It’s that time of year when the Scouts or Hockey associations come knocking for donations for the bottle depots to help with their fundraising drives. Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that the collection of the bottles has changed. Now, we’re asked to leave the donations at the bottom of the driveway and they’ll be picked up.
Personally, I have an issue with this change. These youngsters are doing an important task to help their association to collect money. And there are aspects to this that will be missed if those bottles are just left outside the house.
- Polite greeting – meeting new people with a smile, eye contact, a firm handshake is a vital part of our children’s soft skills training. I liked having a short conversation with the hockey players at the door hearing about their exciting, up-coming tournament in Europe. If those bottles are left at the door, where is the polite greeting or even a thank you? A piece of paper stuck in the door won’t do, I’m afraid.
- Manual work – bagging up the bottles from the neighbors willing to donate is all part of the experience of working towards the goal of the fundraising efforts. Now we’re expected to do the work for them.
- Stealing – I’ve driven up the street near my home on Saturday mornings and have seen people who obviously are not Scouts or Hockey players “helping” themselves to the bottles.
I’m disappointed that an opportunity for growth in the character of the Scouts and Hockey/Soccer players has been taken away. It may be more convenient or a quicker way to collect the bottles but I think the youngsters miss out on a tremendous life lesson. When they make the change back to the original face to face meeting at the door, then I’ll gladly donate my bottles.
Tags: fundraising, hockey-teams, life-lesson, work
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