Hey everyone! As the date of our first meeting draws nearer, Cindy and I are working even harder to get the details straightened out for Fall 2005. We decided that you will need to attend a minimum of three events this semester to receive ACTIVE membership in Make A Difference. Completing three events is a cinch! If you volunteer at the Walk for Hope (on Saturday, October 1. Please see Walk for Hope post for details) from 6am-11am, you will have already completed an entire semester's worth of volunteering! Easy, no?

Can't make it to the Walk? No problem! We have many other opportunities coming, so don't worry! You don't even have to leave school for our next big volunteering "event"! Throughout the month of October, Make A Difference will be participating in Trick or Treat for UNICEF. Details about this upcoming fundraiser will be posted soon! I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Small things, like participating in fundraiser, attending club meetings, showing enthusiasm for our projects, etc., can and definitely will help your participation grade! If you know you will not be able to attend most of our Tuesday meetings, but would still like to Make A Difference, please contact me ASAP. Anybody who is interested in volunteering and helping our community is welcome at MAD! If you have any problems or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me. We'll work something out!

"Can we volunteer at more than three events?"

Of course you can! In fact, we encourage you to attend as many events as possible! To provide an incentive for everybody to continue volunteering even after they meet the credit requirements, we decided to create a ROLLOVER PROGRAM. After you finish your third event, your event credits will rollover and count toward your Spring semester participation grade. For example, if you go to five events this semester you're ahead by two events for next semester.

Because clubs start meeting later in the Fall semester than they do in the Spring semester, we will have fewer meetings and therefore fewer events this semester. We picked three events as the requirement because we have three full months to meet in the Fall: October, November, and December. We reserve the right to raise the number of events to qualify for "Active" membership in the Spring (though to be honest, unless things really deviate from plans this semester, our policies will most likely stay the same). It would be wise to "stock up" on your events credits in the Fall. The events available will be more interesting than those during the Spring. Two major holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are in the Fall semester, so expect fun and rewarding volunteering opportunities during the Holiday season! There is one exception in our Rollover Program, though.

NO MATTER HOW MANY EXTRA CREDITS YOU HAVE TO ROLLOVER INTO THE SPRING SEMESTER, YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT AT LEAST ONE SPRING EVENT TO RECEIVE CREDIT.

The rule sounds a lot worse than it actually is! We just need to know that you are still in our club before we give you credit for the semester! Depending on the number of events you have to rollover, attendance at club meetings along with other smaller school-related activities may be enough to get "Active" credit for the semester. This will be judged on a case-by-case basis, so please talk to me when the time comes if you have any questions.

I don't think anybody will be receiving "Moderate" or "Seldom" credit this semester, but for the records, here are the numbers:

"Active" THREE events
"Moderate" TWO events
"Seldom" ONE event

"Where does attendance at meetings play a role in our Participation grades?"

Good question! While your participation grade will not be affected directly with a bad attendance record, being present at our meetings will benefit you in the long run. Besides receiving valuable information and being able to ask questions on the spot, your attendance record will play a role in our decision regarding your events requirement for the Spring semester after you rollover your credits. With the exception of our first meeting, our meetings will be VERY short. 15-30 minutes at most. After our first informational meeting, where we will go over all our policies and give you an overview of upcoming events, our meeting time will be devoted to signing up for events and answering any questions you may have. Also, prior to each event, an officer (usually me) will give a brief presentation about the organization we will be working for. How can we Make A Difference if we don't know what we're supporting? Be prepared to hear about some great organizations!

I hope this clears up any concerns you may have had about how our club will work this semester! If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me! I'll be happy to clear things up for you!

I hope to see you in Room 233 ant 3:45 on Tuesday, September 20th! Bring your friends and come see what we're all about!

Note: If you are interested, but cannot make it to the meeting on Tuesday, please contact us (by commenting or through e-mail) ASAP. We will need your Name, Registry Number, and E-mail address. Check this blog on Tuesday evening to find our what happened during our meeting.

Anybody who wants to Make a Difference is welcome, so please don't hesitate to contact us!