Mall Popcorn, Apples and Garden Bags
Beaconsfield Shopping Centre [50 St-Charles]
– September 23 (Beavers & Cubs) [sign-up sheet 3]
– October 14 (Cubs & Scouts)
Bagging & Bracelets
Canadian Tire (Kirkland)
– September 24 (Scouts & Venturers)
Additional Initiatives:
1. Required personal participation: Selling garden leaf bags
We are awaiting the arrival of leaf bags from the distributor. We would like each youth to sell 50 of them on their own to friends, relatives, and door-to-door. The bags are $1 each. There is a limit of 100 bags per family.
2. OPTIONAL (but we hope you choose “yes”) personal participation: POPCORN door-to-door sales. Everything written below this point pertains to popcorn:
If you would like to earn extra money for your own camping and supplies through fundraising, we encourage you to sell Scouts Brand Popcorn. At your son’s or daughter’s next meeting, you will be asked if you intend to sell popcorn. If you do, you will be given an order sheet and an envelope for money and cheques from customers. You and your son/daughter will have three or four weeks (depending on section) to go door-to-door to sell popcorn, to have a parent bring the sheet to work and leave it for co-workers to sign-up (yes, we have people asked WHEN they can buy popcorn), etc. Customers MUST PAY for the popcorn when they place an order, either by cash or cheque.
Beavers: Receive popcorn kit Monday, September 25 and return orders by Monday, October 16 to Rainbow/Tiffany
Cubs: Receive popcorn kit on Friday, September 22 and return orders by Friday, October 13 to Baloo/Heather
Scouts: Receive popcorn kit on Wednesday, September 20 and return by Wednesday, October 18 to Skip/Scouter Simon
Venturers: Receive popcorn kit on Thursday. September 21 and return by October 19 to Scouter Chris
Types & Prices
THEN, you must be pick up the popcorn that your child sold at a warehouse in Dorval, off or Sources blvd., on Saturday, November 18, and then deliver the popcorn to the customers who ordered it from you. Like last year, Baloo/Heather has made Thank You cards to give to each customer with his/her order. Your child should write his/her first name on the card and deliver to/thank each customer personally.
Q&A/F.A.Q:
1. Why sell popcorn?
It is easily recognized as a Scouts product, and people who support scouting always buy it, year after year, even though it is very expensive (please see the attached photo of the price sheet). Some parents like to have their children go door-to-door a little to show them it is hard to earn money, and that “money doesn’t grow on trees”. Then they take the order form to work for a week where co-workers and friends say, “oh, that’s great: your son is in Beavers? He did some selling on his own? That’s great: I’ll buy some of this stuff to reward his effort.”
2. This stuff is REALLY EXPENSIVE! How do you sell it?
My son and I went door-to-door last year with the popcorn and garden bags at the same time. Knowing that the popcorn was expensive, my son said, “Hi. My name is Rowan and I am trying to pay for my own Cub Scouts Camps. Would you like to buy some popcorn, garden bags, or make a small donation to help me, please?” The result? Going to around 100 houses, Rowan sold 100 garden bags (we ran out), around $400 worth of popcorn, and got almost $200 in donations. People thought the popcorn was expensive and would just give hm $2. Or empty the piggy bank and pour it into his little red wagon. One lady gave him $40 cash. We took her name and address and issued a tax receipt for a charitable donation. Zakary Sirois and Nicholas Leu, also Cubs, raised close to the same $700 each by the same technique.
3.. Why sell popcorn at all?
a. It supports the National Office of Scouts Canada, our own group, and your own child, each by different percentages.
b. If you are selling garden bags door-to-door you can sell popcorn at the same time. The top 3 fundraising children from Fall 2013 (Rowan, Nico, Zak) were offered the chance to “Pie a Scouter in the Face” (throw a pie in the face of a Scouter) at our Christmas Party. Nico couldn’t make the party, but I got pied by my own son, and Zak got Akela pretty good, too. Akela/Brian and Scouter Neil made sure I sat in the pie, as well. It was fun. We will offer the same incentive: top 3 fundraisers within the group get to pie a Scouter of their choice in the face.
4. Why is popcorn so expensive? Who gets the money?
The least expensive item is the “Popping Corn”, which is a big bag or unpopped kernels. From the $10 sale, our group keeps 45%, $4.50. The National office of Scouts Canada gets 16.2%, $1.62. The remaining money, $10 – $4.50 – $1.62 = $3.88 is the amount it cost to manufacture, and package the product.
5. Are there prizes?
In other years, there were prizes for youth selling over a certain amount of popcorn….gift cards for Canadian Tire, gifts from the Scout Shop, etc. This year, these incentives are no longer offered in order to make the products themselves less expensive. However, we are offering, within our own group, a cut of each sale to be put into in-trust-savings for the child who sells. This program that we have called “Scout Bucks” in the past, is a huge incentive alone. We are the only group that we know of that offers this cut (because it requires A LOT of volunteer accounting time on behalf of the Scouters and Treasurer).
The Quebec Council is offering 3 prizes for the top selling group:
1st prize: 2-night stay for 18 at Tamaracouta Scout Reserve’s Canary Cottage
2nd prize: A Commercial Size Popcorn Popper. Should we win this, it is NOT living in my garage (just saying…)
3rd: A set of 6 Silva Compasses
Prizes
6. Should siblings go on the same sheet or different sheets?
In other years, siblings were entered on different sheets so that everyone who sold popcorn would get a special badge/patch. This year, these have already been given to the groups to organized themselves. Therefore, you only need to submit one order form with all siblings’ names on it. Lead Scouters in each section will give out the badges and pins.
Please look at the picture of the pins/badges/patch: Everyone who sells any popcorn door-to-door gets the yellow/red sew-on/glue-on patch for their camp blanket/poncho. The pin badges that are a little smaller than a loonie coin are for:
Everyone who sells at least one, if not more of the three pins: “You made a sale” sail pin (a little pun); “Pow” popcorn pin; and/or “Smart Fox” made a plan
Big sellers get: “Wham” pin
Top in Each Section get: alpaca wearing sunglasses? Not really sure what this one is all about…
Top seller in the group, overall: “Top Seller” blue marshmallow pin/honour.
7. Why do Scouts and Venturers have a week longer to sell than Beavers and Cubs?
The orders are entered, painstakingly, one-by-one online. Scouter Tiffany MacLeod/Rainbow has generously volunteered to do the online data entry during her lunch break at work. She can’t receive and enter all of the data in the same work week. She doesn’t get unlimited lunch breaks at work. We need to stagger the data entry.,
8. What other help is needed?
I’m delighted that you asked!
Other than picking up your own popcorn on Saturday, November 18, Tiffany will need 2 or parents, or responsible Scouts or Venturers, to stay for 2 to 3 on that Saturday (Nov 18) to help everyone else find their individual orders for their own child. Heather will need 2 or 3 parents who can take a Friday off or work to come with her to the warehouse for 3 to 4 hours the day before, on Friday, November 17, to sort the popcorn into piles of individual orders. If you can help on Friday, November 17, or Saturday, November 18, please let Baloo/Heather know immediately.
Thanks for your patience and any help and participation that you choose to give.
