Week 8!

I must sound like a broken record by now, but I seriously can’t believe we’re 8 weeks into my summer with Ronald McDonald House! The progress of my projects for the summer has somewhat surprised me. Some of my projects, such as putting together a booklet of instructions for volunteers to used, were finished in one day, whereas others have taken a lot longer than expected, like implementing a new barcoding system in our storage room. This latter example has really surprised me with how long it’s taken, because all I’ve been able to do for it so far has been ordering the labels and waiting for the printer to deliver them. I ordered the labels during my first week here, and they’re still not here! The printer finally told us that they will be delivered tomorrow, so I can finally start this project after waiting longer than expected. This has definitely been a good learning opportunity for developping patience in the workplace, as not everything can be completed immediately on the spot. I think this is a great skill to have for someone like me who wants to work in the nonprofit sector, especially when dealing with at-risk populations and communities. Putting the pressure on people to get things done fast isn’t always the best, and can actually hurt the final product in the end. My take-away: Some things take time!

This week was a busier one for us at the House because of the holiday, so the interns had to pitch in and help with meals and cleanup a little bit more than usual. One of my highlights from this week was visiting the uber-touristy Navy Pier in downtown Chicago that I hadn’t been to since my senior prom in high school!