Free Food!

We decided long ago that whenever we are offered free food, we will excitedly proclaim “Free Food!”, provided the social situation allows for it. I have been saying that a lot this week—I brought in lunch to work of Tuesday and did not eat it until Thursday because Sr Kathy and Lisa had a couple of meetings with food and had leftovers to give us. On Tuesday, however, a client came just as I was walking back to my office to eat so I had to leave the food in reception while we met for an hour and a half. But it was still delicious. On Wednesday it was brunch food, which was perfect because we had a business meeting that morning. It was also great because it was Ray’s birthday so we had cake. Also, on Friday I went to a grad school open house at Loyola and there were snacks there. And, last night I went to a happy hour with some Amate people where we had free beer. I guess this living simply thing isn’t so bad, after all!

                At work, things have been pretty busy. Seasonal work is drying up so people have been coming in asking about getting financial assistance. There are some resources available (like the amazing Catholic Charities) but they are limited and funding can only last so long. I have been taking a lot of walk-ins this week, many related to financial assistance. We do still get the people with legal issues (most of my long-term clients have legal issues, people can only receive financial assistance once so we just see them the one time). I have also been working to coordinate our semi-annual furniture drive with St. Barbara’s Parish in Brookfield. They help their confirmation students get there service hours by having them deliver furniture with their families, and we provide the families. Mostly I have been working with the families to figure out what they need and compare their lists with the lists of furniture that is actually available. This finally started to come together on Friday. The drive was originally scheduled on this coming Tuesday but we pushed it back to Saturday because it will be easier for the parish.

                This weekend has been somewhat busy, compared to how I usually spend my weekends. On Friday evening I went to the grad school open house I mentioned and then came back to hang out with the roomies and watch a movie. Saturday I got a library card (Chicago Library cards do not look very legit). In the early evening we made the trek up to the bar on the north side in our minivan. People laughed at us for this, but there were seven of us, so it made perfect sense. It was the birthday of a girl from North House so we went over there after happy hour to hang out. Then this morning I went with Michelle and Ann K to Mass at Old St. Mary’s with the plan of going to see the end of the boat race in China Town. We had the Mass times confused so Ann and I went to China Town while Michelle stayed behind for Mass. We saw the end of the Chicago River Downwater classic, PWC was the winning corporate team. When we came back, a couple of LV alums were in our house because they wanted to get tamales. I went with them but they only had pork tamales so we went to another taqueria and I got an avocado burrito, which was delicious. It wasn’t free though. Oh well.