Alexandria Jaycees



Alexandria Jaycees

Chairman’s Planning Guide

|Chapter Name and Number: |Alexandria, #2 |

|State Name and Number: |Virginia, #45 |

|Project Name: |Gobble Till You Wobble - Year 3 |

|Project Chair(s) and Contact Info: |      |

| |      |

|CPG Category and Supervisor: |, |

PLANNING

1. Primary Purpose (What Is The One Reason You Want To Successfully Run This Project?)

The primary purpose for this project is to give our members an opportunity to socialize in a relaxing atmosphere and to give back to our community by donating Thanksgiving food and recipes to a local underprivileged family

2. Give a brief description of the proposed project and background information. Follow this with a listing of the specific and measurable goals to be accomplished by this project.

This year the Jaycees will enjoy a great Thanksgiving potluck meal together, but also build a sense of community and “giving back” by adopting a local needy family by providing them with food and recipes to make a hearty thanksgiving meal.

The Gobble: Members will be asked to bring a pot luck dish (as described in “The Wobble”), another set of unused raw ingredients for their dish and the recipe on an index card. The turkey will be provided by the chapter. The recipe and the ingredients will then be delivered to a needy family in Alexandria that does not have funds to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for his/her family. The family will be chosen through the Salvation Army. The Jaycees will collect the food on the day of the pot luck dinner (Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 20th) and then it will be delivered to family on Monday or Tuesday of the following week.

The Wobble: The Jaycees will have a Thanksgiving type meal in Alexandria where we can all gather together before we part ways for the holiday. Each year, this shall take place on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This will be a potluck style dinner / BYOB where the host (Chapter) will provide the turkey and members are asked to bring their favorite complimentary dish from their own family thanksgivings. Members will RSVP through Meetup indicate what side dish they are bringing to help guard against multiple dishes of the same food. Chairperson is responsible for monitoring to preempt any “multiple dish” problems.

If members would like to come over to watch football earlier…maybe play a bit of football outdoors between games are more than welcome to come over early. They are asked to make arrangements with the host to ensure that their side dish can be prepared on-site. Early arrivers should bring dish as prepared as possible so just to cook or heat their dish before dinner. Cocktail hour will begin at 6:00 and dinner will be served at 7:00 pm.

Because of a lack of place/functionality of the CPG Template, I want to add two sections to the CPG to include more detail and background information. This was the easiest place to add them. Those sections are: 1. Materials In Detail 2. 2010 Lessons Learned

MATERIALS:

Storage will be checked in advance to see what materials can be repurposed for this event. Other items that will be needed through chapter appropriations are:

1. 2 Turkeys- This is to provide a turkey for the Jaycees at the event and a turkey for the needy family

2. Plates- The plates in storage are paper plates and not really strong enough to hold up the massive amounts of heavy food and casseroles that Thanksgivings tend to produce. New heavy duty plates will need to be purcahsed for this event (Chinet at a minimum)

3. Silverware- When you have harder things like turkey to cut, you want to invest in higher quality flatware. Storage silverware broke and were ineffective in cutting meats, etc.

4. Cups- If there are enough solo cups in storage, we will use those. But until inventory is taken before the event, I am budgeting to purchase some and leftovers can be used for the holiday party or any other function.

5. Napkins- If this is a nicer event, it is nice to have better quality napkins that ones that may feel like paper towels. Until inventory is taken, I am budget to purchase napkins and leftovers can be used for the holiday party or any other function.

6. Ice- Needed to keep sodas cold and to put in beverages.

If all appropriations are not used, it will be returned to the chapter.

LESSSONS LEARNED PREVIOUS YEAR:

A few things changed since the original planning of this project.

This was the first year that members were asked to bring a pot luck dish, another set of unused raw ingredients for their dish and the recipe on an index card. Staple food items such as milk, butter, salt, pepper, flour, etc., along with the turkey will be provided by the chapter. A lot of members brought their own “staple items” to give to the family. There ended up being over a dozen eggs donated. There was a lot of duplication, but the sentiment of the participants was that the more food the family had, the better, and they could use the extra for Black Friday Breakfast.

There were also several members that forgot to bring the recipe cards. NEXT YEAR, chair should expect this to happen and have extra recipe cards on site so that members could fill out the recipes there. If not, then they can email the recipe to the chair the following day and the chair then transfers them to index cards. I did not have a lot of trouble in people NOT emailing recipes if they indeed did forget to bring them.

The family was chosen through the Salvation Army. We had the choice of picking a “neighborhood” of where the family lived. Our family this year was in Canterbury Square off of Duke Street. When speaking with the Salvation Army, you can be as frank as you want. You can specify where the family lives, how many are in the family and if language is going to be a big barrier, please let them know that you do not have any resources to help communicate in a different language. Our family spoke some English; however was more comfortable speaking in Spanish. Luckily, we have several bi-lingual members who could communicate with the family on our behalf. If you do this next year, make sure your bi-lingual members are aware of the situation, understand was is expected of them and that they can participate in not only helping to set up a delivery time, but can also help deliver the food.

Another change was that instead of delivering the food to the Salvation Army to distribute, we chose to deliver the food to the family directly. Again, if you run into a language barrier and do not have any resources, this is another way ensuring the food will get to a needy family. The family had 4 children so a member brought advent calendars for them to countdown until Christmas.

This was a potluck style dinner / BYOB where the host (Chapter) will provide the turkey and members are asked to bring their favorite complimentary dish from their own family thanksgivings. There were quite a few additional expenses that the chair incurred over the original budget estimate. I am not sure where I got such cheap turkeys for the first year of this project, but we had a 12 lb turkey for the Chapter ($36.57) and a 9 lb turkey for the family ($32.68). This is a total of $70.98 with tax which is most of the appropriation from the chapter. You should INCREASE the budget to reflect these changes for next year. It worked out alright in this instance because instead of buying more non-alcoholic beverages, we used the leftover drinks from the yard sales. The leftovers from this party will go to those planning the holiday party.

1. Increase the budget. See turkey reference above and additional expenses to think about for next year.

Items purchased, not budgeted and should be included in next year’s budget:

The original CPG calls for plates, cups and napkins to be donated from the chapter. The chair bought all new plates, cups and napkins for this event. The plates in storage are paper plates and not really strong enough to hold up the massive amounts of heavy food and casseroles that Thanksgivings tend to produce.

Next year, budget for purchasing plates…Chinet plates at a minimum (for their sturdiness). I personally like the very thick plastic plates with silver lining that actually LOOK like china. The official name is “White with Silver Trim Premium Quality Plastic Plates 10 1/4in 12ct” for the dinner plates. Party City (Rt7) had them on a buy one get one free special, ($9.99 for 12 plates…so you actually get 24 for $10).

I also got dessert plates (White with Silver Trim Premium Quality Plastic Plates 7in) there that matched the dinner plates. They were the same buy one get one free deal (9.99 for 24 plates), so you got 48 for $10.

When you have harder things like turkey to cut, you MAY want to invest in higher quality flatware. I had enough actual silverware for the dinner portion of the event and then switched to “Silver Look Cutlery” from Party City that looked like actual silverware. They were buy one, get one free (32ct multipack for $6.99).

With nice plates and silverware, I also decided to purchase my own higher quality napkins than what was in the chapter storage. This was just a personal decision. If you decide to use the chapter ones, there are plenty of them!!!

I also bought black solo cups to match. They were buy one, get one free. And if you aren’t worried about things matching, whatever solo cups the chapter has to donate is fine. This was just a personal decision.

ICE! It is not specifically noted in the expenses in the original CPG, but I spent $9.39 on 4, 10lb bags of ice.

Storage items I DID use:

If you have a smaller car, you will need to make friends with someone that can help you carry tables and coolers from the storage place. To fit the size of my apartment, I used my personal 4ft table and table cloth to seat guests. Depending on location, you may want to use the full sized tables in the storage place. There are no linen table clothes for these tables. If you want to put that in your budget so that we will have linen table clothes for these tables moving forward, that might be a good investment that you may want to include. I used a small folding table from a fellow member (but there is one in storage as well) to house the “bar”. I purchased a plastic table cloth from the party store to cover the table (makes it look nice and the plastic helped make it easy to wipe up spills vs. a linen table cloth that may be stained). The table cover cost $1.99 at the party store and the clips ($1.49) were purchased to hold down the table cover (because it was outside and we didn’t want potential wind to blow the table cover off).

Because seating was limited in my house, I also made an investment to purchase 6 folding chairs from K-Mart ($9.99 each). It was a good deal. As this party continues to grow, you will probably need to find extra chairs. Camping chairs and bag chairs would not work in this scenario because of space constraints. Check with members to see if anyone has any chairs they can donate (I definitely can now!) and if push comes to shove, contact the American Legion and ask to borrow some of their folding chairs. This process with the Legion may take a while (which is why I just bought my own chairs) but if you plan far enough in advance, I am sure they can work something out with you. Also, if anyone is an active member of a local church or a local school, they may have chairs you can borrow. This part will take the most advanced planning.

I have an abundance of wine glasses. If you don’t have access to wine glasses, you may want to see if anyone has any you can borrow, or you may want to add plastic wine glasses to your budget. Wine out of a solo cup is just not a good idea for anyone.

When purchasing the turkey, make sure to preorder one for pickup. I preordered one for both the chapter and the family. Shhh don’t tell anyone, but both were fully cooked.

2. Set up of Party: When setting up the flow of the party, make sure you have a separate location (like a bedroom) that is ready to receive all of the collected food. Also, don’t personally buy groceries before this event. You will need all of the refrigerator space you can possibly get.

3. Turkey Carving: When carving the turkey, make sure you find the wishbone and remove it as soon as possible. It is tradition for the President and President-Elect to pull the wishbone. If one or both are not present, try to save it for the next chapter meeting as the finale to your report on the event.

4. Thanksgiving Card and Delivery: We also had a Thanksgiving card that all members signed that we will include when delivering to the family. When planning this event in the future, try and plan the delivery day far in advance as well. I know you can’t be exact, but a save the date for the first Monday afterward or first Tuesday afterwards so you can get enough volunteers to help you deliver the food. This year we delivered the food prior to a planned outing at the city council meeting. The times worked out that everyone could attend both, but you may not be as lucky in the future.

5. Volunteers: Lastly, the three most important jobs to ensure a successful event for the day-of and day-after are volunteers to help set up, kitchen patrol (KP) duty, and volunteers to help clean. Two memebers arrived 4 hours before the event to help set up, do manual labor that I couldn’t do and help trouble shoot anything we thought could go wrong during the evening. Other members were crucial in the timely clean up/repackaging of leftovers, loading the dishwasher with materials and cleaning/drying the dishes. There were several others in the kitchen helping at the same time, but she was in charge of the KP duty and had everyone working on assigned tasks so that we could get dessert out quickly. The day after when the place looked like a hurricane had rolled through the condo, two other members came back over to help take down tables, empty coolers, remove HEAVY bags of trash and reconfigure furniture. The project could not have been success and run as smooth as it did without these selfless volunteers.

The goals for this project are as follows (Project goals must be Specific, Measurable, and Attainable):

|Goal #1 |Have at least 6 Jaycee Members participate |

|Goal #2 |Learn how to cook 2 new recipes and learn to fry a turkey |

|Goal #3 |Collect enough food to sponsor one local needy family’s Thanksgiving meal. |

|Goal #4 |      |

|Goal #5 |      |

3. What Are The Specific Manpower Assignments? (Show Names and Duties)

|Names and Contact Info |Duties |

|President, Alexandria Jaycees |Responsible for all Chapter activities; and oversees the operation of |

| |the chapter. |

|Vice President, |The Vice President has overall responsibility for projects in their |

| |portfolio. |

|Director, |The director assists the VP in planning for projects in their portfolio.|

|Chairperson(s) and contact info |The project chairperson(s) plans the project, promotes the event, writes|

|      |newsletter articles, and arranges the logistics for the event. |

|Web Site Coordinator (webmaster@) |Posts all information regarding event on the website. |

|Additional Resources | |

|      |      |

4. What Specific Materials, Supplies And Resources Will Be Required?

|What |Who |When Needed |

|Location and Directions | | |

|Personal Residence |***** |Day of Event |

|Communications | | |

|CPG |***** |October |

|Flyers |N/A |      |

|Newsletter Articles |*****      |      |

|Materials/Supplies | | |

|Project sign-in sheet |*****      |Day of event |

|Digital camera |***** |Day of event |

|Chapter signs |N/A |Day of event |

|Chapter recruiting materials |***** |Day of event |

|      |      |      |

|Collection of Money | | |

|(I.e. Paypal, Cash collection, etc) |      |      |

|Logistics (i.e. registration w/ city, permits, | | |

|venue, speakers, etc) | | |

|      |*****      |Ongoing |

5. Describe The Potential Problems And Solutions To Successfully Complete This Project.

|Problem 1: |Low attendance |

|Solution 1: |Have fun with those that show up, promote the project early and often enough for better attendance. |

|Problem 2: |Not enough food for family |

|Solution 2: |Be sure to send reminders to attendees to bring the donated food. Ask for members who can’t attend the event |

| |to at least try to donate something anyway at another event. Purchase easy side dishes to help make up the |

| |difference to give to the family |

|Problem 3: |Food gets cold/unsuccessful turkey cook |

|Solution 3: |Use oven/microwave to heat things up/Just eat the sides |

|Problem 4: |Two or more of the same dish |

|Solution 4: |Eat a lot of it/Send leftovers home with participants |

|Problem 5: |      |

|Solution 5: |      |

6. Complete A Proposed Budget Indicating All Anticipated Income And Expenses.

| |

| |

|Chapter Appropriation to cover: Turkey for event and turkey for a needy family, plates, cutlery, napkins, cups, ice and soda. |

7. List The Specific Steps To Bring This Project To A Successful Completion Showing Planned Dates For Each Step.

|Date |Action |

|October |Write preliminary CPG |

|October |Present CPG to Board of Directors |

|October |Advertise event on Meetup, website, etc |

|October |Report on project at monthly chapter meetings |

|October |Report on project at monthly membership meetings |

|October |Secure location |

|October |Solicit volunteers |

|October |Submit newsletter article |

|n/a |Submit press release to media |

|n/a |Solicit donations for project |

|n/a |Send out invitations |

|n/a |Secure camera and photographer |

|n/a |Invite state board members and other chapters to attend |

|Ongoing |Recruit new members |

|November |Hold Event and deliver food the following Monday or Tuesday |

|December |Complete final CPG and present to Board of Directors |

IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION

8. Record any revision of the original plan.

|Date |Description of revision |

|      |      |

Materials/supplies not planned for:

|Materials/Supplies |Resource/Contact Address/Phone |Actual Purchase/Donated Value |

|Extra Cooking Oil |Home Depot |$31.47 |

     

9. What changes or recommendations do you have for a future chairman?

This year we took on the task of frying a turkey. A member offered to fry the turkey. His contribution to the event was the materials needed to fry the turkey. This is something that most people don't think about because when cooking a turkey, you simply need an oven. To fry a turkey, you need a large deep fryer and cooking oil. He donated a batch of cooking oil, but ended up needing more cooking oil than was expected. That was an additional cost to the budget.

As far as finding a needy family, this year we had an extremely tough time working with the Salvation Army. They provided a list of points of contact for a family and their contact information, but no additional information. In years past, the Salvation Army would give us the family make up (how many people in the family, ages of children, etc) and the name and number of the head of the household. Then it was the Jaycees responsibility to call the POC to arrange a time for delivery. This did not happen as smoothly this year. The day before Thanksgiving, I was still on the phone with the Salvation Army trying to arrange for a family and specific delivery of the food. We ended up getting a family that the Salvation thougth was a mother, father and one child (really they had four young children). The family did not speak english. I went to a friend who spoke spanish to help communicate with them and arrange for the food drop off. Next year, we can provide this meal through different organizations that might get over looked like the Battered Women's Shelter.

10. Give specific and measurable results for each goal established. Describe the impact of this project on the chapter, individual members and the community. Evaluate your primary purpose.

|Primary Purpose: |The primary purpose for this project is to give our members an opportunity to socialize in a relaxing |

| |atmosphere and to give back to our community by donating Thanksgiving food and recipes to a local |

| |underprivileged family |

|Result: |Jaycees each expressed what they were thankful for this holiday season as well as donated a plentiful |

| |smorgasboard of food to a local family. |

| | |

|Goal #1 |Have at least 6 Jaycee Members participate |

|Result |We had 18 participants this year including 6 potential new members |

|Goal #2 |Learn how to cook 2 new recipes and learn to fry a turkey |

|Result |We learned how to cook *** corn pudding, ***** Sweet Potato Pie and fried a turkey |

|Goal #3 |Collect enough food to sponsor one local needy family’s Thanksgiving meal. |

|Result |A family of 6 was given enough food for a plentiful Thanksgiving meal. |

|Goal #4 |      |

|Result |      |

|Goal #5 |      |

|Result |      |

INDIVIDUAL

All individuals reflected on individual reasons to be thankful this holiday season

CHAPTER

Members present got to know one another better and formed a tighter bond with each other.

COMMUNITY

One local family in the community benefited from this project with food for the holiday season.

Actual Financial Statement

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