Chicago

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The following morning, Saint had a bunch of work to do to set up for the neighborhood party. He networked with one of his neighbors whom was a police officer and was able to rush a block-party permit as well as reserve two blocks instead of one. Once the streets were reserved, he focused on the advertisement. He posted flyers all over the neighborhood and delivered as many flyers as he could to peoples doors. He left some on storefronts and urged others to invite friends, family members and encourage them to do the same as well. To do his part, he invited his support group as well as his parole officer to show her that he was serious about changing. 

After he spread the word, he began to partner up with people to discuss the fundraiser part of the block party. Crispin's family was going to set up a garage sale at their house and Saint encouraged his family to the same. A total of six neighbors agreed to do the same and ten percent of their earnings would go towards the shop. Aside from raising money, Crispin needed an entire new staff. Throughout the party, Saint was going to recruit as many volunteers as possible to help fix up the shop and get up it up and running. Saint was praying this all went well because it was a job on the line. 

"Saint, you got so many people setting up outside! How did you do it boy?" Nicole asked as she entered the kitchen to grab the cooler that Orlando had recently filled with ice.

Nicole and Zaine agreed to participate in the financial aspect of the party and set up a small sale of baked goods instead of household items. Nicole was going to sell while Zaine was going to grill for the family and some friends he had invited. Nicole also invited some of her friends and Orlando invited his girlfriend and her family.

"I know how to talk to people." Saint gloated.

"I see. Zaine you saw outside? Almost every house is doing something. This is gon' be fun." Nicole exclaimed before grabbing the cooler and hurling it outside. Zaine sucked his teeth and took the cooler from her before giving props to his nephew. Zaine was proud of him for orchestrating such an event. Not only was he helping out someone in need, but he was doing something other than selling dope on the streets.

A few hours later, the block party was in full function. The streets were packed. The air smelled like burnt charcoal and meat, kids were playing in the middle of the street and the adults mingled amongst each other. Those who were holding garage sales were doing fairly well, especially Nicole's baked goods. A bunch of kids hungered for cake, cupcakes, brownies, cookies and her special cake pops. She was doing so well, she needed Orlando to run to the store and grab more ingredients so she could begin baking more goods to sell.

Saint wished he was able to kick back and enjoy, but he had an agenda. He scouted around and looked for people who were willing to volunteer. He had a clip board with a piece of paper sectioned off for peoples names, numbers and emails. So far he had a group of five people and just needed five more to feel satisfied.

"It's alright, man. Thank you for your time, though."

Saint had just finished small-talk with a young man who was five years his senior. He declined the offer to volunteer since it would interfere with his regular job. Saint didn't take it personal since he knew it was hard to ask people to work for free. Saint took a minute to look down at his clipboard with the five names on it. He took a deep breath and looked ahead of him to see how many people he could talk to. He had to get five more names by the end of the day.

It was going to be a long day.

Chai traveled by herself in an Uber to meet Brynn at the house. Derek allowed Chai to go by herself since they needed a day to mourn together. Plus, he had a couple business calls to make since he was taking a few days away from the studio. He had to check on Lyfestyle's progress, listening to a couple instrumentals and give his best advice over the phone to his co-engineers.