Originally Posted By mousermerf So, I was just looking over the Give a Day Get a Disney Day promotional website and something struck me.. Despite all the promos showing families volunteering together.. it's pretty much impossible to find a volunteer opportunity that someone under the age of 12 can participate in and very difficult for 13-17yo's as well. For some reason, my heart tells me Disney knew this. And thus they'll get the parents to sign up and then pocket the price of the children's admission tickets, much in the same way they got friends/family tickets from the Birthday passes.
Originally Posted By Longhorn12 A lot of that is not the fault of Disney. Few places allow people 12-16 and younger do volunteer work because it costs more to insure. At least that is how works down here in Tejas.
Originally Posted By MPierce I'll keep my opinions to myself. It makes me feel dirty to start ranting about people doing voluntere work.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Here in Tustin, California, the Orange County Rescue Mission has a lot of different opportunities, including some for as young as 6 years of age.
Originally Posted By Marty2111 The listings in the Northeast didn't have many age limitations that I saw. You could be cynical and say that an APer can trade the 1-day pass for a group fastpass or a hat figurine! But though I could question the value to the more frequent guests, I can't fault the incentive (or the fact that the Muppets are getting some much deserved publicity in the promotion).
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 No matter how it works out, I think that it is a great idea to get people to help other people. People that would otherwise would not.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 A Happy Haunt tried to sign up for that, but the only places in Massachusetts were an hour+ away, and not the nicest cities to be in.
Originally Posted By leobloom >>not the nicest cities to be in>> I guess this promotion's slogan should be: What are you willing to do to get a FREE DISNEY TICKET!?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Isn't that the point of volunteering? You're helping people who aren't doing as well as you? If all the opportunities were in super nice areas, it would make me question the effectiveness of the volunteer work being done.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I guess this promotion's slogan should be: What are you willing to do to get a FREE DISNEY TICKET!?>> I am a cynical Spirit by nature, and even with those commercials with the Muppets where they talk about getting done so they can get their tix, I still have a hard time faulting Disney for this campaign. It will help people in need, it will put the idea in many folks' minds that volunteering is a good thing to do, and yeah, it will give Disney some good PR and likely add some to the bottom line because no one goes to Disney alone for one day and doesn't spend anything. So ... as cynical as I am, I still see this as simply a win-win-win-win situation. I am a little pissed that I wasn't one of the charities on Disney's list, though!
Originally Posted By leobloom I don't really have a problem with the promotion, although it's just further proof that Disney is the king of good PR moves (maybe NBC should call them for advice?). But I do think the "unsafe areas" comment is a little off the mark, since oftentimes those areas perceived as "unsafe" as the places that are most in need.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> But I do think the "unsafe areas" comment is a little off the mark, since oftentimes those areas perceived as "unsafe" as the places that are most in need. << I've done charitable work in those kinds of areas. Trust me, you wouldn't want your wife there. A safe enviroment is a must if you want repeat volunteers.
Originally Posted By BellesLibrarian We found a great opportunity in NJ that is family-friendly. We are making blankets for a group that distributes them to children's hospitals. Since we don't knit or crochet, we are making the flannel knotted type. The three of us (DH, DD7, and myself) are to make two of these blankets each and deliver them to the coordinator within 60 days. The coordinator lives about an hour away from us, but we can do the bulk of the volunteering while at home. In general, it is tough to find volunteer opportunities for small children. Our normal volunteering is at a local historic site. We dress up as Colonists and show school children the toys and everyday stuff from the late 18th century. When she was even littler we went on pastoral visits for our church. If you are creative you can find stuff to do. I found the website helpful in that I was able to eliminate stuff that was not kid-friendly and search from our house out farther. Good luck!
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 <<I've done charitable work in those kinds of areas. Trust me, you wouldn't want your wife there. A safe enviroment is a must if you want repeat volunteers. >> Exactly, A Happy Haunt weighs about 110 pounds, and her daughters are 9 & 11 years old. Safety first.
Originally Posted By leobloom If safety's your concern, then you should probably never visit Florida again.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> In what way is it more unsafe than anywhere else? << There's a large rhodent that roams the Parks taking everybody's money.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 It's 5:30PM here, 31 degrees, we had 6 inches of heavy wet snow last night, gonna be frozen solid slush tomorrow. I'd love to see that rodent right now.
