Hi Parents and Guardians,
Thanks for attending the meeting last night. It is encouraging to see such strong support for our corps.
I have a few post-meeting notes for you.
Our website
As you know we have a corps website www.victoriaarmycadets2483.ca. It is my intent to eventually move away from emailing you and turn towards posting CSC news on the website. This has the big advantages of having information readily available, increasing our web-traffic, sharing our activities, and putting you in control of the information stream. To make this work, you will need to ‘subscribe’ to the blog/newsletter to stay automatically up-to-date with news and announcements. You need to go to this link and enter in your name and email in the newsletter / subscribe section on the right side of the page. Then, whenever someone (me, CO, staff, etc.) posts something new you will get an email on that day or the very next day. I have started doing this so expect less emails from me directly and please start using the website.
Silent Auction
During the potluck evening there is a silent auction. Our goal is to raise $1,300 in the auction. Please bring cash or cheque and prepare to bid on items. The auction will be successful if a few other things happen. Each cadet is to do their part by bringing in something for the donation (e.g., gift cards from Starbucks, Tim H’s, subway, quality crafts). Price point should be about $20. Each donation a cadet brings will give them an entry ticket in a cadet raffle. Bring 2 donations- get 2 entries. Any funds raised go to the corps so please get your cadet involved in getting something. Go to this page on the website to get an official letter of the event to give to the business they visit. Please email Tamara (tamara.mcnay(at)apbc.ca) when you visit a business–even if you are unsuccessful. We are tracking where we are most successful so that our June Auction is even better and we may properly thank our donors..
50/50 raffle
Also during the Christmas Potluck, we are going to try a simple 50/50 raffle. Please bring a little cash to support this one. We haven’t done this in recent memory, but are hoping to raise more than $100 this way. Cadets cannot purchase nor sell tickets.
Bake Sale
At the potluck we will have a table for a bake sale. This has the potential to raise more than $200. Each cadet is asked to prepare a baked good for this table. Brownies, cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, pie… bread, anything is great. Please decorate your baked good and wrap it in cellophane or saran wrap. No exposed food please. Bring it to the potluck and put it on the table with a price between and $5-20. This is not your potluck item.
Potluck
I think the best part of the annual gathering is sharing a meal with friends and family. Each cadet is asked to bring an item for the potluck. Salads, buns, mains, sides, desserts—it’s your choice. Please bring enough for you and your party PLUS 4 more people. It is much better to have some leftovers to take-away than to run out. The potluck item is IN ADDITION to the bake sale goods. You are asked to email Tracy and Irene when you know what your potluck item is.
Tag day
Keep February 13th free. This is going to be our biggest fundraiser of the year. We are hoping to raise $8,000 on the Tag Day campaign. All cadets (and a dozen parents) are needed.
You should know, that a key reason as to why 2483 is the best corps, is that we offer extra activities that other corps do not. This is only possible because we all work together to achieve more. All funds raised stay in the 2483 accounts for paying for things like extended FTXs, new band instruments and rifles. Our administrative costs are tiny because we are all volunteers.
Vimy 2017 (April 2017)
This trip is still on the books as a possibility. We are still unsure of the direction (if any) this project will take. I think it will be useful though to ask the question of parents:
If this trip was absolutely free (all expenses paid), would you be interested in having your cadet participate? Yes/No/Depends — Why and Why not? What if we had corporate sponsorship no CSC money was used? Where does your personal interest lay if there is no cost to yourself or the corps?
You are welcome to email me directly and I will share your comments at the next January 26 meeting. We need to decide to continue this project or not. Please email me your input.
A note from the CO: Please encourage your child to ask any cadets questions (e.g., dress, schedule) themselves through the cadet’s chain of command. This helps develop their leadership.
Thanks everyone for all you do and remember to subscribe to the website blog,
-Tom
Tom Eccleston, Chairperson 2483 PPCLI RCArmyCC – Sponsoring Committee