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Family Annual Fundraising
Obligation
Each TIDE
family with swimmers enrolled in TIDE 2 through National Group is
responsible for participating in team fundraising activities. These
include organized activities (TIDE bingo) or TIDE
sponsorship.
TIDE
sponsorship may be from your family or a corporation in your name.
TIDE’s sponsors are recognized on the team website and in the
Meet Program for TIDE sponsored swim meets.
Most
families choose to fulfill their fundraising obligation by working
at TIDE’s Wednesday or Friday night (5:30 – 11:00 PM)
Bingo games. Attending all scheduled nights will fulfill a
family’s annual fundraising requirement. Any missed dates
will be billed at the rate established by the
Board.
Approximately
12-14 volunteers are needed to conduct Bingo. If a family chooses
to assist with TIDE’s Bingo game, they are assigned to one of
eight rotating teams: four Wednesday teams and four Friday teams.
Each team runs the Bingo game every four weeks; each TIDE family
participating in Bingo is required to provide one adult worker per
assigned Bingo shift. This is stipulated in your TIDE
contract.
The number
of shifts assigned and the work schedule depend on the total number
of families participating in the Bingo fundraiser. Each Bingo team
has a Captain who is responsible for managing the game and
assigning duties to the volunteers. Volunteers are asked to please
respect the decisions of the Bingo Captain when work assignments
are communicated.
It is also
very important to arrive ON TIME for your bingo shift. Volunteers
are asked to report no later than 5:30PM. Those who arrive first
will be given first consideration at the end of the night when
volunteers are dismissed.
The annual
Bingo schedule by team is published at the end of September and
posted on the team website,
www.tideswimming.com.
Families
have ample time to arrange their personal commitments or seek Bingo
“trades” in the event of a conflict.
Members are
permitted to trade with Bingo workers on other teams to accommodate
schedule conflicts, as long as they still fulfill their full Bingo
work obligation.
Some member
couples choose to pair up with other couples on their Bingo Team to
reduce the number of
nights a
family is working Bingo. Couples (say, for example, the Hoff family
and the Phelps family) then trade off with each other: one shift is
the responsibility of Mr. and Mrs. Hoff; the next shift is the
responsibility of Mr. and Mrs. Phelps. When a couple works by
filling two volunteer slots on the same night, one is for their own
family’s obligation, the other is to fulfill their
“partner” couple’s obligation. This arrangement
works well for families who are able to provide two adult
volunteers on a given night – a sort of Bingo “Date
night”!
Bingo
workers may be assigned to any of a number of positions. Many
positions involve standing or walking the playing floor, so please
wear appropriate footwear. There are five main work areas: the
front counter, bingo computer sales, the “Pit”, the
“Specials” table, and the floor.
Front
counter workers sell paper
Bingo sheets and ink daubers, authorize/verify checks from players
(with Bingo Captain’s supervision), count out bingo paper
games for floor salesmen, restock bingo
cabinets,
assist in counting cash drawers, and run a cashier station for
prize payout. Front counter workers
may also be
sent out onto the bingo floor once the game begins to assist the
floor workers in verifying bingos and selling
instants.
Bingo computer
workers sell bingo computers
(preloaded games – no ink required) at the start of the
night’s game and at “half time”. Bingo computer
sellers also assist the front counter staff with
restocking
and counting/closing out
cash drawers. They may also be asked to join the floor workers when
computer sales are over and they have closed out their cash
drawer.
The
“Pit” is the sales station for
the many Instant games run during a Bingo session. These games are
similar to Lottery “Scratchers” except game cards are
torn open to reveal prizes or winning numbers. Pit
workers sell Instants
from their station OR they work the bingo game floor selling
Instants to the players.
Floor workers have to
HUSTLE and respond to players’ requests to purchase the
various games offered. Once a given Instant game is opened, all of
that game’s playing pieces MUST be sold by Pit
workers.
“Specials”
table workers sell, from their station,
additional, “special” bingo games:
U-Pick-‘Em,
jackpots (denoted by the
color of the game sheet), “Quickie” bingo games, and
the like. The Specials table can be quite busy before the
night’s bingo session begins. Players also purchase from the
table at “half-time”.
Floor workers
spend their
night walking the bingo floor and selling various types of games to
the
players. Floor workers
either sell Instant games (from the Pit) or “special”
bingo paper games (from the
Specials table). Workers
selling Instants frequently restock their “carry around
tubs”; workers selling Specials do not have to restock as
often. ALL floor workers are expected to assist with Bingo
verification. When a player shouts, “Bingo!” a floor
worker will verify the winner’s bingo by shouting out a
serial number (to the Bingo Caller) from the winning Bingo paper or
computer to make sure that the game is indeed a winner. The only
floor worker not involved in sales is the Paymaster. He/she
is responsible for writing pay slips for Bingo winners so that they
may collect their winnings from the Cashier at the front counter.
The Paymaster also helps verify Bingos when appropriate, to keep
the game moving along more efficiently. The Paymaster will also
help the Bingo Captain by managing the floor workers and keeping
them on task.
Family Annual Volunteer
Obligation
TIDE sponsors three swim
meets per year: one in the fall (a short course meet); and two in
the spring (long course meets). The TIDE sponsored meets for the
2008-2009 season are as follows: an “Open” meet on
October 11&12 at Fort Eustis Aquatic Center; an
“Open” meet on May 1-3 at Fleet Recreation Center; a
distance meet on May 30 at Fleet Recreation Center. By sponsoring
meets, we help Virginia Swimming
provide swimmers of all
ability levels with opportunities to compete. As a meet sponsor,
TIDE earns a
significant amount of
revenue for our swimming program. Meet fees, program sales, and
concessions serve as a means of both paying meet expenses as well
as providing revenue for the host team.
Each TIDE
swimming
family with swimmers enrolled in TIDE 1 through National Group is
expected to assist with each of our three team-sponsored
swim meets by working a total of one-half of the total
number of meet sessions, as stipulated in your annual
contract. This includes families who have paid for TIDE
Sponsorships. Families who have unavoidable scheduling conflicts
can choose to participate in the payment option in place of
working. The payment option for a meet is equal to $50 times the
number of required volunteer sessions, usually set at three (3).
Please be aware that there may be times when you must work at a
TIDE sponsored meet even though your child is not swimming. Each
TIDE family’s participation fairly distributes the work
needed to host a successful and profitable swim meet.
Each TIDE family with
swimmers in TIDE 1 – National must provide one adult to work
the number of meet sessions prescribed by the Board. The required
number of sessions will be communicated to parents prior to meet
work signups. Married couples who work together in the same session
get credit for two work shifts, as each person will be assigned to
a different job.
Meet volunteer signups
are done through the team website and are monitored by the Meet
Volunteer Coordinator. The Meet Volunteer Coordinator for the
October meet is Amelia DaCruz (cruzan@cox.net). The Meet Volunteer
Coordinator can assist families with finding a match between family
responsibilities and team requirements. If you have special family
circumstances, it is important that you contact the Meet Volunteer
Coordinator EARLY when planning your meet work shifts. Families are
expected to be proactive in signing up for their required number of
work shifts.
A volunteer cannot simply
report to a meet session unannounced and offer to work. All work
shifts must be arranged in advance of the meet. This gives all of
our busy families a chance to plan ahead.
Examples of volunteer
positions include:
• Lane timer:
operates stopwatch and timing equipment for an assigned
lane
• Runner: collects
timing sheets from lane timers to give to Meet
Recorder
• Clerk of Course:
musters swimmers for each event, distributes entry (relay) cards to
coaches, escorts and helps manage younger swimmers behind the
blocks, posts deck seeding results
• Hospitality
worker: assists in food preparation, stocking, and serving in
Hospitality Suite (for coaches
and meet
officials)
• Concessions
worker: prepares, cooks, sells food and snacks
• Heat sheet sales:
sells heat sheets (meet programs) during meet. This volunteer may
also be asked to
pick up meet programs
(heat sheets) from the printer.
• Announcer: meet
announcer, operates P.A. system, announces races, results
(volunteer must be
approved by the meet
director)
• Ribbon writer:
prepares award ribbons by affixing labels, sorts awards by team for
distribution to
participating
teams’ coaches
• Meet
setup/teardown: set up equipment, seating, other tasks as required
(depending on venue)
• Deck Marshall:
patrol deck and environs (locker rooms, hallways) to ensure safety
of swimmers and
spectators. Volunteer
must be possess current USA Swimming registration
Participation in bubble
raising or takedown working parties provides TIDE families with yet
another opportunity to fulfill their meet volunteer requirements.
Participation in bubble raising (November l5) and/or takedown
(March 29) counts as working ONE meet session. Hence, a family who
provided a volunteer to assist with bubble raising is required to
work only two sessions at the October TIDE Meet. Likewise, a family
who provides a volunteer to assist with bubble takedown in the
spring gets credit for working ONE meet session, which counts
toward TIDE’s spring meet volunteer requirement. Due to the
very physically demanding nature of raising and lowering the
bubble, it is highly recommended that these volunteer positions be
filled by men (or strong women).
TIDE’s two spring
long course meets will be held May 1 – 3, 2009 and May 30,
2009 at Fleet Recreation Park on Naval Base Norfolk. The three day
meet will be a BB/B/C meet; the one day meet is a special distance
meet where the only event offered is the mile.
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