Administration head over to the Sherwood Center, a wonderful resource for those living with autism, to do whatever needs to be done whether it involves a paint brush or an open ear. Nearly 500 folks were there at the breakfast, getting fired up for another successful outreach in just a couple weeks.
Over the years, my family and I have taken part by going to the Johnson County Nursing Care Center and helping out with BINGO! The staff and residents, always great to be with, do take their BINGO seriously. So, it was a heavy responsibility to be the official caller! Okay, it may not be as strenuous as rebuilding someone's front porch or unloading a truck of goodies at a local food pantry, but the mental stress is pretty high. Of course, in my case, that may also apply to finding my shoes first thing in the morning. Speaking of shoes...
Uh-oh. I feel a blogression coming on. That's cyber-spiel for a "digression from the main topic of a blog to something totally unrelated and, mostly, trivial." Here goes:
As I was saying, speaking of shoes, how does your family organize the shoes? When I was a kid, my brothers and I were expected to keep our pair of Sunday shoes, polished and in our own closets. Meanwhile, the tennies we wore most of the time were in a neat row in the entry way. (Frankly, much of the summer, I didn't wear shoes. I know, it is dangerous but what did I know? I thought "Tetanus" was the newest model from Chevy.) Conversely, (Get it? CONVERSE-ly. Wow. I'm something, aren't I? Don't answer that.) when I first visited my not-yet-wife's house, many years ago, I was shocked. Shocked! Jessica's mother is outstanding when it comes to keeping a home clean and pristine. Model homes in her neighborhood can be heard whimpering because they don't come up to her standards. Well, there were two rebel areas in the house where I first called on Jessica. One was Jessica's room. It looked like a pack of rabid wolverines had held a convention. She needed UN inspectors just to find her alarm clock. Meanwhile, the counter in her bathroom would have made Alexander Fleming proud. There were enough moldy cups, saucers and plate, that, just by walking in the room, you could get rid of a sinus infection. The other area of ill-repute was the shoe pile. Everyone's shoes...fancy or plain...shined or mud-covered...ended up being kicked into one giant conglomeration of footwear. It would have made Buster Brown break out in hives. Well, the lasting legacy of that disturbing, "tongue"-wagging, "sole"-searching scene of pumps, loafers, sneakers, boots, sandals, heels and the rest tossed carelessly together is now in our garage. Since four out of six people in our family have rather large pedal extremities, it actually can be dangerous to walk from the car to the door. I have been moderately successful in setting my shoes to one side although that didn't prevent me from wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe to work one morning. I remember my parents and grandparents having shoe trees that kept everything in perfect order. I'd recommend six shoe trees for us except I know it would just end up looking like a clear-cut forest and then I'd have Al Gore on my back or feet.
End of blogression.
Meanwhile, back at the BINGO hall....My pathetic attempts at BINGO humor did nothing to lessen the tension of the game. "B-6. What will happen if you eat too much ice cream and then go on a roller coaster? You will Be Sick. I mean B-6!" "I'm a very tame person. Yes, I am B-9!" "I not a baby. I-10!" Oh, it was pretty sad on my part. As the players would yell out "BINGO" and then mutter "you moron," our little kids would scurry around with the prize cart. The big boys helped out keeping track of multiple cards. (My wife would go from room to room and throw all the shoes in one big pile. Old habits.) Clearly, as is the case with so many Day of Caring situations, what we, as a family, took away from the experience was far more than any little bit of time we gave to the staff and residents.
So, here's wishing all the volunteers...the thousands...who will be reaching out to those who need a helping hand in our own backyard, the very best of everything on June 23, The Day of Caring!
Over the years, my family and I have taken part by going to the Johnson County Nursing Care Center and helping out with BINGO! The staff and residents, always great to be with, do take their BINGO seriously. So, it was a heavy responsibility to be the official caller! Okay, it may not be as strenuous as rebuilding someone's front porch or unloading a truck of goodies at a local food pantry, but the mental stress is pretty high. Of course, in my case, that may also apply to finding my shoes first thing in the morning. Speaking of shoes...
Uh-oh. I feel a blogression coming on. That's cyber-spiel for a "digression from the main topic of a blog to something totally unrelated and, mostly, trivial." Here goes:
As I was saying, speaking of shoes, how does your family organize the shoes? When I was a kid, my brothers and I were expected to keep our pair of Sunday shoes, polished and in our own closets. Meanwhile, the tennies we wore most of the time were in a neat row in the entry way. (Frankly, much of the summer, I didn't wear shoes. I know, it is dangerous but what did I know? I thought "Tetanus" was the newest model from Chevy.) Conversely, (Get it? CONVERSE-ly. Wow. I'm something, aren't I? Don't answer that.) when I first visited my not-yet-wife's house, many years ago, I was shocked. Shocked! Jessica's mother is outstanding when it comes to keeping a home clean and pristine. Model homes in her neighborhood can be heard whimpering because they don't come up to her standards. Well, there were two rebel areas in the house where I first called on Jessica. One was Jessica's room. It looked like a pack of rabid wolverines had held a convention. She needed UN inspectors just to find her alarm clock. Meanwhile, the counter in her bathroom would have made Alexander Fleming proud. There were enough moldy cups, saucers and plate, that, just by walking in the room, you could get rid of a sinus infection. The other area of ill-repute was the shoe pile. Everyone's shoes...fancy or plain...shined or mud-covered...ended up being kicked into one giant conglomeration of footwear. It would have made Buster Brown break out in hives. Well, the lasting legacy of that disturbing, "tongue"-wagging, "sole"-searching scene of pumps, loafers, sneakers, boots, sandals, heels and the rest tossed carelessly together is now in our garage. Since four out of six people in our family have rather large pedal extremities, it actually can be dangerous to walk from the car to the door. I have been moderately successful in setting my shoes to one side although that didn't prevent me from wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe to work one morning. I remember my parents and grandparents having shoe trees that kept everything in perfect order. I'd recommend six shoe trees for us except I know it would just end up looking like a clear-cut forest and then I'd have Al Gore on my back or feet.
End of blogression.
Meanwhile, back at the BINGO hall....My pathetic attempts at BINGO humor did nothing to lessen the tension of the game. "B-6. What will happen if you eat too much ice cream and then go on a roller coaster? You will Be Sick. I mean B-6!" "I'm a very tame person. Yes, I am B-9!" "I not a baby. I-10!" Oh, it was pretty sad on my part. As the players would yell out "BINGO" and then mutter "you moron," our little kids would scurry around with the prize cart. The big boys helped out keeping track of multiple cards. (My wife would go from room to room and throw all the shoes in one big pile. Old habits.) Clearly, as is the case with so many Day of Caring situations, what we, as a family, took away from the experience was far more than any little bit of time we gave to the staff and residents.
So, here's wishing all the volunteers...the thousands...who will be reaching out to those who need a helping hand in our own backyard, the very best of everything on June 23, The Day of Caring!
Posted at 3:24 AM
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