Hi everyone! My fourth week at CRIS flowed smoothly, but it had a few hiccups in between. I stuck to similar work — collecting food pantry boxes and delivering them to clients, taking clients shopping, and outreach to potential partner organizations. Excitingly, several organizations responded to my partnership exploration this week, so my calendar next week is busy with meetings for that!

Outside my routine duties, I worked with our arrival team to furnish apartments and helped transport furniture. And we made some rookie mistakes. We hauled a couch and loveseat to the apartment for our first trip, and once we had everything securely latched in, we went on our way. All went great until we reached the highway. Immediately after picking up speed, we glanced into the rearview mirror to see loose cushions flapping in the wind on the cusp of flying off. We took the next exit to stop and place them in the cab, but when I got out to make the switch, only one cushion remained — the other lost to 315 South. Scrambling back into the truck, we returned to our storage unit to grab a new loveseat and set out to find the lost cushion (with the new loveseat’s cushions in the cab, safe and sound). On our way to the highway, we kept thinking we saw the cushion on the side of the road, but as we inched closer, we realized we mistook the cushion for concrete on grass. Knowing the cushion likely flew off on the highway, we remained positive, and after a minute cruising down 315, we found our cushion lying on the shoulder. Relief coursed through our bodies. We picked it up, completed our drop-off, and returned the cushion to its proper spot.

I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided not to secure everything in the first place, but we certainly won’t make that mistake ever again when we transport something for our clients. In a relatively uneventful week, this injected some worry and relief. That positive energy continued when I saw the interest from potential partners, and I plan to carry that energy into next week as I hit the ground running again. It will be a short work week, and my supervisor is on vacation so that I will take full responsibility for food security for the first time. Luckily, through all the challenges I faced and overcame in these first four weeks, I am confident everything will go well, and I look forward to reporting back next week!