Last One for the Year in the Books

We completed our year with a small Event benefitting the Santa Clarita Elks Lodge. It wasn't a huge moneymaker--- the lodge's share was less than $200--- but that's the way it sometimes goes. Evidently another entity had recently done a similar event, plus as you get towards Thanksgiving I think people just get too busy to think about dropping off used e-waste...

But, as Tom from the Elks Lodge said, "Anything's better than nothing, and it was a positive thing for the Lodge to do for the community."

Looking forward, we don't schedule any Events in December, but January is absolutely packed. Our first one is January 8th at the Whole Foods in Santa Barbara, and every weekend--- plus a few weekdays--- are booked after that for the month! January's a good month for an e-waste Event, for obvious reasons; people are clearing out their old computers, TV's and so on to make way for the new stuff they got for Christmas.

Stores like Best Buy and Fry's are reporting excellent sales so far this year, so that bodes well for our January Events!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Kerry

October in the Books with Three Events Completed

The last three Saturdays were busy, with Events Oct. 18th, 23rd, and 30th of this month. They were for "The Link Crew" at Thousand Oaks High; the PTSA of Oxnard High School; and Olivet Lutheran Church in Hawthorne.

The most successful of the bunch was the one put on by the volunteers from Oxnard High School, and the primary reason for that was they arranged for a business to donate a large amount of e-waste prior to the Event. In fact, that donation actually generated as much as the Event itself! An important lesson there; if you're considering an E-Waste Event, don't just focus on the day of the Event. Do lots of networking amongst your group beforehand (we recommend at least 6 weeks lead time). It can really be the difference between moderate results and a truly successful campaign--- see the post below for further illustration.

Great Teamwork and Pre-Work Leads to a Great Event for Ascension Lutheran

Another successful Event!

Debbie and her team at Ascension Lutheran did an outstanding job PRIOR to the Event, by working weeks ahead of time to collect loads of donated goods and storing them in an all-purpose room.

The result: before the first car showed up for a drop-off, we had already filled 3 pallets full of TV's/monitors, and piled close to a full pallet of pc's! Throughout the day they had drop-offs of a bunch of large screen TV's, and I personally did a pick-up of one of the heaviest dang servers I've ever hefted! (Truth is, I had to come back with some help to lift it into the truck).

Anyway, we had beautiful, unseasonably cool weather--- nice after a ridiculous heat wave that just ended--- a terrific bunch of volunteers (see photo of a few of them), and a very impressive turnout in terms of drive-up e-waste donors. The truck was filled to capacity; in fact, I had to fill my 1-ton with big-screens and other stuff from a few late arrivals!



Great job, all of you at Ascension Lutheran! You definitely showed the kind of results you can get from some solid organization and spirited teamwork, and we look forward to doing this with you again in the near future.

LSU Wildlife Hospital Event a Huge Success

Well, I couldn't be much more tired than I am right now. We arrived this morning at 8:15, and before I could finish setting up the pallets and Gaylords (the big cardboard boxes that sit on the pallets) the line of cars started, and didn't really slow down until 2:30 PM. Which is great, but with temperatures in the high 90's (and extremely high humidity) it was a draining day to say the least. However--- and most important--- we did great!

As soon as I got a free minute, I snapped a picture of our progress. Here's what we had going within the first hour or so:



Later in the day, I snapped a couple quick shots of Martha buried in the rubble. We ran out of pallets and Gaylords within two hours, and had to start piling stuff in a semi-organized fashion in front of the pallets.





When all was said and done, we over-filled a container truck, and although the Event was scheduled to end at 3P, we didn't finish up until just after 5.



Many thanks to all the nice folks who came by (and waited patiently in line) with their e-waste. A huge thank-you also to Ashley and Kimberly of Whole Foods Market, whose enthusiastic support and energetic in-store promotion efforts were key to the great turnout. I'd also like to give a quick shout-out to Kerrie over at the Acorn Newspaper. She's great to work with, helped us out by getting my press release into the right hands to accompany the ad, and got us terrific placement in the paper. A substantial percentage of the drop-offs today said they learned about the Event from the Acorn.

And most of all, thanks to my business partner Martha Penhall, who worked every second out there in the sun with me today, and spent many hours and knocked on many doors promoting the Event.

Our next Event is scheduled for August 28. More on that one later.

Whole Foods Market Teams with E-Waste Fundraising!

We are really excited to announce that Whole Foods Market of Thousand Oaks has agreed to "co-produce" a series of e-waste Events with us. Whole Foods is a standard-bearer for the Green Movement, not only in the arena of providing healthy, wholesome food choices; they are also avid proponents of a lifestyle which supports the ideals of environmental responsibility (reducing, reusing, recycling).

This is a very big deal for us, as the combination of their excellent location and ability to advertise and promote each Event can only result in enhanced participation and donations. Our first Event together is scheduled for July 17th, with the charity's share of the proceeds going to benefit animal rescue efforts at the Gulf Oil Spill.

Earth Day/Arbor Day a Great Event in Thousand Oaks

We had a great time at the Thousand Oaks Arbor Day/Earth Day event on Saturday. Lots of interesting booths, interesting people, a terrific band called Urban Dread, and a steady stream of people showing a genuine interest in having an e-waste event.

This is the first time we've done anything like this. My business partner Martha shot this pic of me in front of our booth. Sorry about the size; I can't figure out how to make it any larger:



Next order of business: follow up with some of the exciting leads we got from the show!

Temple Event Complete

The Event on March 21 went without a hitch. Traffic was a little slow throughout, as most people were either coming for the rummage sale or to drop off their kids at Sunday school, but the drop-offs we had were predominantly of good quality... meaning, they consisted primarily of monitors, TVs, cellphones, and PCs.

In the end, we were able to write the Temple a check for several hundred dollars; a nice addition to their revenues from the rummage sale. All in all, a successful day for them; they exceeded their overall goal for the day, and were very happy campers.

Our next Event isn't actually an official Event; rather, we're participating in Thousand Oaks' Earth Day/Arbor Day festivities with a booth. We hope to meet lots of folks with connections to non-profit organizations who want to raise some money the free, easy, green way!

Ready for the Next Fundraiser March 21

We've got an unusual one coming up, a combination "Rummage Sale" and E-Waste Event to raise money for a big project at a local temple.

As part of EWF's service, we've already submitted ad copy to some local papers to publicize the Event, and we've supplied the group with template emails they can send out at specific times prior to the Event in order to energize their members and maximize the turnout. We've also provided a simple checklist they can follow to help them get the most out of their Event, and one of our team has met with their principles to guide their efforts.

So, we're on track. Now, given that we're smack in the midst of an El Nino, we're all just hoping it doesn't rain!

Results from Quinn Fundraiser

We just sent a check for $1250 to Quinn's family, and expect to send another $300 in miscellaneous drop-offs before the month is out. Considering that it poured rain right up until the day of the Event, and the location chosen by the volunteers for the Event wasn't quite as visible as we'd ordinarily prefer--- AND the local newspaper missed one week out of our 3-week ad cycle--- we feel this was a reasonably successful Event.

We're currently proposing an April Event benefitting a local youth orchestra. This is an ideal fundraising method for a group like that, because the members live in several towns throughout the area, thus geographically broadening the target donor group.

"Recycle for Quinn" Event Goes Well

Well, after a solid week of rain leading up to the Event, the sun came out on Saturday and we had a beautiful day. I arrived about 8:15 to set up a table and chairs, plot the traffic flow and wait for the truck to arrive with pallets and gaylords (big boxes on pallets).

We had our first drop-off at 8:30, a half-hour before we were "open." A guy with a big TV, who said he wanted to get his day started.

The bulk of the traffic was between 11A and 2P. We had to send the truck back to the recycling yard packed to the gills at about 1P; they unloaded and returned, where we probably filled it to about half-capacity before the Event concluded at 3P.

In this first photo you can see the gaylords and pallets alongside the truck. The pallet jack is ready to move one of the gaylords, filled to the brim with monitors and TVs.



Here's the crew at work as folks came to drop stuff off:



All in all, a very good day, and everything went very smoothly. I'll have some totals in my next entry.

Preparing For an Event

We're a day away from our next Event, scheduled for January 23 at the Elks Lodge in Thousand Oaks. Have a number of pick-ups set up for tomorrow, to add to our first one at a local PC shop. We also received a donation from a local waste management comopany, and as I said we'll be traveling to a number of businesses tomorrow to pick up servers, monitors, TVs, and more.

This is one of the things that sets us apart from other e-waste handlers and recyclers. Rather than just set a date for an Event, send a truck, and hope for a good turnout, we use our 30 years of sales, marketing and advertising experience to generate large donations ahead of time. Done correctly, this can add a substantial amount of weight (and therefore $$$) to the final tally.

We also actively coordinate with the fundraising "point person" for several weeks leading up to the Event, helping them with everything from coordinating pick-ups to recruiting volunteers. We regard each Event as a team effort; we want to help each group have the most successful fundraiser they've ever experienced.

I'll post some pix and provide an update here with Event results.