Give a day will COST US MONEY!!!!

[MKCP5]

Okay, so I am not too happy. We signed up for the GAD promo and we know someonie else who is doing it too. They did their service last weekend. The service is going to this shop and stuffing teddy bears that will then be given to foster children.

When my accquaintance went this weekend she was told the had to pay $12.99 for each bear they stuffed, this would cover costs of donating these bears. There was NO MENTION of this in the job description when we signed up. So she paid the 12.99 stuffed one bear and left--she was there for 1/2 an hour.

This is NOT what we signed up for!!! I though we would be there for a few hours doing bears and certainly not paying to volunteer! It will cost us $52. for the four of us to do this. I can't afford it right now.

I'm not sure what to do. We are not even sure we are going to get to go to WDW this summer. We figured we would go and volunteer, and worst case scenario, if we couldn't go, we would donate our tickets. I don't want to spend money to do it though.

What are your thoughts?

I'm really not happy

 

[descovy]

Well, I don't know, if the bear were free for you to stuff, I guess the store would be the one making the donation???

I understand a lot of folks are having a hard time finding family-friendly places for GAD that all ages can do. If you think about it, having fun stuffing a bear (an *experience* that people usually pay for that opportunity) is really more fun than service. It certainly isn't washing dishes at a soup kitchen, scrubbing toilets at a shelter, or the like...

I don't look much at the GAD opportunities, but I do have girl scouts and our service projects that we do, often involve money of some sort...

collecting "kid" food for a survival over the summer food drive (*someone* had to pay for the food)

making "birthday parties in a box" kits for children in shelters (again, *someone* had to pay for the party supplies)

making hug pillows/fleece blankets for the Ronald Mc Donald house (*someone* has to pay for the supplies)

Our "service" was a combination of organizing a drive, collecting and assembling the donation, and yes, using some of our *own* resources to make it happen.

I guess I would assume that many of the GAD opportunities would be similar...

 

[Belle5]

I paid over $100 to buy fabric to make my Project Linus blankets.

I am sorry your opportunity was not described correctly.

 

[shellyfive]

We are making blankets, and have to cover the cost of the materials, etc.
Same thing right???

 

[Jennifer823]

Wow, that's just wrong.. If you do end up doing it, maybe you can write off the expense on your taxes? I wouldn't do it. It's not volunteering.

 

[JustineMarie]

I understand that you are upset that you have to pay bc it wasn't in the description, but in the long run you are still saving money. A one day pass per person would be 79$. Even with paying the 12.99 you are saving $66 per person.

 

[msmayor]

If you're that upset about it, then don't volunteer for that program. Its as simple as that.

If your heart is in the right place then you would understand that part of volunteering to help organizations costs time AND money sometimes. Those doing the Project Linus event had to spend their own money...to buy supplies. Folks doing many other volunteer projects...even without the GAD program...often spend some of their own money to participate. Its all part of the 'donation'.

 

[Hannathy]

It was supposed to say thank you for people volunteering or giving to their communities not a way to get free tickets. IMO

People were looking for the easiest way to get the ticket not the spirit of volunteering. I think the commitments should have been longer.

 

[msmayor]

Wow, that's just wrong.. If you do end up doing it, maybe you can write off the expense on your taxes? I wouldn't do it. It's not volunteering.

How is that not volunteering? You're giving time and resources to a program that provides bears to foster children without getting paid.

 

[descovy]

Wow, that's just wrong.. If you do end up doing it, maybe you can write off the expense on your taxes? I wouldn't do it. It's not volunteering.

Sounds more like making a donation than the act of volunteering.

It results in the same impact to a foster child as giving them one teddy bear from your own collection. A nice gesture... but not much impact.

Now, giving a foster child (who likely has little to no fun/frivolous time) an opportunity to go to a Build-A-Bear type place... experience all the fun of building that bear... THAT would be cool!

 

[Jennifer823]

How is that not volunteering? You're giving time and resources to a program that provides bears to foster children without getting paid.

Isn't volunteering supposed to be giving your TIME? I don't know, this sounds like they are asking for a monetary contribution. It is still cheaper than buying tickets, but I think if you wanted to donate teddy bears you could do a lot better than $12.99 each. JMHO.

 

[mafibisha]

I just don't understand why people don't get this: there is no *free lunch* people. Not even at the *Happiest Place on Earth*. Sorry, there just isn't.

Like free dining. Its hardly free. WDW needs to fill their parks during the season of unbearable, oppressive heat and when kids go back to school. How do they entice people? They offer free dining. Its hardly free; you're paying rack for lodging, the cost of admittance. And lets not forget the cost of comfort; navigating the parks in that heat definitely costs in terms of comfort and enjoyment (JMHO, I know some say it doesn't bother them )

Or free birthdays. One day for one person. Not too many people go alone, or for just one day but its often an incentive to get people there.

Disney is a business, plain and simple. They don't exist for the purpose of our enjoyment (although that might have been Walt's initial idea )

Disney's purpose is to make a profit; they make a profit by filling the parks. These *offerrs* help facilitate that objective.

Sorry this has happened to so many but as wonderful as WDW may be- (and it is!)- it's all about their bottom line.

 

[FergieTCat]

I spent about $20 -- $12 to crochet a blanket for Project Linus and $10 to ship it. I know I probably spent as much as it would have cost for an extra day on a multiday pass, but then again, I made some little kid's world a little more snuggly.

It works that way sometimes. I think of it as :"paying it forward".

 

[descovy]

Isn't volunteering supposed to be giving your TIME? I don't know, this sounds like they are asking for a monetary contribution. It is still cheaper than buying tickets, but I think if you wanted to donate teddy bears you could do a lot better than $12.99 each. JMHO.

Yes, but in this case, you volunteer your time for who? The foster children? Not really.

Personally, I find making a bear a weak attempt at "volunteering." I'm sure the store is also seeing a way to capitalize on folks looking for an easy, clean way to earn GAD tickets. You certainly don't have to get sweaty, or pass out sandwiches on a corner in the "bad" part of town. Instead you can give yourself a pat on the back for "helping" while you stuff and fluff at the mall.

Think about it, people have birthday parties at these places because building a bear is fun ENTERTAINMENT. The end result (bear) is only a fraction of the experience.

Imagine, going to Chuck-E-Cheese, spending 2 hours playing games and accumulating tickets. Then you take all those tickets and turn them in for some little trinket. You donate that trinket to some foster child, and call it spending 2 hours volunteering for foster children? Not a chance. This GAD experience isn't any better...

Are you really "giving your time" or are you being entertained?

 

[GoofItUp]

I am a little surprised by the responses here. I did the Project Linus opportunity, but I knew up front that I would need to get or have the materials to make the blankets. There was no surprise. I would be upset, too, if I had signed up thinking I would be doing a service - volunteering my TIME - and then found out I'd be paying. If that were in the description, the OP might have chosen a different activity that was strictly time-involved such as serving food for a soup kitchen, helping at a childrens home, or cleaning up a highway. All things that wouldn't involved $. I think the OP is right...to find this out after the fact is not acceptable. And now that the program has ended, I don't think she can switch projects. From her statement above, it looks like she wasn't even doing the service for the tickets since she doesn't know for sure if she's going and might end up donating them. So, I don't think you can lump her in with the people who were just doing the volunteering for free tickets.

 

[Suz D]

Although I agree with most of the posts about the "cost" of volunteering, it sounds as if the OP is just upset that the $12.99 cost for supplies was not listed upfront.

Most people who are familiar with the project Linus are aware that the volunteer supplies the materials. That doesn't mean that you have to go out and purchase the fabric to make the blankets. You may have some nice fabric at home that is unused, you may have a friend who has some, you may receive a donation of fabric. Your donation is the time it takes to make the blankets (and the fabric if you have to purchase it).

The $12.99 for this project would be okay for our family so the unexpected cost would not necessarily be upsetting, but there are many people who are doing GAD to help out their own family by reducing the cost of their tickets as well as helping another person via their volunteerism.

In our church we have a program that offers people help when they are having difficulties. The expectation is that they will contribute their time to "pay back" for the help they receive. For those families who are using their GAD tickets as a way to get to Disney when they might not be able to foot the entire bill, it's the same idea. You are "paying" for your ticket by offering service to someone else.

I hope this rambling post is understandable.

 

[ccgirl]

Like PP mentioned, many people (myself included) ponied up cash during their volunteer opportunities. My family organized a food drive. Also, I took my DD shopping so we could purchase things for the food drive. I think we ended up contributing $100 worth of food in the end. And....we have AP's. The whole purpose of this was to get people to volunteer and to pay it forward, NOT to get something for nothing. Your answer is simple, if you don't want to pay don't do it. Since the program is closed, you can't sign up for anything else. Sorry your opportunity wasn't described prior to you signing up but you can't say you didn't know before you decided to go. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[GoofItUp]

Yes, but you volunteered your time for who? The foster children? Not really.

Personally, I find making a bear a weak attempt at "volunteering." I'm sure the store is also seeing a way to capitalize on folks looking for an easy, clean way to earn GAD tickets. You certainly don't have to get sweaty, or pass out sandwiches on a corner in the "bad" part of town. Instead you can give yourself a pat on the back for "helping" while you stuff and fluff at the mall.

Think about it, people have birthday parties at these places because building a bear is fun ENTERTAINMENT. The end result (bear) is only a fraction of the experience.

Are you really "giving your time" or are you being entertained?

So, if you have fun volunteering it doesn't count? Come on already! My aunt, cousins, and I had fun making our Project Linus quilts. We did it in our comfortable air conditioned homes. Good grief...we belong to a group that quilts as a social activity! I suppose since we enjoyed doing it that it wasn't REALLY volunteering. Some group in conjunction with Hands On Network deemed this a volunteer acitivity.

 

[Suz D]

Personally, I find making a bear a weak attempt at "volunteering." I'm sure the store is also seeing a way to capitalize on folks looking for an easy, clean way to earn GAD tickets. You certainly don't have to get sweaty, or pass out sandwiches on a corner in the "bad" part of town. Instead you can give yourself a pat on the back for "helping" while you stuff and fluff at the mall.


Are you really "giving your time" or are you being entertained?

Wow. This seems very judgemental. In some areas there weren't a lot of opportunities to volunteer. Perhaps a person has a disability that doesn't allow them to do "sweaty" work. It may be that they have a small child that they would like to have participate and that is the only opportunity for a child in their area.

I guess our family will be entertained while we make our project Linus blankets (and make an extra one for our 3 year old who won't get a ticket anyway) and stay cool and dry in our living room which is in a nice middle class area of town.

 

[puffkin]

I agree with the others, it is WRONG that the cost wasn't outlined upfront. That would upset me too.

I do not think it is wrong that there was a cost (we did Project Linus so paid for our materials) but if it isn't disclosed that doesn't seem right.