This weekends volunteer activities started with AYS. We had a group of about 20 volunteers from Northwestern University which was great because each kid at the center had a personal tutor. It was great to see them all working and getting such great help. Those volunteers from Northwester are absolutely awesome.

I left around noon and headed to the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. I had volunteered to help at the “More than Chocolate – Sweet Saturday” event there. That is such a cool place to visit if you get the chance for those living in the Chicago area. I was there with the Onebrick.org group. The event that was going on was to teach visitors to conservatory about Facts and Flavors about plants. My station was the Coffee Station. Myself and another volunteer taught kids and adults all about the coffee bean – where it comes from, how it’s picked, dried and then roasted. We sat next to a real coffee plant and shows examples of the coffee bean from start to finish. It was a busy two hours and a lot of people came by. At the end of each 5 minute presentation we handed out chocolate covered coffee beans. It was a very cool event and a great place to spend part of the afternoon.

http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/

Last nights volunteer event at the “Girl On The Run” office in Chicago was pretty cool. This was the first time I had heard about this organization as was pretty impressed by what they do. Basically, they have programs in 200+ schools in cook county and volunteer coaches help encourage preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles though running. There is much more to it and you can learn about this organization at: http://www.gotrchicago.org/

I worked with about 15 volunteers to help organize program material that the coaches use for the program. There was a lot of material to organize. This group of volunteers was a lot of fun and the two hours of work went by fast. Afterwards, a small group of us went out for some food and drinks. The group that organized this is from www.onebrick.org and these folks are always the best!

This is a picture of my Girl Scout troop (I am assistant troop leader) with a few of the people from Bolingbrook Adventist Hospital. The girls donated the quite they made to the Hospital yesterday. The hospital said they would permanently hang the quite in the area of the hospital where the cancer treatments are done. The girls were very excited to know the quilt they worked so hard on (and for so long) will be on display there. After they quilt was presented and pictures taken, one of the staff gave us a very nice tour of the hospital. The girls wanted to see prenatal area. There was a baby in there that the girls just loved. It was a lot of fun.