...to make things look effortless.
We have our annual fundraiser for the Cub Scouts this coming Saturday. For the third year in a row, we're having an electronic device recycling drive - we've partnered with a local company that takes TVs, computers, etc. and recycles them for the components. We have a whole price list worked out, volunteers lined up, banners out, etc.
This is my first year in charge, though. Last year I just showed up and helped toss 32" TVs around all day. This year I have to coordinate getting the recycling company to show up on time. I have to arrange pick-ups for people who can't get over to the fundraiser on Saturday. I need to call volunteers to make sure they remember to show up on time.
There's a million little things to do, and it's my job to remember them all. That's pretty scary right there...
This is the only fundraiser that we run during the Scouting year. Many Packs sell birdseed, or popcorn, or Christmas ornaments, or any number of other creative and innovative ways to raise money to enrich the Scouting experience. We're fortunate to have the generous support of our community, who came out in force last year (and the year before, of course, but I wasn't on board yet) to make our fundraising efforts such a smashing success that we didn't need any other fundraisers for the year.
It's a lot easier to get folks to donate one morning out of the year to help out with a fundraiser if it's the only one they'll have to do that year...
It's all coming together; all the people have been contacted; pick-ups arranged; media outlets alerted. All that's left now is marshalling the troops on Saturday morning and picking up a large bottle of Advil for Saturday afternoon... It'll be an exhausting day, to be certain, but we'll raise money, help the earth, and, most importantly of all, be done for another year...
That is all.
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5 comments:
I like the idea of a recycling fundraiser but how do you generate income from collecting electronics? We've bounced around several different fund raisers for our pack & troop (popcorn sales, scout fair, Christmas greenery) before settling on a community garage sale. Like yours, a once a year event that usually involves lots of behind-the-scenes work and a case of Advil but brings in a lot of coin.
Great job! Want my old computer?
jay -- i personally loved the birdseed fundraiser when we did it with the pack.
and don't forget -- remove your hard drive from the PC before sending it to recyling, mkay?
taking monitors? i think i have 4.
agg79,
Basically the company takes the parts and shreds the plastic for scrap, and salvages whatever metal it can. They charge us a flat fee per pound as well as a modest charge for the truck and the workers; we keep everything over that amount.
We'd love to take your old computer; however I'd guess that shipping charges alone would eat up any profit... ;)
amusings_bnl,
We're more than happy to take any and all monitors off your hands - they're $10 each. We'll be at Elm Park from 9 to 1 on Saturday, or I could be persuaded to come get them if you need...
Not remove your hard drive, amusings_bnl. Then you've just got a dead hard drive sitting around. Not as much space as a whole dead computer, but it's still a Thing Taking Up Space.
What you want to do is:
a) if the drive still works, plug it into a working computer, rip anything you want to keep off it, and then run a drive eraser or sanitizer on it. These programs don't just delete files, they overwrite every bit on the drive with random garbage. Retrieving data from a drive that's been treated this way is impossible. There's nothing left to retrieve.
b) If the drive isn't functional, run a magnet over it a few times. A BIG magnet. It won't render the disk completely unsalvageable, but it will make data salvage a whole lot harder, and likely all the salvager will get is random garbage.
I have yet to find a hacker that can retrieve data from a hard drive with numerous .308" holes in it...
I'm sure it can be done. Just not easily...
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