Dear Scouts,

 

Thank you so much for considering our event for your project! Each year we rely heavily on the Eagle projects because they provide 50-75% of our total donations! The best way to ensure you have a successful project is to plan, plan, plan. The following are ideas that have worked fantastically in previous years. Please feel free to put your own spin on the project, if I remember right that is a requirement anyway!

 

You will have tons of fun working with us and helping the members of your community. It’s a big project, but the reward is so worth it! You will be so proud of yourself, and you will feel so good and so happy for helping! Most of our scouts and their families keep coming back every year because of how awesome this event is – they don’t want to miss out on that good feeling they get. As always, please feel free to call me with any questions 801-628-2490. 

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Thanks,

Bonnie

Event Coordinator

 

1. Decide what type of project you want to do. Some ideas are:

• Clothing donation drive (all sizes) – We get lots of clothing donations, so you might not want to focus on this, but include it as an option in another drive.

• Baby item donation drive (we have so many young families that come through that baby items, diapers in particular are always in high demand)

• The items we run out of the fastest are: blankets, coats, boots, and hats/gloves/scarves

• Food drive (non perishable items, such as: canned goods, boxed meals, etc)

• Used toy drive – you could pick up used toys and then clean them up and put them in working order (so get batteries donated too!) Last year we ran out of toys, it was so sad!

• School kits – the kids LOVE these! Paper, crayons, etc. You could organize a night where your troop/church/community donated the supplies and then you all put them together. (what a great family night project!) They don’t have to be in fancy bags either.  For example, you could make coloring books from free coloring pages online & put them in ziplock bags with crayons. The kids love them and the parents are appreciative because school supplies gets pricey!

• Angel trees for NEW gifts – we never have enough wrapped NEW gifts. If you would like to do an angel tree or another type of NEW gift drive we would greatly appreciate it! We have tons of wrapping paper and tape that you can use to help wrap the gifts after you’ve collected them – or you can ask people to wrap them. They just MUST BE MARKED WITH GENDER AND AGE! We never have enough 10-18 year old gifts.

• Think outside the donation box – one scout made a mini commercial for us to use in our promotional materials this year. It turned out great!

• Or do a spaghetti dinner with a silent auction to raise funds to help us pay for new hats/gloves from the dollar store, or to buy diapers. Cash is always needed.

 

2. Set a goal – if you’re doing a donation drive decide how much you want to collect. Most scouts collect a truck or 2 full of donations.

 

3. Remember the deadline to deliver donations for the scouts is Thursday, December 15th at 7 pm. (Earlier than everyone else because all of the scouts tend to come at the same time and it gets chaotic unloading everything and sorting it.)

 

4. Because of your deadline you need to give yourself PLENTY of time to advertise your donation drive and then collect the items. The most successful drives have been advertised for a month ahead of time and then reminded each week.  

 

5. Donation drop off location or pick up? Your choice! Some scouts have told people to drop off donations at their house, and others have scheduled a day to pick up donations from their porches. Some scouts have been really ambitious and knocked on everyone’s door the day of the collection and asked people who haven’t left something on their porch to still donate. One guy went around his neighborhood and asked everyone for a coat, he just waited while they opened their coat closet right then and there and pulled out coats. That weekend he collected about 300 coats  (if I remember right).  It was easy!

 

6. How are you going to advertise? I can customize a flyer for you or you can create your own (but I need to approve it if it has our info on it). Don’t just flyer the houses, put posters up in the neighborhood, in the churches, at gyms, libraries, businesses, etc. Email it, facebook/instagram, etc. Whatever you decide to do – I can help you with creating the collateral needed, if you need me to.  Just give me a little notice!

 

7. Donation drop-off. After you’ve collected your items please hold on to them and bring them to the event location on the deadline day. We don't have a lot of space in our storage unit, but if you absolutely have to bring your donations early we can figure something out. 

 

8. Pre-sorting saves us tons of time! If you have time to pre sort your donations that would be SOOOOO helpful! But, I understand that isn’t always doable.

 

9. Progress reports. You do not need to attend all of our planning meetings, however I will need an updated from you before each one so that I can see your progress. You will need to have me sign your project sheet early, and then remember to bring it to the event so that I can sign off and say you completed your project.

 

10. Lastly, these are the requirements that you must fulfill to have us sign off on your project:

• You bring me your paper work to sign AFTER you’ve decided what type of donation drive or project your going to do, but before you begin so that you can get it approved by your committee.

• You must attend at least 2 planning meetings.

• You must attend the mandatory volunteer meeting, which is held the Friday before the event. If you cannot attend please make arrangements for someone else to attend so that they can fill you in on what you missed.

• You must drop off your donations by the deadline (Thursday night).

• You must help us set up the event (the Friday before) for at least 2 hours.

• You must attend the entire event and help volunteer the day of (8am – 4 pm). This is the really fun part, you’ll want to be there all day if you can – it’s so much fun to meet the families that you’re helping. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this!

• You must bring your paperwork the day of the event for me to sign off your completion.