We had a great meeting on the 16th! The menu has been finalized, with the exception of a baked hashbrown recipe and we are still undecided on the sausages. The menu will include French Toast, a Christmas Breakfast Casserole (made with eggs, cheese and bacon), hashbrowns and fresh fruit. For substitutions, we will offer pancakes, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and a 'Piggy Bake' (made with sausage and corn bread). We will also have milk, orange and apple juice, coffee and tea.
We met two new volunteers at this month's meeting! A Senior at White River joined the group along with her mom! So great to know that the word is getting out to the high school students. Hopefully we will be overcome with Juniors and Seniors at the meeting on October 21st!. I brought up the idea of baked goods in jelly jars for take-home gifts...and it's a go! Now all we need to do is come up with at least 100 half pint and 25-50 pint sized canning jars. I am thinking of offering the students extra credit in return for donated jars. One way or another, we have to obtain our supplies, and the cheaper the better. It would be wonderful if we could get all of the needed jars donated! Donation letters have finally been successfully printed and are going out tomorrow. I know how close we are cutting it, so I have begun to buy supplies bit by bit with each trip to the grocery store. Unfortunately, the bulk of the items needed are perishable and cannot be obtained ahead of time. But if the donations are not secured, we will handle it and move forward. We have already planned for the worst case scenario....although we hope that we will not have to go that route. All of us have families, and I'm really hoping to keep the out-of-pocket expenses to an extreme minimum. So, now it's officially only 3 months to go. So much to do, and so little time!
0 Comments
Well, I've finally gotten settled after the move and have my internet connection again. =) I've been busy getting ready for the meeting this thursday, as well as working on our sponsorship requests. I've also had to hold off, twice now, on mailing off the donation request letters. While everything looks wonderful in Word, the printed piece from FedEx is cut off.....again. Very frustrating. I have completed revising them for the third time, and hope to get them printed and in the mail on thursday.
Better news - I have stumbled across the most perfect Christmas take-home gift idea for the bread baskets: Pies and cakes baked inside of jelly jars! My idea is to use half-pint canning jars to make individual pies for each family member - and then a larger pint-size jar for a cake to be shared. We can decorate the jars and stash them under the bread as special treats in the take-home baskets I think it will be a nice touch - and the jars would be reusable. We can include tips that I found online for ideas on reusing. This also would eliminate the possibility that the recipients cannot prepare the dish, as with my 'Brownie Mix in a Jar' idea. This way, all that is needed is a fork and a can opener. The jars will also store for about a year if they are sealed. =). I was mistaken. We are actually getting help from both the Junior and the Senior classes from White River! So excited to see just how many volunteers we might get from this partnership! We have sent a flyer to the school to be distributed among the students. We've also updated this website to include a page to welcome them and tell them a little bit about what they will be doing.
The donation request letters are going into the mail on Tuesday, as Monday is Labor Day. All mailed responses will be sent to our Secretary-Treasurer, Carol - although I hope to follow up with each contact by phone about a week after mailing. I will also ask our Secretary to be our Registered Agent at our September 16th meeting. My new address is unsecure, and being as she is the secretary, it makes sense to have her handle incoming mail. We will also discuss getting the mailbox at the UPS store for a permanent address. I am moving this weekend, and will be without internet for at least 3-5 days. However, I have downloaded several samples of proposals, cover letters, letters of inquiry, letters of intent,and proposal budgets to give myself a resource to draw from while writing our Fiscal Sponsorship proposals. Definitely have enough to keep me busy! I got a call this morning from the high school. We have the approval to recruit the junior class to help with our Christmas Brunch. The juniors will be working towards credit for their Senior Project. We will provide many different opportunities for them to volunteer, such as on the serving, decorating or clean-up committees. There will also be two days where we will be collecting branches and making swags for those who cannot volunteer during the actual holidays.
I am making up a flyer to be distributed tomorrow at the high school. We are inviting all interested to join us at our September 16th meeting. |
AuthorNikki Thurston Archives
November 2023
Categories |