Service Projects

This post will be an ongoing list of possible service projects that can be accomplished to meet the the service project piece of the People to People Program.

Read to Elementary School Children; in the library or maybe in a cafeteria.


There is a form on Google Sites that can be used to document time spent on service projets. (We will discuss this at one of our first Orientation meetings)

Meet Your Delegation Leader

Roger Halstead
319-270-3816
rhalstead16@mchsi.com

My Experience As A Leader:

My classroom experience included 34 years of teaching including running a library media center, computer labs, and computer maintenance responsibilities. Before that I was in the classroom in grades 1-8. I retired in 2007 and currently am subbing in the Cedar Rapids Metro Area. Just recently accepted a job to finish the year part time in an elementary school running the library. My experience as a leader with People to People has taken me to England, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. This will be my 6th journey this year and my 8th year of being associated with People To People programs.

My Travel Experience:

As mentioned above my travel experiences has taken me to a variety of destinations. As well as those countries my family has also traveled extensively through the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Jamaica. We love to travel and over time have developed sort of a method to our madness related to traveling. Currently we travel with our siblings and with our children to different parts of the United States and overseas at various times of the year.

My Hobbies and Interests:

My personal hobbies include exercising through a variety of activities. I enjoy lifting weights, somewhat moderately, riding the elliptical, Nordic track, spinning bikes and the treadmill. Before I had to sort of eliminate the high impact workouts I was involved in the Martial Arts for almost 30 years, studying and teaching. Of course I love to read a variety of literature. My wife, Tracy, and I love spending time with our children; Tiffany, Tarah, and Caleb along with our five grandchildren.

My Favorite People to People Moment

There are so many but one that sticks in my mind is climbing the castle tower in England an abseiling down the outside of the tower.

Holiday Fundraising Idea #5

Goody Baskets

Another story but a possible Great idea!

At first, Austin W. from Champaign, Ill. tried to get sponsorships from business owners for his People to People program, but that was not as successful as he and his family had hoped. So, they came up with a secondary plan.

Over winter break, Austin and his grandmother took a day to visit businesses in town, explaining the program to them and showing them his acceptance letter. Much to their surprise, every place they visited gave a gift certificate or an item for a good basket, which they raffled off later on.

Goody Baskets

The goody basket included gift certificates for groceries, pizza, pool, a haircut, a car wash, and an ice cream cake. There was even a handmade quilt donated by one of h is mom's co-workers. The basket was valued at nearly $500.00.

Austin sold tickets for $5.00 or three for $10.00. He decided to only sell the tickets to family, friends, an people at his mom's office. He sold tickets for two weeks and held the drawing the Friday before Valentine's Day. The sales exceeded Austin's goal, totaling $1,235.00 With this kind of success, Austin had no doubt he'd get to travel with his People to People delegation.

Holiday Fundraising Idea #4

From Yams to Riches

This is sort of story but still an idea.

Eleven-year-old Claire was accepted to travel on People to People Exploring Australia delegation in late winter and she only had three and a half months before her delegation travelled. She and her mom, Susie, knew they didn't have much time to complete a winter fundraising campaign, so they dug around in their craft bins to see what they could come up with. They found two simple supplies that they used to raise $700.00 in just six weeks.

What they ended up with was a set of $12.00 knitting rings and a few balls of yarn and Claire was on her way to creating her unique, handmade hats! Friends and family were happy to giver her unused yarn, and making the hats was easy to do while watching TV. Even Dad helped with the knitting.

At first they sold the hats for $5.00 but at the suggestion of friends and family they raised the price to $10.00. A friend of the family, Dr. Brooks, even ordered 20 hats to donate to the local neonatal intensive care unit and Claire went with Dr. Brooks so she could hand deliver them. Once spring arrived and hat sales slowed down, Claire moved on to her next creative fundraising venture.

Safety Comes First on PTP Journeys

Primary leaders:

These are our seasoned veterans who have been through many travel programs with us. They are the point people on any travel program, as well as the people leading the groups on their life-changing adventures. While traveling, the primary leader serves as a liaison with the delegation manager, making sure all details are addressed and ensuring the best possible experience for each of our travelers. Every once in a while, there will be more than one primary leader per program on the rare occasion that two smaller groups are joined to reach the ideal program size of 40 travelers. In these cases, the two primary leaders quickly work together to determine who will serve as spokesperson for the group when working with the delegation manager. This system creates clean, concise, and open lines of communication between the leaders and the delegation manager who is responsible for guiding the travelers to their many destinations. We have found that a single point of contact for the travel group reduces the chances for miscommunication and, most importantly, creates a safer program for all.

Delegation managers:

People to People Ambassador Programs works with more than 40 different partners around the world to deliver our various programs. Each of these partners provides a delegation manager on each program itinerary. The manager ensures every venue is alerted to the delegation’s arrival and that all hotels and meals are arranged before the travelers arrive at any location.The delegation manager completes the same training as our leaders and must maintain a current background check, as well as be licensed as a professional tour guide in their country. In addition to the training that must be completed with People to People, these delegation managers also complete an exhaustive training with their own local partner, even going so far as to conduct a tour on the planned itinerary without any travelers. In some countries, it is common for delegation managers to have more than five years of experience before being allowed the opportunity to participate on a People to People program—and then only when they have demonstrated that they are the best at what they do. Even then, these delegation managers are accompanied by a seasoned People to People manager on as many programs as it takes to confirm they understand all the People to People-specific safety protocols. Clearly, our partners embrace our belief that the safety and health of each delegation is our number-one priority.

Teacher leaders:

The teacher leaders traveling with our programs are often longtime veterans of People to People Program travel. All leaders are responsible for working closely with each other to ensure all program leadership is consistent. Each of our teacher leaders is responsible for the safety and health of 10 students—and only 10 students. We work diligently to keep these ratios because we believe that this situation is how we can best provide excellent guidance and supervision to each and every traveler.The leaders complete in-person CPR certification, not online programs, and must maintain a current background check on file with the program office. They also complete an extensive set of online training modules covering everything from identifying abuse to ensuring students remain hydrated when traveling. In addition, we always pair our newer teacher leaders with experienced teachers to create a learning environment where the new teacher can gain the necessary skills and knowledge before the program starts. As with all our training processes, we are committed to procedures that have proven to be highly effective, safe, and repeatable.

Taken directly from the PTP Website

Holiday Fundraising Idea #3

Write, Blog, Tweet to Friends and Family

Write/Blog/Tweet for contributions

People love to help out at this time of year. Sharpen your writing skills and check out these steps:

Step 1: Instead of gifts, ask for cash this year towards your People to People program. Visit: http://www.fundingyoureducation.org/. and download the contribution form.

Step 2: E-mail donors a thank-you note, and tell them you will keep them informed as you prepare for your travels. Keep them up-to-date via their favorite way to communicate on your contribution form, offer people a choice to stay in touch by snail mail or online. Then follow their advice and communicate the way they want.

Holiday Fundraising Idea #2

Host A Gift-Wrapping Station

Host a package gift-wrapping station.

This idea works. People love to shop at the holidays, but not everyone loves to wrap. Provide this service and be ready to travel.

Step 1: Contact a local bookstore, mall, or department store. Ask if they will let you set up in their store to do gift-wrapping for a day, an evening, a weekend.

Step 2: Be available at the right time-the day, particularly through weekends before Christmas. Advertise your hours, location, and prices. Engage the help of friends, family, or other Ambassadors. Advertise why you are doing this and where you are going. Set out tip jars for extra cash.

Holiday Fundraising Idea #1

Sell Holiday Cookies, Pies, or Chocolates

Sell Christmas, or other holiday cookies, pies, or chocolates

This is the best time of year to sell desserts and chocolates. Candy bars can be great stocking stuffers and treats for neighbors, co-workers, and teachers.

Step 1: Purchase cookie dough or pies from a wholesaler, or make your own, and purchase chocolate to re-sell. Price the cakes, cookies, and pies about $4.00-$5.00 above what it costs to produce or procure each item. Double the price of the chocolates.

Step 2: Sell the holiday treats door to door, at school, to friends and family, or at church. Have your items ready for pickup at least three days before the holidays. Get out, get started, earn cash!

Healthy Eating Habits Start At Home

Did you know parents have the greatest influence on shaping their children's lifestyle and eating habits? Good nutrition begins at home and is the root of lifelong health. Try these simple tips to help your family eat well and enjoy nutritious foods both at home and while traveling as a Student Ambassador with People to People.

Tips for Developing Healthy Eating Habits Focus on foods kids should eat instead of what not to eat

Pack the kitchen with foods that are nutritious and ready to eat, such as:

• Boldly colored fruits and vegetables. Deep, dark colors provide more disease-fighting nutrients.
• Whole grains that are rich in fiber.
• Low fat and fat-free milk, cheese, and yogurt.
• Fish, eggs, beans, nuts, lean meats, and skinless poultry.

Set a good example :

• Children are better equipped to make nutritious choices if they see you choosing healthy foods.

Use positive messages:

• Let kids know that all foods fit into a healthful diet; there are no "good" or "bad" foods. The key is moderation.

Introduce a new food every week:

• This encourages children to be open to new things and adds variety to their diets. Allow kids to help choose the foods and make it a positive, fun experience.

Set expectations:

• For example: Everyone in the family starts the day with breakfast; after-school snacks must include a serving of fruit or vegetables and one whole grain food; soda is reserved for special, rare occasions.

Talk about nutritious choices wherever you go:

• Talk to kids about smart food choices and how important they are for learning, doing well in school and sports, feeling good, and staying healthy at home and while traveling abroad.

Guide, but don’t steer:

• Allow your kids to be in the driver’s seat once they know the basic rules for good nutrition. Empower children to make the right choices on their own, even when you’re not around!
  
  Written by April Davis, PTP

Fundraising Ideas

Coming Soon!

Parent Involvement

Parent involvement is an integral part of the People to People experience. Parents are involved with the People to People program just as they are in the everyday education of their children. Parents are invited to attend all of our Orientation Meetings, but are only really expected to be at the first and last meeting. We hope you will want to come to all.

For those of you that do opt to attend all the meetings there will be many levels of participation for you that hopefully will this experience as fun for you as it is for your child. One of the ways for you to become an integral part of this is to work on a committee or for some maybe a couple of committees. We will have you parents involved in many other activities during our meetings as well. Sometimes the committee work can be done concurrently to the meetings or away from the Orientation meeting.

Besides participating in the activities at the meetings you can be further involved in meetings by helping, as stated earlier, in a number of ways. Committees is another way to get involved. There are committees that organize food at the meetings, to creating fundraising committees, to helping manage paperwork. Below there is a list of committees we have had in the past and a short description of each. Please take a look and see if any of the committees listed might be one that you could help with to assist in making this a Outstanding experience for your child.

We will attempt to discuss this at the social so that we can hit the road running at our first Orientation meeting in January.

• Phone tree: Responsible for organizing and managing the phone tree. There is a phone tree template that can be used if a new one is not created. This person would also work on some dry runs to make sure the chain of command works.
  
• Fundraising: This committee has a free rain. The more creative you can be the more succcessful it will become. An address that may be useful: (www.fundingyoureducation.org) may be looked at and I also have put a few fundraising ideas on the blog.
  
• Food: Responsible for managing a food/beverage of some sort for each meeting. Meetings tend to be a bit long and a snack is definitely called for at some point during the meeting. :)
  
• Service Project Hours: We will be having forms for this. At this point a decision on how the service hours will be met and the committee may want to make some recommendations on this. I do have some ideas on it that might make it a bit more manageable.
  
• BonVoyage Picnic: This is a social meeting of sorts that will happen in June, just before we go on our journey. The committee will be responsible for finding a spot and determining what people will bring for food, etc. Other business items will be handled by the leaders.
  
• Photo Committee: This is a new committee that I would like to see get going. I believe there is a real opportunity for someone with a photo eye to have some fun. We could have a People to People Facebook where we could post pictures that are taken during the Orientation meetings, etc. Then pictures from the journey could be uploaded to it as well.
  
• Elected Official Committee: Responsibility here lies incoordinating a visit by an elected offical or organize a visit to an area like a city council meeting, etc. or coordinated a visit by someone that has visited the areas that we will be journeying to.
  
• Guest Speakers Committee: This committee could work with or combine with the elected official committee to coordinate an activity or two.
  
• Reunion Gathering Committee: Organize a reunion upon our return, place, date, etc. This often takes place a couple of weeks after we return, when the journey is still fresh in our minds. This gives our delegates a chance to organize notes, pictures, etc. from the journey that they can bring to the reunion.
  
• T-shirt Committee: Organize a design contest for a t-shirt that will be worn by our delegates while we are on our journey. It would include getting it printed as well.
  
• Currency Committee: Coordinate money transaction for teh group via US Bank Cedar Rapids or any other bank that we can get money exchanged for currency we will need in the countries we will be journeying to.
  
• Activities Booklet Committee: This can be fun for a creative individual. In the past we have put together a booklet that has information, games, delegate names, etc. in a booklet that delegates carry with them. Another way to record information about their journey.
  
• Secret Project Committee: Coming soon! Since this is a secret I can only share this with the Committee Chair. :)
  
• Communications Committee: This committee will coordinate articles that could be delivered to local newspapers, with stories, pictures, etc. There is quite a bit of material that People to People have as guidelines for this committee.

Post not completed. 11.21.2010