my how time flies: week 9

Oh, you know, tree stump art

Poop. This summer flew by. I don't know why, but I really wasn't expecting it to go this quickly. I have only one week left of the internship! Work consisted of plenty of meetings, updating information in databases, and doing a social media audit of our social media presence compared to many other organizations. I did an embarrassing amount of Facebook and Twitter stalking of non-profits and other ELCA ministries.

Stan's Donuts: cherry cheese danish donut

ELCA World Hunger gives grants to domestic programs doing anti-hunger work in areas of relief, education, community development, education, and advocacy. One site that was given a hunger grant is actually in Chicago, so the other hunger interns, myself, and two new hunger staff headed there to see what it was all about. The Friendship Center is a food pantry serving 5 large neighborhoods in Chicago. They also have connections to social services and a clothing pantry between their two locations. Our first stop was to unload the truck delivering food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Once unloaded, we organized the food (my dream job!) onto shelves for easier access later that day when the pantry would be open.

Yeah, go ELCA World Hunger Staff!
The Friendship Center

Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club: bread pudding french toast

After that, we headed to brunch (you know I loved that) at a local restaurant. And then we headed to the other location to learn more about the history of the program, their partners, their services, and to get a tour. One of my colleagues actually worked there as an intern last semester, so we got to see the fruits of his grant-writing labor as well.

Outside of work, I attended some musical theater dance classes, took naps, AND went to see the live-taping of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me... at Millennium Park! Turns out we had a record breaking crowd that night. It was a lovely night of colleague bonding, weather enjoyment, and nerding out about news and NPR. We were sure to get refreshments beforehand including a Starfruit smoothie (made with frozen Keifur) and Chicago's own gourmet popcorn from Garrett's. Such a great night!

Garrett's popcorn

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me...!

look at all those people (**nerds**)!

MP is beautiful at night!

The 606. 

 I also had the chance to walk the 606 this weekend. It's an old train line turned into green space. It's 2.7 miles in all and has walking/biking paths and parks and other green spaces. It surprise started raining as soon as I started walking (clearly I need a better weather app on my phone), but I quickly found a poncho and praised Jesus it wasn't hailing/tornado-ing like it apparently was in other parts of Chicago. I needed some sustenance in the middle of my walk, so clearly a stop at an ice cream shop was the answer. Thank you Margie's for helping me get all the way through that long journey...

Books this week were: The New Normal (Ashley Little); If You Have to Cry, Go Outside (Kelly Cutrone); and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling). Of course I continued on with my West Wing watching as well. Just can't get enough of the humor in that show!

Oh hey, surprise rainstorm.
I foiled you, I got a parka and I'm back on my way exploring the 606!

I should probably start figuring out how I'm going to get all of my belongings back to Nebraska next weekend, but that really sounds like a problem for Friday night (I leave Saturday afternoon!).

there are awesome apartments along the way

remnants from the train line

beautiful greenery

Margie's Candies: hot fudge and raspberry sundae with chocolate chip ice cream