Partner: CSX
Volunteers: 80
Service Partner: Riverdale Community Resource Center
When: July 27 - August 1, 2010
TCF: Phillip St. Clair, Dylan Morrill, Aundrea Dean, Florence Capinding, Steadman Graves, Emily Kean, Georgia Lawrence, Dan Nemiroff
This was our very first trip for Team Care Force and it was full of surprises, learning experiences and team building! We arrived in Chicago on Tuesday, July 27th at O'hare International Airport. That night, we chose to eat at Lou Malnati’s, a famous Chicago deep dish pizza restaurant. It was great!
Our service partner was the Riverdale Community Resource Center. The Center provides referrals and information to people in the Riverdale community looking for help with emergency situations. The Center works closely with people of all ages in the community with the goal of making Riverdale a better place to live and work in. They do this by offering job fairs, health and wellness awareness programs and various seminars throughout the year. Our plan was to lead CSX volunteers in providing the center with new and improved facilities for the local residents they serve.
We woke up Wednesday ready to serve our first day as members of Team Care Force 2011. However, while we were walking to the car, we noticed that the front window of one of our rental vehicles was completely smashed in and our GPS was stolen. Undeterred by the setback, we piled into the other car and drove to the service site while two people stayed behind to work out the problem. At the service site we worked hard all day to make sure that it would be a great day. Nothing was going to hold us back from getting our prep work done. After working tirelessly all day, we received a new rental vehicle just in time to final circle and go to dinner. The first prep day for Team Care Force 2011 went well despite its morning mishaps.
The next three days went by smoothly as well. Many of us learned how to use power tools like chop saws, drills, and augers for the first time. Although we were faced with daunting tasks that included digging 30 inch holes and cementing in the 30+ fence posts, we worked together and finished all of our prep work in a timely manner.
The service day on July 31st also had slow start because of the rainfall the night before, but ended up being a fantastic finish to our week. Due to the rain, we had to start a little later than we had planned. However, we were able to get a majority of the service projects completed and it looked amazing. We ended up building and staining 5 picnic tables and 2 planter benches. As well as planting 44 trees and painting 10 canvas murals and 3 wall murals.
The Riverdale Community resource center was delighted to see the transformative change. Specifically Allison, the director of the Community Resource Center, loved the service day and all the change that it brought. She loved the work that Team Care Force and CSX did so much that she actually wrote a letter to the mother of a member of Team Care Force explaining what great work he did during the week. At the end of the day, Allison pointed out that, one of the most amazing things that happened during the whole day actually happened before all the service began. It was the morning Physical Training that we did as a group with all the volunteers. She thought it was remarkable to see very different people in the community, with different beliefs, coming together as one in a powerful and loud demonstration of community service.All in all, the first trip for team Care Force 2011 was amazing.
Team Care Force 2011 @ the White Sox game in Chicago
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