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TRANSCRIPT
WRITING SAMPLE
Notice to the Reader
This report is taken from the Chairman’s Planning Guide (CPG) for my project with the Greater Hartford Jaycees
(GHJCs) to install playground equipment for children with disabilities with the City of Cromwell, Connecticut. The
CPG is a standard form used to propose a project and get it approved by the board of directors. This document
was added to the file at the completion of the project to inform the planning of future projects.
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Chairman’s Planning Guide (CPG)
2005 Cromwell Improvement Project (Line Item: 5120)
Jennifer Dickson, Chairperson
SUMMARY
Under the direction of the Town of Cromwell Parks and Recreation Department, the Greater Hartford Jaycees
organized participated in the installation of accessible playground equipment at the Pierson Park playground for
young children and children with disabilities. The playground equipment was provided by the Jensen’s Fund, a
local non-profit organization, and paid for with donations and a matching grant from the town. The project ran
from 9am until 2pm on October 16th
, 2005.
With the budget for this project, the GHJCs also sponsored a picket for a memorial fence around the playscape.
The original scope of the project included the installation of the fence. However the materials for the fence were
on backorder and will be installed later next spring. The board should consider this for the next GHJC Cromwell
project. In lieu of installing the fence, the scope was modified to adding spread new wood chipped mulch for the
playscape.
The primary purpose of the annual GHJC project Cromwell improvement project is to give something back to the
community of Cromwell in return for the their support during the TPC tournament. The resulting benefits are:
Impact on Chapter:
This project supported a positive relationship with the City of Cromwell and positive exposure to the local
Cromwell community and Jensen’s Fund charity.
Impact on Individual Members:
Individual members benefited from a rewarding community service project and personal growth through
teamwork.
Impact on the Community:
The local Cromwell community received installed playscape enhancements that included new wood chips
for the facility, a new sandbox, and a new wheelchair accessible sandbox.
The project goals for participation were successfully achieved with twelve Jaycees attending, including two new
Jaycees, and seven additional participants from the local Cromwell community. However, no press release was
issued because the frequent changes and dwindling of the project scope made it difficult to publish details for the
project in advance. Publicity was achieved in the form of a picket advertisement at the park.
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Contents
Lessons Learned and Recommendations .................. 3
Contact Information .................................................. 3
Schedule .................................................................... 4
Budget ....................................................................... 5
Communications ........................................................ 5
Public Relations ......................................................... 8
Participant List ......................................................... 13
Photographs ............................................................ 14
2
Greater Hartford Jaycees - Cromwell Improvement 2005
3
LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
− Recommendation--Work gloves were a valuable asset. Shoveling mulch without work gloves could have
caused injuries. Cheap packs of five are available from WalMart.
− Recommend more pitch forks than shovels for getting the mulch off the pile into the wheelbarrows.
− Recommend recruiting more people if possible and an extra wheelbarrow would have made this task of
the project easier and faster. Participants rotated shoveling, hauling and distributing mulch duties often
and as required. This work is strenuous and took several hours to complete, but there were no injuries.
− Recommend (if playground equipment is in the project scope) that the Chairman either have a firm
commitment from the City of Cromwell to have access to one of their large tool sets or coordinate having
participants bring a large assortment of socket, torque, and Allen wrench sizes to the project just in case.
The City of Cromwell did not provide a list of tools needed for the assembly of the playground equipment
despite my repeated request for a list, and on the day of the project they did not supply all of the tools
required for the equipment assembly. Therefore, in the early hours of the project we made several phone
calls to Jaycees and digging through toolboxes from community members to locate the torque, socket and
Allen wrenches necessary for assembly. Jaycees coordinated a trip to Home Depot to purchase the two
sizes we were not able to find through participants.
− Recommend getting lunch from another location. No Anchovies provided excellent service and the price
helped keep the project within budget. However, the sheet pizzas we got (cheese and pepperoni) got cold
fast and did not taste very good cold.
− Sandwiches would have worked out better though it is difficult to afford on a $50 food budget.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Jaycee Roles and Responsibilities:
Title Name Contact Information Phone Responsibilities
President Deb Howard [email protected] 636-0208 The President provides the initial direction for the project.
Vice
President
Jenifer Sobanski [email protected] 613-2978 The Project VP is responsible for the overall direction of
the project, servicing as liaison between the Executive
Board and the director, and ensuring that that CPG is
completed.
Director Darlene Rice [email protected] The Director is responsible for selecting a Chairman,
providing expertise and leadership skills to the Chairman
Project
Chairperson
Jennifer Dickson [email protected] 447-8360 The Project Chairperson develops the plan of action,
presents the project to the Board of Directors, supervises
Community Contact Information:
Sue Shein, Parks and Recreation Director
Town of Cromwell
Nathaniel White Building
41 West Street
Cromwell, CT 06416-0189
(860) 739-8938
Fred and Cynthia Lynn
Jensen’s Fund
8 Ranney Road
Cromwell, CT 06416
Hartford Jaycees Office
2nd Floor, One Financial Plaza
Hartford, CT 06103
(860) 522-4171
4
SCHEDULE
July 25, 2005 Contacted Cromwell Parks and Recreation Dept. Talked to Sue Schein (860-739-8938). The
date is set as September 10th
or 24th
at Pierson Park. The project will implement park
improvements envisioned by the Jensens’ Fund charity for Cromwell community
development.
July 26, 2005 Completed CPG Project Proposal.
July 27, 2005 Project is approved by board.
July 27, 2005 Advertised at monthly membership meeting.
July 31, 2005 Followed up (email and phone call) with Sue Shein on initial project details
August 20-28, 2005 TPC Buick Championship in Cromwell
August 14, 2005 Town of Cromwell needs to move the project date. The new dates are agreed to be
October 2nd
with a rain date of October 16th
.
August 28, 2005 Advertised Mail invitation to Jaycee members from the Cromwell area.
September 6, 2005 Advertised new project date with flyer in the monthly mailing.
September 29, 2005 Town of Cromwell cancels the October 2nd
project date because materials could not be
delivered on time. Rescheduled to the rain date of October 16th
.
October 4, 2005 Recruited for Rain Date at monthly membership meeting.
October 16, 2005 Project Runs 9am-2pm
October 30, 2005 Completed CPG.
Note:
The City of Cromwell cancelled the planned Sunday October 2nd date for the project on Friday September 30th
due to problems getting supplies delivered to the site. They asked us to reschedule for our rain date on Sunday
October 16th. Participants who signed up were informed by telephone and a special edition of JCybernotes was
issued to notify everyone of the cancellation and reschedule. Recruiting for the rescheduled date was difficult since
many of the original participants were not available for the new date due to board meetings and preparations for
World Congress. The Jaycees pulled together and participation was excellent in the end.
5
BUDGET
Project Budget: GHJC 2005 Cromwell Improvement Notes
INCOME Value of Donated Items $30,175.00 Appropriation from Chapter 100.00
Total Income: $30,275.00
EXPENSES Playground Equipment $30,000.00 Purchased by the Town of Cromwell and Jensen's Fund Mulch 100.00 Provided by the Town of Cromwell Water $60.00 Donated by Jensen's Fund
Snacks for Volunteers 15.00 Donated by Jensen's Fund Camera 0.00 Borrowed Lunch for Volunteers 48.67 Purchased at 50% discount from No Anchovies
24 pairs of Work Gloves 19.06 Purchased at Walmart Plaque for fence 25.00 Donation to Jensen's Fund towards the purchase of
the memorial fence.
Subtotal: $30,267.73
Return to Chapter: 7.27
Total Expenses: $30,275.00
COMMUNICATIONS
Coordination with City of Cromwell
This project was coordinated with Sue Shein of Cromwell Parks and Recreation. Here phone number is (860) 739-
8938 and [email protected]. I recommend duplicating phone contact with email contact and vice versa to
confirm communication. Sue manages all parks and recreation activities and summer seems to be an especially
busy time for her due to the volume of summer activities. Sue is a very nice enjoyable person to work with. She
coordinated with the Jensons’ fund family, Fred and Cynthia Lynn.
Fred and Cynthia Lynn, who established the Jensons’ Fund charity, are talented fundraisers and coordinators for
the Cromwell community. Each year, they organize a community “Fun Day” in late summer and are interested in
having Jaycees help to staff activity booths for the event in the future. I believe this could be a future Cromwell
Improvement activity for the Jaycees (rather than spreading mulch).
The original scope of the project was to install a memorial picket fence around the Pierson Park Playscape. This
fence is funded through $25 donations for a picket small plaque. The Jaycees were going to sponsor a picket on the
fence with the plaque message to be:
Greater Hartford Jaycees
Change your world
2005
However, the City of Cromwell began looking for fencing materials to buy until mid-September and was unable to
obtain the fence they wanted. (Note: Special orders take at least 3 weeks). So they turned to plan B to assemble
and install small pieces of playground equipment and spread new mulch around the playscape.
6
Email Communication with Sue Schein of the Cromwell Parks and Recreation Department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Schein, Sue [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 4:49 PM
To: 'Jennifer Dickson'; Schein, Sue
Subject: RE: Jaycees 2005 Cromwell Project
just read your e-mail today work was crazy the beginning of the week---Oct 2 is fine I met with the Jensens Fund and
we will have things in place for both of those dates---I will be in touch more later this week thanks Sue
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Dickson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 11:55 PM
Cc: 'Darlene Rice'
Subject: Jaycees 2005 Cromwell Project
Dear Sue,
This email is to put in writing what we discussed last week and open up the opportunity to coordinate this project
further through our email accounts.
Here's what I think we've agreed on:
- The Jaycees and other community volunteers will either install portions of the new picket fence
commissioned through the Jensen's Fund or small pieces of playground equipment at Pierson's Park on
Sunday October 2nd (with Saturday Oct 15 as the rain date?).
- You will make sure the Jensen's Fund family are available on October 2nd as soon as possible (We need to
have the date confirmed before Tuesday morning Aug 2).
- You will be responsible for ensuring that the materials are delivered to the site for the project and for
providing someone knowledgeable to be responsible for making sure the work gets done properly. :)
- The Jensen's Fund will be responsible for coordinating community involvement for the event and for
coordinating lunch for the community volunteers.
- The Jaycees will coordinate our volunteers' participation and lunch.
I forgot to discuss the time for this event. I had in mind that it was a four hour project and was thinking of setting a
five hour window of 9am to 2pm. I would prefer that we start the project in the morning, but other than that, I think
we are very flexible: start at 8am, longer or shorter project, etc. So please let me know what you have in mind.
By when do you think we'll know whether we'll be installing a fence or playground equipment or both? I need to
make an advertising flyer for our August 17th membership meeting and for the September 14th mailing. The more
exciting details we can put on those flyers, the better.
Finally,
• Is it appropriate for the Jaycees to make a picket donation with our message displayed?
Thank you for taking the time to get this going in such a short time.
Regards,
Jennifer Dickson
(860) 680-8487 cell
(860) 447-8360 home
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Schein, Sue [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 12:44 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Cromwell work day
Just checking in now that the tournament is over and you hopefully have had a chance to catch up on sleep--we are
meeting today to work up things on our end for the workday---I will get back to you on Tuesday with the exact plans
but just wanted to say hello---question for you---you were going to ask if there was any grant money for this project
to buy a piece or mulch etc ---is there any or just the work ? Whichever is greatly appreciated
thanks and have a good week-end Sue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Schein, Sue [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 3:10 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Sunday Oct 2
Sorry I missed your call yesterday--I was at the doctors--seems I have a slight tear in my right achilles tendon--I have
had problems since late spring and never got better so figured it was about time to find out what was the problem
and why it was not healing with rest--now I know---
I checked with my park department to make sure they had done some of the things I had asked them for--bringing
over the mulch etc---and they had not and said they couldn't get it done on Friday---other jobs ---
I was so mad at them not answering any of my e-mails and letting me know earlier ( I had to be at their office at 7:00
this am to get the answers) therefore we are better off cancelling totally for this week-end and just going on the 16th-
--I truly apologize for this but they never got back to me ( sent them 3 e-mails since Sept 15 and never said they
couldn't ) I will call you again on Friday Again I am so sorry Sue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Jennifer Dickson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 11:55 PM
To: 'Schein, Sue'
Cc: 'Darlene Rice'
Subject: RE: Sunday Oct 2
Hi Sue.
I don't quite know how to cancel this even other than for a weather delay, but I am looking in on how to do it. You
don't sound at your best.
I am a little disappointed that the scope of the great 2005 Cromwell project keeps shrinking (Your vision is inspiring
and exciting), but I am not upset. To be completely honest, I am so sorry for not helping more in getting this project
organized. I'm new in the JC organization and I think I was told to leave the actual project planning to you and just
coordinate the JC part of the effort, but honestly, I could probably help more. I mean, it's our project. you have a full
time job of things to juggle. I have a full time job too, but it has flexibility and I am great at making things happen.
If we are in fact going to have to postpone, perhaps you can think of some ways that I can help you (that doesn't
require me to have money:). Is there anything we could do to motivate the Mulch movers for the 16th? Also, I'm still
just wondering, did the fence get postponed because of delivery of materials, availability of the fence we want, or
cost? Are you planning to put it up next year sometime? There are some JCs who know the Lynn family, so they are
interested in this project (including the fence).
I didn't volunteer cancelling Oct 2nd before because you never know what the weather will be like in two weeks and
we don't have another backup plan. I've got about 15 people on my list committed to coming this Sunday, informing
them that we are postponing is not a problem. I need to find a few ways to inform the unofficial people who were just
going to show up, and I also have to make the rounds again to get people signed up and available for the 16th (I think
there are at least 10 I can count on.)
Sorry for your troubles. Good for you for going to the doctor to take care of yourself.
Best regards, Jennifer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8
PUBLIC RELATIONS
A variety of advertising was used to publicize this event:
− Six weeks of Advertisement in JCybernotes:
− Announcement, advertisement and project table at the September Membership meeting
− Distribution of note card announcements at other Jaycee community service events
− September and October flyer mailing (see following pages)
Note Card Announcements
Note card announcements (distributed at other Jaycee community service events):
Front:
Back:
JCybernotes Announcements
JCybernotes for the Week of September 5th,12th & 19th, 2005:
9
JCybernotes for the week of September 19, 2005
JCybernotes Special Edition October 1, 2005:
10
JCybernotes for the Week of October 3, 2005
11
Posters
Poster for September Mailing:
Poster for October Mailing:
12
Letter of Appreciation from the Town of Cromwell
13
PARTICIPANT LIST
RSVP Roster
14
PHOTOGRAPHS
For Cromwell Improvement 2005, the Jaycees supported members of the local Cromwell Community to….
…..Build a ground level sandbox:
……Fill it with sand:
15
…..Build a wheelchair accessible sandbox:
16
…..And spread new mulch around the playscape:
17
Cynthia & Fred Lynn, founders of Jensens’ Fund in memory of their son.
Sue Schein, Director of Cromwell Parks & Recreation