(Not) Squishy Bananas

Apples and bananas filled the bags this morning at Traveling Food Circus! One of our younger volunteers spent much of his time sifting through bananas and strawberries taking out 'squishy' ones.

Because of the generous donations by both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, all 35 families were able to take home meat, fresh vegetables, a variety of fruit and lots of bread. A few lucky dogs will even get some treats!

As always, the CareTeam owes a big thank you to our wonderful volunteers! It is because of their hard work and continued dedication that we are able to provide this food to local families. Join us next Monday! For more information or to sign up see our webpage at http://www.careteam.mgrf.org/.

Dignity Diner ART - Week 2

Dignity Diner is in the Holy Covent United Methodist Church every Tuesday night at 6PM and CareTeam provides arts programing for the patrons after the meal.

We busted out the artistic skills to create new projects for the patrons at Dignity Diner! Past weeks have included painting, drawing and 'stained' glass. We used wood framed glass panels and covered them with glue and tissue paper to create the effect of stained glass. Patrons loved that they could mix colors and papers to create a layered look!

Of course, some of our artists are naturals at painting and drawing. Last night, we worked self-portraits in the style of Picasso. After folding a sheet of paper in half and drawing on both halves it was great to see the two sides come together as one image!

We are looking forward to an art show in the middle of October! Other projects in the pipeline include multi-media night, poetry night and a much anticipated pottery night. Soon we will have a visiting photographer come and explain the basics and hopefully get us started on our 'A Day in the Life..." project.

Keep checking back for more updates and feel free to email us at careteam@mgrf.org or comment with suggestions, ideas or donation information!

Make 'n' Take Crafts@ DuSable Museum

This weekend the CareTeam had a glorious weekend in the sun at the DuSable Museum of African American History' 35th Annual Arts & Crafts Fair. The CareTeam runs the Make 'n' Take Booth and we were supported by some wonderful DuSable Museum volunteers. This year's theme was music although great food and fellowship were also mainstays of the day.

We spent the afternoon making bean tambourines, jingle bell bookmarks and decorating music notes. There were stickers, markers and other goodies to decorate the back of a paper plate which was folded in half, stapled and filled with beans when the artwork was completed. There were some wonderful budding artists who returned several times to use up their creative juices!

The bookmarks had either a guitar or a microphone and we asked the students to color or draw their favorite singer or music artist. It was wonderful to see students choose themselves as their favorite singer! We asked each student who visited our booth to sign (or color) a music note to add to our bar clef.

Thanks to DuSable Musuem for letting the CareTeam spend a wonderful weekend with them working on crafts with local youth!

Travelling Food Circus

We have a record number of 50 patrons this week at Travelling Food Circus!

Because we had large donations from both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, we were able to ensure that everyone received TWO bags of healthful food. Some of the first patrons were even able to take home a bunch of flowers as well.

If you are interested in being a volunteer at Travelling Food Circus or any of our other CareTeam events, please check our website at http://careteam.mgrf.org/tfc.html

Kelvyn Park HS & Prosser HS @ Norwood Crossing

Today, I was lucky enough to spend the morning with the dynamic duo of Kelvyn Park HS and Prosser HS yet again. We went to Norwood Crossing, a senior housing facility that also supports independent seniors through a variety of services.

Because we had twenty kids, we were able to do a lot of impactful events in a combination of both direct and indirect service. Some students helped to organize the center's library sytem while others helped sort donations at the thirft store. A third group painted a chair for the regional network.

We were able to all come together for the second half of the morning to spend time with several seniors at a cook out! Not only were students able to prepare and serve food, but they were also able to spend some time with seniors from all over the Chicagoland area. It was great to see students and senior connecting through sports and holidays. The clowns that were also in the center and were quite entertaining!

Thanks to Bryan Manasse and Ryan Gauthier from Norwood Crossing for the wonderful morning!

Beyond the Job Description

My internship at the MGR Foundation has been nothing short of the unexpected. Given that the MGR Foundation believes in providing direct service to the community, I knew that I would be lucky enough to spend time outside of the office. However in addition to your standard internship duties: email, filing, event coordination, logistic management - I could have never guessed what additional 'Special Skills' I would come to acquire.

Not only have I painted banners for Peace Concerts (where I also served as event management security) and chairs at a Senior Network for the CareTeam. I have also become a veritable font of Chicago, Olympic and geographical trivia for our Dignity Diner. Much time was spent in the hunt for a portable bingo system, with great success! Other CareTeam events have included expertise in crafting coffee filter flowers at the DuSable Museum of African-American History' Family Day.

For another program, Team M3, I have colored arrows to guide runners on the Lake Front Running Path. Along with over 150 high schools students from nine CPS high schools and nearly 100 mentors, I have begun training for the Chicago Marathon. There really is nothing quite like seeing 150 students up, excited and motivated to run at 7AM on a Saturday morning.

Random shopping trips to the craft store have resulted in awesome activities for campers at Austin Town Hall through our partnership with Summer of Service and Leadership. Other SOSL activities include sorting shoes, sorting out bad bananas and playing dominos with some of the homeless community of northern Chicago. I taught the Virgina Reel to some Hope students so they could use it at a youth carnival. Two trips to the Community Food pantry at CCIL in Lawndale with two different high school groups. However, la pièce de résistance would have to be shovelling cornflakes into 2,688 eight ounce bags.

Sarah H. serves the MGR Foundation through an internship program with the DePaul University - Steans Center for Service Learning. She is currently serving the MGR Foundation full-time and we are incredibly thankful for her exceptional service and committment to our organization and the patrons we serve.

Foreman HS @ Chopin Park

Our youth are crafty! In addition to drawing an amazing hornet on their Summer of Service banner, students from Foreman High School also did an incredible job of engaging youth from Chopin Park Day Camp in conversation and a craft activity of creating butterflies.

After explaining and introducing the craft to students each Foreman HS youth was paired with a table of campers to engage and encourage them as they craft.

Foreman students did a great job of supporting campers with many smiles, 4th of July stories and artistry tips crossing the tables. Over two hours, Foreman students worked with eighty campers to make over 100 beautiful butterflies!

Thank you to Nicole Viverito and Chopin Park for inviting us to craft and serve at your day camp!