Sharing Quota Magic

From food to fishing to parenting classes, these great ideas help Quota shine.

AUSTRALIA
Food Fund-raisers Down Under

Checking in with Taree Seniors

Hooked on Anglers in the Wimmera

UNITED STATES
No Parent Left Behind in East Memphis

AUSTRALIA
Food Fund-raisers Down Under
Three Quota clubs have developed GREAT IDEAS for raising funds in Australia. One taps into the holiday celebration market, while the others revolve around the breakfast table.

Pudding Prowess in Gloucester
The Gloucester Quota club in New South Wales has earned an excellent reputation in their region for making fabulous Christmas pudding. The lucrative moneymaking effort is sweetened by perfect timing, quality, and collaboration.

For more than a dozen years, club volunteers have made and sold puddings at the local Snowfest. As demand for the product increased, Quota volunteers expanded their operation to cater to special orders as well. The club now sells more than 250 puddings annually for events from festive family dinners to the annual local Shakespeare Festival. The club even prepares special puddings for diabetics.

Club volunteers work in teams over three weekends in December to accomplish the massive task. Puddings are wrapped and delivered by club members to households throughout the region. "These puddings have traveled to other towns and states in Australia and even, on occasion, have been known to travel overseas!" said past club president Lucy Cermon. "This is a very rewarding promotion of Quota International."

Breakfast of Champions

Canberra Quota members collaborate with local Lions Club members to cook and serve breakfast for ten consecutive days during a local hot air balloon festival in the nation's capital. Volunteers cover shifts beginning at 5:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Later in the month, the club cooks and serves lunches and teas during the seven-day Sheep Dog Trials in their community.

The Warwick Quota club in Queensland raised money for diabetes research and education with a Mad Hatters Breakfast. Guests poured into Bryson's Place, owned by a Quota member, for food, fellowship, and fun, highlighted by a contest for best hat. The lively event attracted excellent media coverage in newspapers and on radio and raised a good amount of cash for charity.

At Christmas time, the Warwick club hosts a "Cent Sale," a lively social event with games and prizes. Club members prepare food for tea, which becomes a time of fellowship and fun as well.

AUSTRALIA
Checking in with Taree Seniors

The Australian Red Cross designed a program to check on the wellbeing of elderly and isolated residents in communities Down Under. With the help of diligent volunteers, the "Telecross" program makes daily phone calls to identified residents to check on them. If seniors fail to answer the phone, callers alert the Red Cross to look into it.

Taree Quota members recognized immediately that Telecross is a GREAT IDEA and signed on to help. One club member manages the volunteer roster in Taree, and several members volunteer as callers. When one of the original Telecross volunteers, 85-year-old Quota member Marion Armstrong, passed away, the club decided to honor her memory and dedication to Telecross by donating a new computer to speed up administrative work.

AUSTRALIA
Hooked on Anglers in the Wimmera

Along the gum tree lined banks of the beautiful Wimmera River in Victoria, Australia, anglers arrive each March for the famous Horsham Fishing Competition, the largest and richest inland fishing contest in the country, with a new car awarded for the heaviest catch.

The Quota Club of the Wimmera is hooked on their GREAT IDEA to help organize the annual event. Quota volunteers fold and address 2,500 brochures advertising the contest and then manage registration for the 3,500 anglers and children who participate. The club enjoys the fellowship involved in this community service and, noted past club president Joan Leyonhjelm, "of course, we enjoy meeting all of the people from other areas."

Horsham is located between Melbourne and Adelaide in an area of Victoria known as the Grampians Little Desert.

UNITED STATES
No Parent Left Behind in East Memphis

Parents of hard-of-hearing children in East Memphis, Tennessee, head back to the classroom with the local Quota club to learn ways to enrich their children's education. East Memphis Quota volunteers collaborate with the local school system to support a GREAT IDEA—the club sponsors a series of workshops for parents of some 300 deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the city.

The Saturday morning sessions for parents cover math and reading strategies; sign language; information on amplification and cochlear implants; speech therapy; career planning; graduation requirements; community resources; and hearing and vision screening. Meanwhile, children enjoy play sessions guided by hard-of-hearing teens.

The Quota club provides lunch for everyone, complete with entertainment by local deaf teens and plenty of door prizes. Parents leave with a wealth of information as well as new friends who face similar challenges. And club members say they gained greater understanding of the needs and challenges of families impacted by hearing loss.

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