Chicago Cares Serve-A-Thon

Yesterday was the annual Chicago Cares Serve-A-Thon, a day for Chicago-area corporations to send volunteers, in lieu of tax dollars, to help support Chicago public schools.

I took the Red Line down to the Soldier Field staging area. By the time I got to the Fullerton stop, my car was full, and I noticed that at least half the passengers were wearing Chicago Cares T-shirts.

It will be some time before I'll be able to erase from my mind the vision of thousands of tacky corporate-logo T-Shirts. Hello Moto. The Pepsi Generation is Making a Difference. Nobody better not like Sara Lee, dammit. And at Siemens, We can do that! -- even paint the school library.

I nominate Motorola for Most Boring T-shirt. Whereas most corporations gave out volunteer T-shirts designed just for the occasion, Motorola's shirts were just plain blue with the white flying 'M' logo on the back. I think it's the same T-shirt I got from them back when I was in college, and Motorola was recruiting on campus.

Contents of my goodie bag (oh joy!):

From Motorola: "What does volunteerism mean 2 U" contest. Send an essay via text messaging by June 12 (today); the two best entries win a phone.
From Microsoft: Free 60-day trial of Microsoft Office OneNote software. Can also be used as a coaster.
From Chicago Sun-Times: Subscription form offering 45% off newsstand price. Which is the same discount you get on any year-long subscription.
From Jewel Food Stores: Coupon for a free bag of cookies.
From Washington Mutual: A ballpoint pen.
From UnitedHealthcare: A toothbrush, a travel case for the toothbrush, and a package of four adhesive bandages.
From United Airlines: 15% off airfare, good until mid-August, or until United goes out of business, whichever comes first.

The goodie bag -- that's what volunteerism means to me. (But I'm perplexed as to why I didn't win that phone.) As for the actual volunteer work, I'll describe that in Part II.