Give a day will COST US MONEY!!!!

[auralia]

hubby signed up to help "feed people at a local womens shelter" this ment purchasing and preparing a meal for 10 families!!!!!! we were just going to donate the tickets we thought it would be a good thing to do but a meal for 10 families and no help preparing or with the cost?! just to order pizzas would have been over 100$ .... he donated time at a warehouse sorting donated clothing instead and then we didnt get to donate the ticket any way because the first request to help had been for the meal thing and i forgot to go to the site and put that we had changed projects and then 2 days after they closed the GAD ... oh well he helped out, too bad someone didn't get the ticket he earned.

 

[sk!mom]

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.

Well said! This program was designed to reward people for donating/ becoming involved in helping others. I've read other complaints about the time it took. It's not a free ticket program.

Many charitable contributions have a dollar cost as well as time. My DH regularly delivers meals- he pays for his own gas as well as giving up work time and a llunch hour.

If you don't want to donate then don't. Just curious did your friend get a free ticket for a donation of 30 minutes and $12.99.

I do agree that the reqirements should have been clear up front.

 

[Leajess99]

Through a friend of a friend I found out that we would be charged to make the bears. This was NOT in the description for the activity. When I just called and asked about it the owner hemmed and hawed and asked when I signed up because she added that to the description AFTER many people had signed up.

I can understand being upset about finding out after signing up but thankfully you found out prior to doing it so you can make a choice.

 

[IndianaPrincess]

I think I take offense to this. The project I signed my family up for was to make gift baskets for senior citizens who receive Meals on Wheels. They suggested 5 bags/baskets per volunteer. I wanted them to be really nice, (I actually imagined how the senior would feel receiving it.) so I bought over $75 worth of supplies. My DSs and I put them together, my DH earned the money, and we got 4 tickets.

So because our activity involved out of pocket expenses from us, it's not volunteering?
I do agree with you on one point. OP, if you aren't happy with spending money on this, don't do it. We can't even use our tickets for admission because we have APs , and we can't even use them to renew. We will be asking for the pin figurine and be very happy to get them. The gift basket thing was fun, worthwhile, and even though we can't afford to do it again for awhile it was nice to be recognized as a VOLUNTEER.

Well since you asked, I would say you and your sons volunteered, but your husband did not.

 

[Belle5]

It really bothers me that so many think that GAD was just for "free" tickets.

Let me rock the boat here a bit and say "I did my GAD project for the free tickets!" Does that make me a terrible person? I spent YEARS of my life volunteering weekly at a place--often donating my own $$ to help out. I give to all kinds of charities and have donated our family's services on many occasions. But for this program--it was mostly about acquiring eight one-day tickets for our family. Now, we enjoyed making the blankets so much that I sent an email offering to do it again when needed--no strings attached. That is the beauty of GAD! It gets people comfortable volunteering either for the first time or in an area they would never have felt comfortable before.

 

[4mickey2]

we are doing work for a nature center by us. but, i also signed up (not through disney) to volunteer taking my bichons in to a retirement community to visit with these folks. i think i am going to continue giving time to the nature center also. i think disney did a great thing here and not everyone can completely appreciate it.

the donations can be for your time or by giving money or paying for something to make. it really is a great thing.

 

[Leajess99]

Let me rock the boat here a bit and say "I did my GAD project for the free tickets!" Does that make me a terrible person? I spent YEARS of my life volunteering weekly at a place--often donating my own $$ to help out. I give to all kinds of charities and have donated our family's services on many occasions. But for this program--it was mostly about acquiring eight one-day tickets for our family. Now, we enjoyed making the blankets so much that I sent an email offering to do it again when needed--no strings attached. That is the beauty of GAD! It gets people comfortable volunteering either for the first time or in an area they would never have felt comfortable before.

Not the type I am talking about and while GAD will help to get more people involved in volunteering with organizations, there are always the ones that are only using it for the "free" ticket and will never do anything else unless there is a reward. Unfortunately, I see it a lot. A local youth sports league now makes parents pay up front for a "volunteer" fee which they can get if they volunteer. To me it is stupid because some of these "volunteers" have no business being around kids and this league is not doing a background check on all these volunteers around the kids. I know for some of the activities here for GAD you had to have a background check form to turn in before you could even volunteer.

 

[jessica52877]

Long post coming with lots of different thoughts.

Thought #1 - I didn't look at any bear building opportunities, but if I had and it wasn't spelled out I would have imagined that I was going to stuff bears for several hours and then box them up and ship them to where they were going (or hand deliver). The thought never occurred to me that I would have to pay for the bears. Of course, I didn't know anything about the bear thing until reading this thread.

Thought #2 - It was very hard for me to find something in my area (when I say that I mean within 2 hours) that my 7 year old could also do with me. There was tons of things I would have loved to do but couldn't take him and I have no place to leave him (no family, no babysitter). There were a couple available the first few days but it took me 11 days before I could ever actually get into the site. We had hoped to help paint and landscape a boys home about an hour away. I never thought about, but maybe I would have needed to supply the paint. I assumed it would all be supplied. No idea though since we didn't do that.

Thought #3 - Kind of goes along with #2 - We ended up doing project linus because it was all that seemed to be available by the time I decided I really needed to finalize what we would do (around Feb 1st). I could not do my local chapter because they were not accepting anymore. Not a big deal, easier to mail them off then drive in Atlanta traffic across town. I feel DS7 did not get nearly as good of experience as if I had taken him somewhere and we had done something else. Can I take him somewhere else on his own? Well, yes and no. Alot of places because of his age, will not allow his help. Understandable though.

Thought #4 - Reading about project linus it didn't spell it out for me that I would have to get the supplies. I guess because I knew I was mailing them I knew that was my case. I had all the fleece I needed here and we made 7 blankets (only 3 were required). I also made larger blankets because I had the fleece already and read that the older kids were often overlooked. IF I added up what I spent in the past, it would have been WAY too much $$$ for some I know, I could have handled it at this point in time. My best friend did not sign up for this opportunity because she just couldn't swing the costs right now.

Thought #5 - I was not even sure that I would use the ticket, but thought just in case. End result I could have BUT I ended up NOT receiving them. I was 99% sure before I ever mailed them off that I would not get the tickets, but I didn't do it originally for the tickets. I did it because I had the stuff and thought it was a great opportunity. I am big on it is all about the kids.

I did sign up and it was approved before the program ever ended. Just a glitch caused an issue. I am not going to whine or complain about it because really, it was about volunteering. I actually would have ended up using them and saving $72 per ticket at Disneyland. BUT I planned that trip without the tickets and still going to carry on. For me, if I couldn't afford the tickets I wouldn't plan the trip.

Thought #6 - I am glad that I have found out about other opportunities in my area to volunteer. I volunteer with my son's cub scouts and baseball but that is a different type of volunteering (to me). I am not one to search out opportunities but if they are presented to me I am more then willing to help. Glad I know of some contacts now of things I can do in the future.

Thought #7 - I know a ton of folks here on the dis that volunteer for the sake of volunteering and wanted to shout out a big thank you! I help run the dis big give and it has been more then successful in making many make a wish and the like organizations families have an even more magical trip. Even the littlest thing means so much to others. The words of encouragement alone make us all want to carry on with what we do. So, no matter how little something may seem, when all combined it is magical!

Sorry for the ramble. Sorry OP you weren't expecting the costs.

 

[sceavis]

After reading this thread it had me wondering about my date coming up.Me and my family are stuffing bears. So I just sent them a email asking if there was a cost or anything there was nothing indicating that there will be a cost when i signed up.They respond quickly telling me to call them so I just did.They told me that it will be $12.99 a bear and the bears go in buckets filled with gifts and the $12.99 cover the prices of the gifts.I told my family and we are all cool with it.I know some of you feel stuffing bears is not volunteering and we are not spending hours or getting our hands dirty that it does not even help a foster kid.Imagine a little boy or little girl getting a new stuffed bear and bunch of little toys it may bring a smile to there face and forget about things for a bit.I do not know about you but in my eyes that is helping somebody and I am glad and excited to do this.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I don't understand how a company, whose purpose is to make a profit, is allowed to participate in this way in the GAD program. Essentially, they are just getting people into their store to buy their product.

How many non profit agencies are out there hurting for help - and this is a "volunteer" opportunity that gets picked to participate? Walk in for 5 minutes and spend money at their store? Gee, what a great deal for the company. Sad for the non profits that won't get the much needed volunteer help.

 

[katied]

I don't understand how a company, whose purpose is to make a profit, is allowed to participate in this way in the GAD program. Essentially, they are just getting people into their store to buy their product.

How many non profit agencies are out there hurting for help - and this is a "volunteer" opportunity that gets picked to participate? Walk in for 5 minutes and spend money at their store? Gee, what a great deal for the company. Sad for the non profits that won't get the much needed volunteer help.

I don't know about the GAD opportunity, but I do know that my company did a volunteer day in the office that involved stuffing the bears. I know my company paid a cost per bear, but it was not to the manufacturer of these bears. The fee is to a not-for-profit that runs the program. The manufacturr of the bears donated all supplies (bears, boxes, clothes). The fee went for "extras" that were included in the box by the not-for-profit that has organized this whole event - the extras were books and certain other things that go into the box. Just to clarify, if this is run by the same charity, the manufacturer is not benefiting from this opportunity, not is it collecting the money for itself - instead, the money goes to a true not-for-profit that runs this whole program and underwrites the expenses of the extras (plus at times the cost of getting these delivered). All of our bears went to hospitals. It was a great time, and we did it as team building. With that said, I do understand being upset about not knowing there was a cost involved.

 

[jessica29]

I guess all us poor people can stop volunteering b/c we have no money....??? Some people on the board are out of line.

They should have told her about the money upfront. And the GAD commercials, advertising, talk about TIME, not money.

I bet everyone who used their own money will claim it on their taxes next year too, but criticize her for wanting something in return for donating money for the bear.

Donation= money,materials etc
volunteer= time

(In most cases.)

It shameful poster is getting blasted b/c she can't afford to donate money! Seriously. How stuck up does everyone sound now. To be honest probably 80% of people signed up for GAD b/c of tickets or the hype surrounding promo. It's Wrong, but lets be realistic. I bet the agencies not working with GAD, get few volunteers.


It does not matter the reasons people volunteer, people all over are getting help and that is what matters.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I guess all us poor people can stop volunteering b/c we have no money....??? Some people on the board are out of line.

They should have told her about the money upfront. And the GAD commercials, advertising, talk about TIME, not money.

I bet everyone who used their own money will claim it on their taxes next year too, but criticize her for wanting something in return for donating money for the bear.

Donation= money,materials etc
volunteer= time

(In most cases.)

It shameful poster is getting blasted b/c she can't afford to donate money! Seriously. How stuck up does everyone sound now. To be honest probably 80% of people signed up for GAD b/c of tickets or the hype surrounding promo. It's Wrong, but lets be realistic. I bet the agencies not working with GAD, get few volunteers.


It does not matter the reasons people volunteer, people all over are getting help and that is what matters.

Sorry, incorrect! I will not be claiming the money I spent during our GAD volunteering. That is unless you can claim a warm fuzzy feeling on our taxes. Not once did the thought cross my mind to claim it on my taxes. Actually, the organization that we worked for touched my DS14's heart so much that we have committed more time to the organization. This is coming from a HS boy who already has to commit 75 hours of community service for school. He will not be claiming his new commitment though.

And to the OP, since you committed to the bear stuffing, if you get me the name of the organization, I will forward them the cost of one of the bears for you to stuff. I would feel bad for the kids who would be neglected because of the mix-up.

 

[mousey]

We had a great experience with our GAD project. It was helping at a black tie affair. We had a dress code that they emailed us about one month before the actual event. We were told to come early for a light dinner. Light dinner was a very nice dinner catered by a well known restaurant in our area. It was in no way light. We spent about 4 hrs helping with numerous auctions and they thanked us and sent us on our way.
I don't blame the OP for being upset about having to pay 12.99 to stuff a bear. I bet if this was spelled out up front in the initial advertising, people would of thought twice about signing up for it.
Its like the project linus. Some chapters were happy with 1 blanket while others required 6.
I commend everyone who did go out and volunteer no matter what task you performed. The world would be a better place if this was the norm.

 

[iwrbnd]

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

I am sorry your opportunity was not described correctly.

We did too.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

We spent 4 hours painting fences and mucking stalls at an Equine Rescue Farm and had a blast. The farm owners even provided us with lunch which was a surprise. We will be going back because it was such a wonderful experience.

How neat! We bagged oyster shells down on the coast for three hours. It was smelly, hot, and back-breaking...but we loved it, learned about the local environmental issues, and met the coolest people!

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

For GAD, we picked up flyers for a food drive. We were given a neighborhood to cover. We hung the flyers on the doors on a Wednesday. We then went back on Saturday morning to collect. One house out of 30+ had food on their porch for us.

We were then supposed to drop it off at the collection center. We felt uncomfortable dropping off two bags of food (we had collected from our own pantry).

I had my husband stop by the supermarket and I bought about $50 of non perishable items to donate.

The people at the collection center were amazed at the response we got. lol

Funny. Everyone else probably came back with just that one bag! Good for you.

 

[kacaju]

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.

Really?? I vounteer A LOT and it does sometimes cost me money to do so. The only difference is I am not looking to get a freebee out of it. I do it because I enjoy volunteering my time.

 

[MKCP5]

What a fun, fantastic way to volunteer, simply by having hands-on fun while hand stuffin a teddy bear that will be donated to a foster child! Everybody wins with P*&^%78788 Cause!

^%^$%$*(*)(*) Workshop will be providing cuddly stuffed teddy bears to foster children throughout Massachusetts. After you hand stuff your teddy bear, you will leave them at )(*)(*)(*)(*)(*() Workshop and they will then be delivered to the various DCF Offices/Visiting Rooms where supervised visits are held between foster children and their birth parents, and where children stay while awaiting foster placement. These donations of stuffed animals will help make a very scary experience very comforting.

This is not like Build-A-Bear Workshop we have NO STUFFING MACHINES - its all about hands on fun! You will be required to hand stuff ONE Teddy Bear. No sewing or glueing required, as these teddy bears have a one way zipper with velcro to seal them up. We will provide you with all the "bear necessities" to complete this fun, quick and easy project!
For this project, for example, each registered volunteer can have people in your group, family, neighborhood, community and friends DONATE one NEW "Poochie Pals & Plaster Art Teddy Bear" to you for this purpose.

On the day of the event, for the time-slot you sign up for, at least ONE NEW donated Poochie Pal must be made for EVERY registered member in your group.

You can sign up your group for one of the times and dates below. PLEASE ARRIVE ON LOCATION PROMPTLY, AT START TIME, FOR THE SLOT YOU SIGN UP FOR BECAUSE WE HAVE THE WORKSHOP BOOKED ONLY FOR A DEFINED PERIOD OF TIME.

ONLY REGISTERED VOLUNTEERS WILL BE VERIFIED FOR A FREE DISNEY TICKET. It takes between 24-72 hours for you to get your tickets sent to you via email from Disney. Its a very fast turnaround.

We will be taking photographs during the event to share on our website as well as with other organizations and media. We will not use any names in the photos.

What happens next?

We have reserved a space for you to volunteer for this opportunity. Please be on time and wear clothing appropriate for the volunteer activity.

After you have completed your volunteer assignment, *(**&&^%%^$%$#%$$^ WORKSHOP will notify Disney Parks, who will contact you with instructions for printing your voucher for your free Disney day at Disneyland® Resort or Walt Disney World® Resort.

If you are not able to fulfill your commitment to volunteer, please let us know immediately. Click on the following link or paste it into your Web browser to be taken to the Volunteer Opportunity Portal to remove yourself from the opportunity.

http:///O6Q==&t=update&l=en

If for any reason you are unable to use this link, return to DisneyParks.com and click on the link to Manage Your Account.

On behalf of HandsOn Network, its affiliates and partner organizations, thank you for volunteering and being part of the “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.” program.

HandsOn Network
“Give A Day. Get A Disney Day.” Volunteer Support Team

This is the info I got --no where does it say anything about the $$$ involved. I know some of you will never see my point, but here are the facts. We thought we would go and stuff a bunch, not just the one.

with one exception I took out the name of the place and our names

 

[Topper]

What a fun, fantastic way to volunteer, simply by having hands-on fun while hand stuffin a teddy bear that will be donated to a foster child! Everybody wins with P*&^%78788 Cause!

^%^$%$*(*)(*) Workshop will be providing cuddly stuffed teddy bears to foster children throughout Massachusetts. After you hand stuff your teddy bear, you will leave them at )(*)(*)(*)(*)(*() Workshop and they will then be delivered to the various DCF Offices/Visiting Rooms where supervised visits are held between foster children and their birth parents, and where children stay while awaiting foster placement. These donations of stuffed animals will help make a very scary experience very comforting.

This is not like Build-A-Bear Workshop we have NO STUFFING MACHINES - its all about hands on fun! You will be required to hand stuff ONE Teddy Bear. No sewing or glueing required, as these teddy bears have a one way zipper with velcro to seal them up. We will provide you with all the "bear necessities" to complete this fun, quick and easy project!

For this project, for example, each registered volunteer can have people in your group, family, neighborhood, community and friends DONATE one NEW "Poochie Pals & Plaster Art Teddy Bear" to you for this purpose.

On the day of the event, for the time-slot you sign up for, at least ONE NEW donated Poochie Pal must be made for EVERY registered member in your group.

You can sign up your group for one of the times and dates below. PLEASE ARRIVE ON LOCATION PROMPTLY, AT START TIME, FOR THE SLOT YOU SIGN UP FOR BECAUSE WE HAVE THE WORKSHOP BOOKED ONLY FOR A DEFINED PERIOD OF TIME.

ONLY REGISTERED VOLUNTEERS WILL BE VERIFIED FOR A FREE DISNEY TICKET. It takes between 24-72 hours for you to get your tickets sent to you via email from Disney. Its a very fast turnaround.

We will be taking photographs during the event to share on our website as well as with other organizations and media. We will not use any names in the photos.

What happens next?

We have reserved a space for you to volunteer for this opportunity. Please be on time and wear clothing appropriate for the volunteer activity.

After you have completed your volunteer assignment, *(**&&^%%^$%$#%$$^ WORKSHOP will notify Disney Parks, who will contact you with instructions for printing your voucher for your free Disney day at Disneyland® Resort or Walt Disney World® Resort.

If you are not able to fulfill your commitment to volunteer, please let us know immediately. Click on the following link or paste it into your Web browser to be taken to the Volunteer Opportunity Portal to remove yourself from the opportunity.

http:///O6Q==&t=update&l=en

If for any reason you are unable to use this link, return to DisneyParks.com and click on the link to Manage Your Account.

On behalf of HandsOn Network, its affiliates and partner organizations, thank you for volunteering and being part of the “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.” program.

HandsOn Network
“Give A Day. Get A Disney Day.” Volunteer Support Team

This is the info I got --no where does it say anything about the $$$ involved. I know some of you wil never see my point, but here are the facts
with one exception I took out the name of the place and our names

They did tell you that the bear would not be provided free, and that you needed to have it donated to you.