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#11
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"jojo" wrote in message om... "bizby40" wrote in message ... [snip] here goes: How old are the girls? I'm assuming 10 years old or older? Do the girls get allowances? Can the children not contribute on their own? You know, I'm not used to my kids getting older. It never even occurred to me to ask the girls themselves to contribute towards anything. 1st. I understand your vent, but blow off worrying about what they are wearing. It won't matter to the scout leader Oh, I don't care. Well, I did think it would be nice if they were in their uniforms so that it would obviously be a "Girl Scout" picture, but I don't care which individual girls do or don't have which parts of the uniform. 2nd. call a local frame shop to find out approx. what your idea will cost...you will be surprised to find it may be over $100.00 if the frame shop does the matting and framing. 3rd. If you are going to do the work yourself, figure out what it's going to cost. 4th. Set a dollar amount for each child to donate based on your approx. cost and call all the parents to get a firm yes or no for that amount. I ranted about calling people in another post, so I won't repeat that here. In retrospect it probably would have been a good idea to get committments beforehand. I just didn't think of it. At this point it's too late. a: only photograph the girls that contribute b: photograph all the girls, but only the girls that contribute sign the matte c: all the girls sign the matte, but only contributing parents sign the card thoughts.... If you want this present to be from the entire troop, the entire troop needs to pitch in. Would be nice. If only a few parents are interested, then take a picture of only those girls, they sign the matte and the card reads: Happy retirement from your friends in troop 2014. If get fed up and want to give this as a give from your family, don't sign the matte, but sign the card from your family only. The initial way I would approach it is this. Call ALL the parents. Hi, many of us thought it would be a god idea to bla bla bla. The gift will cost approx. ?? per child. If you would like to contribute and have your child in the picture I need this much money from you. If you cannot convince them to contribute, drop them. It obviously is not that important to them. Well, I think the picture would mean more to the leaders if the entire troop were in it. And I wouldn't want the girls to feel left out just because their parents don't contribute. Bizby jojo |
#12
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"Banty" wrote in message ... I'm a chump :-) lol -- no you're a good person. A better person than I am at any rate. No, really - to my mind, it's my *time* that by far the more valuable chunk of my giving anyway, some money too is a nit. And far and away outweighs the hassle of explaining why I don't want Mrs. Smith's barely-in-time and barely-readable, though free, newsletter copies, why Mr. Jones should get a newsletter as well as Mrs. Jones, why the weather maps stuff is really really cool, etc .etc. It's not the right answer for everybody, but there it is.. I also avoid all the organizing type of stuff, frankly, so I can't help you there. With volunteer work, you really gotta hang loose about what other people do as far as their committments. A lot of people are just flakes. If *I* were doing your thing, I'd work with the girls only, talk to the parents about the uniforms for the picture day and that's it. And have it be a totally girls' thing. And eat the costs. Not saying that's the answer for you.. I've seen a lot of really neat ideas go by the wayside because money came up. But I'm not the only chump - in our Cub Scout pack our Secretary srpung for individual family photo albums with camp photos. Must have been at least a good hundred dollars. I do know that a lot of volunteers do end up paying for a lot of things out of pocket. That's true to some extent for me as well -- as in the B&G dinner thing above, and certainly in other things I've done as well. I guess the difference for me in this case is that it's supposed to be a gift from the troop. I probably should have asked people ahead of time to let me know for sure whether they wanted to participate, rather than taking silence as tacit approval. I'll know better next time. Bizby Cheers, Banty |
#13
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Banty wrote:
I also avoid all the organizing type of stuff, frankly, so I can't help you there. With volunteer work, you really gotta hang loose about what other people do as far as their committments. A lot of people are just flakes. If *I* were doing your thing, I'd work with the girls only, talk to the parents about the uniforms for the picture day and that's it. And have it be a totally girls' thing. And eat the costs. Not saying that's the answer for you.. That's usually my solution too, but it is a luxury to be able to use it as a solution ;-) As far as people being flakes, some are, but some are just overcommitted in other areas. The person who isn't pulling her (it's almost always mom, isn't it? :-/) weight with the girl scouts may be the overworked and underappreciated person running the show for the youth soccer league, or whatever. There certainly are folks who end up taking the lead with most things their kids do (usually because they're competent at the job and too much of a sucker to say no) and others who never do anything, but there are a lot of folks in between too. As far as managing costs goes, if I'm not willing to pay for it all, I would never just ask everyone if they're interested in idea X. They'll all tell you it's a wonderful idea and you'll go forward thinking that means they're willing to pull their weight with the idea, but most of them just mean they'd love to see you handle the situation without any input from them. If I want cooperation from others, I'll float the idea with *specific* information: "What do you all think about doing X? It would requi 1) Everyone to do X, Y, and Z 2) Everyone to contribute $N 3) Volunteers to fill jobs A, B, and C If everyone agrees to #1 and #2 and there are enough volunteers to cover #3, I'll be happy to coordinate." Anything short of that level of specificity won't get you the support you want. Best wishes, Ericka |
#14
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In article , bizby40 says...
I do know that a lot of volunteers do end up paying for a lot of things out of pocket. That's true to some extent for me as well -- as in the B&G dinner thing above, and certainly in other things I've done as well. I guess the difference for me in this case is that it's supposed to be a gift from the troop. I probably should have asked people ahead of time to let me know for sure whether they wanted to participate, rather than taking silence as tacit approval. I'll know better next time. Bizby Well, $10 is a little much, I'm sure the parents involved did a little calculation in their head as to how many kids x 10 = a lot more than a picture frame. I know you meant to make a gift certificate out of the remainder, but it's still a little much. If you had an exact figure such that each family could see what the calculation was, the reaction might have been a little better. But, there's the whole question of chasing everyone down, stragglers such that you know you'll be stuck with some out-of-pocket, etc. Like I said, I avoid all this stuff :-) Events like Blue and Gold dinners all had to be paid in advance - we'd even go through the artifice of selling the tickets for them. I do appreciate what some people said about getting nicket-and-dimed by all this gift stuff. By fifth grade I was pretty tired of it. Actually, I've not seen any thankyou gifts to the Pack leaders or any of the Scoutmasters. As a Den coleader me and the leader got thankyous when our boys were Sr. Webelos about to cross over. But the Den is a more small-scale personal group. Banty |
#15
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bizby40 wrote:
Our Girl Scout leaders are retiring after 5 years. All I wanted to do was to get a little gift, show a little appreciation. After all, we haven't given them anything as a group *ever*. So I send out e-mail and ask for ideas - "Great idea! Thanks! Whatever you want to do is fine!" Grrr. So I decide to give them a framed picture of the girls, and have the girls sign the matte. I also decided to get a little brass plate to go on the picture frame. I asked the parents to have their girls wear their uniforms to school tomorrow (regular meeting day) so I could get the picture. I also asked for donations to pay for the framing, with whatever is left over to be put into gift certificates for the leaders. "How much should we donate?" "Oh, I don't know, how about $10" "$10 is too much!" "Okay, well whatever you want is fine." "My daughter doesn't have a uniform!" "I only meant her sash or vest -- most of the girls don't have full uniforms." "Well, *my* daughter doesn't have a sash or vest!" Grrr. "Look, wear whatever you want -- show up or don't show up -- donate or don't donate -- I *don't* care anymore! Why did I ever get into this???" Okay, I didn't actually send out that last one, but the others all went back and forth. Now I know why I'm not the one to try to organize anything from a group. Too much hassle. You know, I didn't expect every parent to donate, but this isn't a collection for the co-worker you didn't really like in the first place, these two women have put in countless hours over the course of 5 long years for *our* children! There are ~15 regular meetings during the year, plus field trips, camping and so forth. It's a tremendous amount of work, and I'm personally ashamed that we've never done anything as a group to show our appreciation. I've given them token thank you gifts in the past, as have a few others, but the bulk of the parents have not. So I'm a bit surprised at how few people have responded at all. And rather frustrated by those being difficult about it. And honestly, I didn't know what to say to the woman whose daughter doesn't have a sash or vest. I know her well enough to know money isn't the issue. Her son has a full scout uniform, and both kids are well equipped for the many sports they play. I mean, obviously she doesn't need to have the vest to be in the picture, but why the heck doesn't she have it? It's not even the girl's first year in scouts! Anyway, I do have one question. If the bulk of the parents donated, then I was planning to give the pictures from the "troop". However, if only 4 or 5 out of 23 help out, what should I do? Should I give only the people that donated a chance to sign the card? Would you feel cheated if everyone who did nothing was given the same "credit" as you if you donated? Bizby Maybe simplify a bit and give the signed picture of the girls and eliminate the need to collect $$ from people, since that really is the hardest part, and most annoying when people either commit to and don't pay and you're left with paying for most. I hate being the change collector, and I admittedly get bugged when people 'forget' to pay me, who takes credit, etc. If you want to give a gift card or you and 2 or 3 other families want to go in on a gift card, then go for it, but don't expect everyone to chip in because generally they won't. Give the picture as a heartfelt thanks from all the *girls* and separately give a gift card from you and the others who donated, maybe as *parents* who know of and appreciate the extra effort they put in on behalf of their kids. Either way, it is very nice of you to coordinate the effort of thanks! cara |
#16
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On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:26:22 -0500, "bizby40"
wrote: Well, I think the picture would mean more to the leaders if the entire troop were in it. And I wouldn't want the girls to feel left out just because their parents don't contribute. Definitely. As a former girls scout leader, I would hate to think that any of the girls felt left out of a picture or gift for lack of money. Many of my girls didn't have much. And for future reference, we like things made by the girls that don't cost too much too. -- Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens .. The Outer Limits |
#17
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"Jeff" ) writes: I understand your feelings. If only a few parents donate, you might say, special thanks to Sarah, Joan, Millie and Susie who helped pay for this. But you probably shouldn't. That would be too tactless. No, no! Don't say that!! Either just have those parents sign the card, or have all the parents (that you can contact) sign the card. Or have the girls sign the card. The thanks are to the scout leaders -- don't mess up that message by giving thanks to someone else. -- Cathy A *much* better world is possible. |
#18
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"bizby40" ) writes: Well, I think the picture would mean more to the leaders if the entire troop were in it. And I wouldn't want the girls to feel left out just because their parents don't contribute. Yes, and if there's a card signed by the parents, I think the troop leaders will be happier if it's signed by all the parents. It's very difficult to discuss things and come to a consensus by email. It just doesn't work. By email you can say, "here's the plan. Suggested donation such-and-such. Let me know if you're in or out." That will work. Leaving any of the details up in the air just doesn't work out by email. Some peole don't read their email often enough or are in a hurry while reading it or are not in a mood for doinating to anything while reading email. -- Cathy A *much* better world is possible. |
#19
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Banty ) writes: No, really - to my mind, it's my *time* that by far the more valuable chunk of my giving anyway, some money too is a nit. I did this too. If it takes up some of my valuable time to keep track of a receipt for a small amount of money and do the paperwork to get it refunded -- sometimes I'd rather just forget it and pay it myself. I figure the time spent sorting out the receipts and stuff doesn't really contribute to society overall, besides being an un-favourite thing for me to spend time doing. -- Cathy A *much* better world is possible. |
#20
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Ericka Kammerer ) writes: "What do you all think about doing X? It would requi 1) Everyone to do X, Y, and Z 2) Everyone to contribute $N 3) Volunteers to fill jobs A, B, and C If everyone agrees to #1 and #2 and there are enough volunteers to cover #3, I'll be happy to coordinate." Excellent! I tried to do this sort of thing when deciding whether to do Girl Guide field trips or not, but I didn't manage to get that specific about it. That sounds like the way to do it! Oh, one more thing: the deadline date. "If we have enough volunteers by XX date, we'll go ahead." Later if people ask "Weren't we going to do X?" you say, "No, nobody volunteered to do C." A week before the deadline you can send another email, "We still need someone to do C or we won't be doing it." The deadline date has to be weeks ahead to leave time to organize the thing, usually. -- Cathy A *much* better world is possible. |
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