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Strom cache for kidz *Donations Welcome*

13K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  PO-SLOKE 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello Fellow StromTroopers ,


Ok , here is another one for you . I have been thinking about this for some time now , and have come to the conclusion that now is a good time to launch this one .

This is yet another Cache but with a twist . I will apologize to our Canadian neighbors ahead of time on this one due to foreign exchange issues .

Here's how this one works . I am sure we all are plenty aware of the number of kidz in despare , and how that number grows tremendously each and every day . Well , with that said , I'd like to toss one out there that might allow all of us to maybe help make a difference to a kid come next Christmas .

The thought here is to do a Cache Box on the basis of a Travel Bug concept . in other words , no stashing this box . It can only be passed off hand to hand , Trooper to Trooper .

There will be a brass tag on a lanyard in a small green water tight Otter box with a small notebook to be used as a log book for Troopers who carry the Cache for Kidz . We'll also use the same program as the Cache/Tag game we have going on as far as a each rider will place in the box a small token for the next rider to keep . Each rider should put some small item in the box so riders can possess a piece of memorabalia of his/her efforts .

Now , the part for the KIDZ . Each Trooper who carries the Cache for KIDZ box should place a monetary donation . I personally reccommend a 5 dollar bill . You can make a larger offering if you so choose , but it seems we can all part with the 5 bux pretty easy . Riders can also do something like gift cards from retail stores in the box if they like .

I will start the box off with a $50.00 gift card from Target and a small cash offering as well . I will log the date I depostied the gift and how much the value of it is . When I pass it off to the next Trooper , that Trooper will take his small token . Then at his/her convenience , place their offering in the box . I hope this is making sense .

I am going on a New Years Day ride with the Christian Motorcyclist of America , Hendersonville NC Chapter 520 . I will carry the Cache for KIDZ box throughout the ride . I am hoping for another Trooper in the group to pass it off to after the ride . If not , I'll be looking to meet up with someone real soon . Maybe this weekend if all goes well .

I really don't think we should set a definite time limit on how long a Trooper possesses the box . Just if that you acquire the Cach for KIDZ box, let's try our best to keep it moving as much as possible .

The objective here is this .... Let's keep this thing moving all year long in the USA . When 2 weeks before Thanksgiving gets here in 2009 , and wherever , and or whoever has possession of the box , that person can post up what city and or town the Cache for KIDZ box is in . The Trooper can also post up a few options for someone or some organization to donate our gift to . We can set up a poll through the forum and then Troopers , whether they carried the box or not can vote on where the gift goes . We would like to see the gift presented to the recpient as close to the day after Thanksgiving as possible in order for some unfortunate child/children to have a Merry Christmas in 2009 .

How does this sound guys . Hopefully we have an " all in " situation here . If this sounds like something you guys might want to do , I say let's get it moving . But hey look , money is a funny thing at times . So I propose a few easy ground rules . Let's not have a box packed with 5 dollar bills . If it gets bunched up that way , the rider who has possession can exchange them for larger bills of course . Gift cards are cool . But if you offer them , be sure they have no expiration date and no fees to use them . Wal-Mart , Target , K-Mart and places like that do not expire .

Also , if this thing gets really excited ( which I hope it does ) and the box gets overwhelmed with gifting , riders can hold excess gifting in their possesion till time comes to collect it all up and offer to a recipient . Let's just post up what we are holding if that happens so we can keep up with it . As the day gets closer to offering our gift to someone , we'll need to pay attention a little bit to the thread to see that all gets there in one lump in a timely manner .

Each rider will need to log in the log book and post on the forum the total of the box's worth before he passes it off . Look folks , this could be really fun and allot could be raised for someone . I personally am partial to helping the abused kids in this world and would like to see some strong effort .

Be creative here folks . Folks that are doing long tours might think about trying to get some form of Strom Cache for KIDZ sponsorship per mile they ride sort of pledge thing going . There are tons of options so be creative .

Again , if we end up raising nominal funds that just don't make sense for the box to contain , we can figure out who all might be willing to hold giftings along the way . Let's just see how far , how fast and how much good we can do where . The not knowing of the end result is quite interesting to me . I suppose we have several months to ponder who might end up with our efforts . In the end , and if at all possible we'd like to see a photo of the group of KIDZ , or kid it benefited if at all possible .

I'd like some feedback on yoru thoughts on this folks . Although even if you think it is a terrible idea , I am still launching this tomorrow on Jan 1st 2009 .



Wes ... aka ... PO-SLOKE


p.s. I'll post pics of the box and the ride report tomorrow evening after I get back . Thanks allot folks .
 
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#2 ·
Hey Wes I got an idea. Instead of having a bunch of money running around the country why dont we set up a paypal acct and that way we can donate to the acct when we get the box. Then the rider just writes down the amount in the log and where he went with it. Then at the end wherever it is whoever has the acct can write a check and send it to the rider and then we can get a pic of them giving the check to the charity. Just a thought.

RR
 
#3 ·
RR ,

That's a far better idea for sure . BUT.... I have no idea how to do that . Can you tend to that for us . There may be a few folks who can't do it that way , but they can stuff the box or mail if they like .

Again , would you mind hosting the PayPal thingy for us . That way you might could set up a per mile thing too in case we want to sponsor someone on tour .

Lemme know , PO
 
#4 ·
Ok folks . Ridge Runner is going to set up and host us a PayPal account . It just makes good sense . The gift card thing ( if you do one ) can still go in the box .

RR is perfect for this job . He is ALL about helping KIDZ , trustworthy and willing . As for me , I am a terrible accountant . You should see my checkbook register . LOL

We'll be fine tunning this some , so feel free to offer input gang . It should go well , especially in the summer months .



PO
 
#7 ·
GREAT!!! idea. the title of this thread just didn't peak my interest. glad i looked at it. maybe the admins can sticky it with a catchy title. would make all the logs easier when it's passed too.

FYI and RR proly already knows this but there is a fee to the recipiant of Paypal. so, if $5 is donated, $5 is not recieved. Plus whoever's name is on the account is going to have to account for it come tax time. Who knows what that could amount to.

If you want, I can do a little research on various charities. I know of one called Angel Tree that gift children of prison inmates at Christmas. that's all they do. but i do not know what percentage actually goes to the gifts.

Hope it gets to SoCal.
 
#8 ·
Dorzok ,

Thanks for the info . I personally am not sure what the fee is for using Paypal , but RR already is setup with it for the Stromtroopers gear he has had made for us all . I was a bit worried about cash running all over myself and he sugested that as a safety point . Not looking to get really into being a 503 (c) charity or anything here . Then again , you never know how something might grow . I'd like to really see some good for someone come out of it .

I have a real bone to pick with the whole abused kid thing . Just something I cannot understand and hope we might make a difference in someone Christmas one year . Were sort of hoping that the Tag will end up going to help a kids home or something like that .

Glad you looked at the thread for sure . I am hoping folks will get interested in this thing and we could raise some interest . It could be great fun . We have several months for it to all happen so mention it to you Strom pals and tell them to keep and eye on it in case they want to carry it .

One more good approach for the PayPal is that people could mabye donate a little even if they don't get a chance to carry the Tag . It would keep things a little better in order for our first time around till we get some feel for it under our belts . As long as the money can be shown as donated , it sort of cancels itself out against the tax bill . Plus , any moneys paid to use Patpal can be used as a deduction if I understand things correctly .


Again , thanks tons for your input and checking in on the thread , feel free to help out if you can .


Wes
 
#9 · (Edited)
OH yeah , RR will be setting up the Paypal in the next day or so . So if anyone wants to carry the Tag before that it would be great . They could make their donation after the account is actually set up .


Also , after that is done , I will go back into the 1t post and edit the process .

[ EDIT ] I just finished doing a rough estimate on cost of using Paypal . If we raised $3,000 dollars , @ $5.00 a whack , ( which would take 600 riders ) we would pay roughly $267 in fees . Not much at all and well worth the availability to everyone to make donating easy and fast . Unlikey we would have 600 riders IMHO . It would be nice though .

There is a fee per useage . That's why it came out to be that much . Due to the fact I just used and arbitrary number of $3,000 divided by $5.00 which gave me the 600 riders . If all that makes sense .

So with that said , and knowing Paypal charges a small fee each use , riders will just have to donate more money and that would make for less Paypal useage , keeping the cost down . LOL / LOL

Not to say there might not be a better idea . But I think this one might work well for now .


Wes
 
#10 ·
Just so folks know , we are hoping to do a DIRECT gifting to a group or indidual to avoid organizations from doing distribution through the typical board of director sorts that water down funds . I suppose what I am saying is that there are TONS of groups that are very scrupulous about seeing to it that paychecks are not cut from the funds . It's hard to put it all in a basket I guess , but as said before , when the time comes , we can do a poll .

I already know of some riders that are willing to ride clear across the country to pick it up for specific groups . LOL


I thought about just setting this up originally with a specific group in mind so we would have a immediate goal , but that seemed like it would limit the effort to a more regional effort . I did it this way so all of us across the country might get invloved . I think it will work out well if we just all remember the goal is to help a small but accredited group .

May I add this for an example . There is a HUGE group out there that I will not mention directly ( but I will say that the first name is Salvation and the last name is Army ) , that I happen to know the past guru personally . I also know he has a wonderfully huge house on a beautiful lake with a massive yacht and Mercedz Benz's for day to day personal cars . ALL BOUGHT WITH DONATED FUNDS . This is the sort of thing we NEED to avoid . Those folks can ring their bells all they want , but Mr. Keith gets none of my money .

Hope that doesn't offend anyone but I will say this . I too was a young boy eating out of dumpsters at one time and have spent a few nights in the SA facilities when I was a young boy and on the streets . Then when I met Mr. Keith many years later , I was a little PO'd at his benefits . Although , to this day , I still appreciate the warm cot and the cold bologna for breakfast I was offered .


PO
 
#12 ·
Welpers , I sure thought we'd get good response on trying to raise a few bucks for some unfortunate kids . Lot's of riders I talked to on the streets on a daily basis seem to always respond with , " what a great idea " . But we have had ZERO repsonse on the forum .


Soooo , with that said , I think I'll let this stay posted for at least through this coming weekend and then see what we get . Lot's of folks busy and or cold right now but I still have hope we can collectively do some good .


Thanks , Wes
 
#15 ·
Excellent idea

And it sounds like a bit of fun for a good cause.

I'd be glad to help carry it through California, from someone in SoCal to someone in NorCal for example.

PT
 
#16 · (Edited)
Shep ,

I am most lkely up for a shot at running towards North Ga this Sunday , 1/11/09 . Maybe we could split the run ro something like that . Hook up somewhere at a good BBQ spot . North Ga is known for great Q .



Pondthing ,

Great screen name by the way . Glad to see the left coasters chiming in . My hopes for this thing is seeing it run it's course and at least make a pass through the Pacific coast , and to all points in between if possible .
I typically am quite creative at " Snappy Names " for stuff like this , but I am drawing a blank on this one . Darned 70's did it to me suppose . LOL . Anyone comes up with something good , let's hear it and we'll take a look at it .
It will be intersting to see where this ends up the week before Thanksgiving this year . We'll have to see what the turn around time is with Paypal for drawing out the funds to get more exact about the date . That will pan out as time gets closer . Kids homes are my 1st personal preference but that will be something else we will have to look at as time comes .
If interested folks will subscribe to the thread an just keep an eye on it , I feel like it will move along nicely as the season come on .


Thanks , Wes ... aka ... PO-SLOKE
 
#18 ·
WA is in

I'm in western Washington and more than happy to help out! I don't know who/how many are planning on attending the North American gathering (see "Events" section), but that seems like the logical time to make the drop from East to West. I'm hoping to make it myself but can't commit at the moment (yes, I'm a pansy) but I'll be happy to go for a shorter ride or two.
 
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