Building Community through Service and Fund-raising

Quota clubs enjoy the feel-good nature of raising funds and implementing service projects that make a difference in their communities. Read on for some Great Ideas clubs discovered that produced added benefits to club members and event participants.

AUSTRLIA
Beenleigh Bears Benefit Club and Community

CANADA
Collingwood Quota Hosts Costume Carnival

Hamilton’s Healthy Breakfasts

UNITED STATES
New Haven Generates Newness with Tried and True Ideas

AUSTRALIA
Beenleigh Bears Benefit Club and Community

The Beenleigh Quota club in Queensland, Australia, provides Trauma Teddies to five local ambulance stations to help soothe kids en route to the hospital. Before distribution, club members decorate the bears for a special touch of Quota caring. On a recent "decorate the bears night," members attached patches to suggest the bears suffered an injury. Emergency personnel noted that children calmed down much more quickly when they focused their attention away from their own troubles and onto comforting the bears.

The Trauma Teddies project benefits the community, draws attention to Quota service through local news coverage, and helps the club recruit new members and gain community support. Even better, members say the bears generate fun and fellowship during decorating sessions, layering an added bonus on a GREAT IDEA for Quota service.

CANADA
Collingwood Quota Hosts Costume Carnival

In late 2004, a child was born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, with a rare abnormality called omphalocele, meaning a sac containing abdominal organs had developed outside her body. The condition requires several surgeries as the child grows, most of which are not covered by medical insurance in Canada.

A Quota member delivers a touch of Quota Caring to the Ling family, whose youngest child requires extensive medical care to treat a rare disease called omphalocele. Baby Zarrah is pictured here with her sister Jeyla and mom Cathy.

Bessie Saunders, a charter member of the Collingwood Quota club, was touched by the family's plight and worked with her own family to organize a Costume Carnival fund-raiser to help them. First, she collaborated with a local high school for youthful volunteer energy; then, she rallied the support of her Quota club.

Collingwood Quota member Bessie Saunders (left, in black and white) and her family launched the Costume Carnival project, involving volunteers from a local high school and Bessie's Quota club.

The Quota club secured the use of a local senior center for the event at a very low rental rate. While students and staff provided entertainment and ran game booths at the fund-raiser, club members ran a refreshment booth stocked with baked goods and drinks. In the process, the club recognized some GREAT IDEAS that could benefit any Quota service effort:

• Tapping into the youthful energy of high school students and their teachers provides enthusiastic volunteers from a broad spectrum of the community.
  
  
• Involving a school automatically increases attention for the event among the targeted audience for such an event—young families.
  
  
• Creating a theme for a fund-raiser helps organizers focus.
  
  
• Renting a community-owned facility is much less expensive than a commercial one.
  
  
• Participating in one aspect of the fund-raiser (the refreshment stand) allowed the club to provide service excellence by concentrating efforts.
  
  
• Joining in an event with young people allows Quota members to model commitment to service.

Past Quota District 18 Governor and Collingwood member Georgina Waind (right, in costume) and Past Club President Ann Keating-Morrison (left) join in the Carnival spirit.

At the end of the day, the club donated Can.$1,000 to the family in need and raised Quota's profile in Collingwood. And the local women's shelter enjoyed the leftover baked goods, dropped off on the volunteers' way home.

CANADA
Hamilton’s Healthy Breakfasts

The information Web site for Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, describes Quota International in this way: "This service club develops good fellowship, good will, and justice as well as emphasizes [the] dignity of all useful occupations." Nothing proves the Hamilton Quota club's dedication to building good will in their community more than their support of a breakfast program at Hess Street School, located in an old and impoverished part of town now populated with immigrants from diverse cultures.

The program provides a full breakfast every morning for the entire school. That in itself is a GREAT IDEA, because many scientific studies have proven that students need breakfast to fuel their brains for concentration in class, problem-solving, mental performance, memory, and mood. But the program offers additional benefits by recruiting students to serve as volunteers. The kids are happy to help out, and their enthusiasm strengthens the school community. Good will naturally fans out into the neighborhood and into Hamilton as well, fostering dedication to service among everyone touched by the effort.

Here is the thank-you note sent to the Hamilton Quota club by one of the youth volunteers:

UNITED STATES
New Haven Generates Newness with Tried and True Ideas

Making a difference in their community is one of New Haven Quota's secrets to membership success. Here the Bright Beginnings Project in New Haven thanks club members for their support and commitment. (Click image to enlarge.)

The Quota club of New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A., reported a significant increase last year in attendance at club meetings plus much more member participation in club activities and projects. Attendance consistently hovers at 75 percent or higher at events and meetings. With success like that, a GREAT IDEA or two are bound to be behind it. Here are some suggestions from the New Haven club to generate enthusiasm and get Quota clubs in action:

• Celebrate Members—New Haven Quota takes time to spotlight the contributions of one special member in their "Member of the Month" program. The winner receives recognition and a bouquet or flowers or other token along with the satisfaction of knowing she is an important part of the group.
  
  
• Recruit New Members—New members are excited about possibilities in their new group and bring fresh, new ideas with them. Past club president Diane Young Turner says new blood challenges and energizes a seasoned group.
  
  
• Focus on Fellowship—The club held a beach outing last year for members to relax and get to know one another better. Members made an effort to share with one another and enjoy lots of fun activities-and it worked! President Diane says the day strengthened bonds within the group.
  
  
• Try New Things, But Evaluate Them—A great strength in the New Haven club, according to the club president, "is that we are not stagnant; we are willing to try new things." Because the club usually ends up canceling meetings in January and February because of harsh winter weather, members agreed last year not to schedule meetings during those months but to meet throughout the summer instead. "Well," said President Diane, "we did not realize how much we would miss one another, our friendship and how difficult this would be. By the time we met in March, we all agreed that we would never do this again!"
  
  
• Get Involved in the Community—Find projects that meet the community's current needs and ask members to participate. Notes President Diane, "We generate enthusiasm by encouraging members to become more involved." The enthused members want to return to club activities and feel good about making a difference in the local area.

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