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Blake invited Terra to take
the stand & being our 9th
annual Roses for Rotary
kick-off!
 “We
have several new members to
our club this year so I want
to start of with some roses
history. 9 years ago, this
club held its first Roses
for Rotary fundraiser
selling 126 dozen roses. I
wasn’t a Rotarian at the
time, but from what I hear,
the labour on work day was
quite extensive. All roses
were clipped and each one
was inserted into a water
pic. At the end of
deliveries, though, there
must have been a positive
buzz about town because this
campaign has continued to
grow and evolve over the
years into this club’s best
known, most profitable
fundraiser. During its
first 8 years, Roses for
Rotary has raised over
$82,000 and supported
pediatrics at the Health
Alliance, Chatham-Kent
Physician Recruitment and
the Every Life Counts
Campaign. Last year, we
adopted the Babies and Books
Belong Together program,
with a three-year, $18,000
commitment. This program,
fully sponsored by this
club, ensures that every new
baby born in Chatham-Kent
receives a book and literacy
information in their package
from the Health Unit. Many
of you were able to make the
work meeting at the Early
Years Centre and participate
in the packaging of these
books. Literacy is one of
Rotary’s primary focuses,
and we are proud to be able
to support this county wide
literacy program.
Supporting our campaign and
representing this program
today are Carrie Myers, of
the Chatham-Kent Early Years
Centre.
In the past few years we’ve
had a difficult time
sourcing a supplier for our
roses, as all former large
scale growers in Ontario are
now getting their roses from
South America. Costs have
changed, offers of
preparation by greenhouses
have changed, and contacts
have definitely changed. I
want to take a minute to
thank Paul Roy and Sheila
for their tireless work
behind the scenes in
securing a supplier.
Crossing our fingers, but I
think this one will be able
to serve us for years to
come!
Let me describe this 6-week
campaign. Every sunrise
member will have received a
package today including :
Order forms
A master form for
photocopying
Tally sheets
Order submission envelopes
And a list of buyers from
last year
Roses are easy to sell. By
now, the quality of our
roses is well-known. The
recipients of our monies,
particularly when connected
to youth and education, are
well supported. And they’re
only $20 a dozen! With the
state of economics right
now, we have a larger task
before us. But please
assure your buyers that the
$20 price has never
increased, and even though
our product slowly increases
in cost, we have stood by
our $20 again this year.
We have 2 varieties to offer
this year: Red or the
Sunrise mix of yellows, reds
and oranges. Feedback from
this mix last year was
excellent!
The month of March will be
spent selling, selling,
selling. Go to your
colleagues, your spouses
colleagues, family, friends,
your banker, your
hairdresser…..you’d be
surprised how easy it is to
get on a roll.
We have a target of 1500
dozen….as we’ve had in the
past few years. We came
closest last year selling
1,360 dozen…..let’s see what
we can do about topping it
this year!
At every meeting until March
20th, we will be
accepting your orders to
date. Please help us to
predict numbers by handing
in whatever you’ve got at
each meeting. We need to
submit a number prior to the
20th so the more
we have upfront the better.
The meeting on March 31st
will be cancelled and,
instead, we will meet around
7 in the morning of
Wednesday, April 1st
at the Portuguese Hall on
Grand Ave. This is where we
will package and ship out
all of our orders. Similar
to last year there will be a
wet, foam soaking station
and a second station where
we will finish off the
bouquet look and include
rotary information.
We will first prepare the
100 dozen order for Union
Gas and then move on to
members orders.
Four key points to help Work
Day run smoothly:
1). PUSH THE PICK-UP
OPTION: The fewer roses we
have to deliver, the more
time we can spend packaging,
the more sales we can go
after!
2). COMMIT YOUR MORNING:
We also hope that all
members will be able to
block off at least the
morning that day to be able
to help with deliveries.
3). LIST YOUR DELIVERY
LOCATIONS: Please indicate
where you are delivering on
your order forms so that we
can set up regional
deliveries.
4). COLLECT ALL MONEY
BEFOREHAND: Please collect
all money prior to delivery
day so that our drivers do
not have to collect any on
their routes.
Currently in the works to
help us sell are:
Karen Vince and Paul
Gardiner selling 100 dozen
at Union Gas
Peter Roos on board to sell
at Ridgetown Factories
Inserts have been included
in this month’s Chamber of
Commerce mailings
And Boston Pizza has offered
to insert a slip with every
bill
Please brainstorm about
friends and contacts….who
might you know in a bank, a
factory, a call centre? We
have order forms and posters
available….you can use these
or we can alter them,
whatever you need. We have
fax forms, email messages,
intro letters, etc, that we
send to businesses of all
kinds…..so if you have an
idea, we can help you with
it.
This is my fourth year
participating in roses and
…although I may be biased…it
is my favourite activity we
do as a club. Work day is
lots of fun ….family and
friends come out to
help…..delivering is fun,
visiting offices and handing
out the bouquets and even
selling....striving to sell
a few more dozen than last
year, is fun.”
Have a
great week &
Happy
Selling!
_______________________________________________________________________
Angie our waitress at
Smitty's is getting married
and the Sunrise Club
honoured her with bunch of
the fantastic roses the will
go on sale starting today.
Congrats Angie!
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