Posted in Volunteers by Mark on January 26th, 2011
The Carlisle High School Girls Soccer team will be collecting gently used soccer gear to be donated to children in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Outreach, a group dedicated to helping children and families in that war-ravaged country.
Items of consideration are any old uniforms, articles of soccer clothing, used shoes, socks, old soccer balls, etc. Nancy Thorpe, a parent of one of our players and huge fan of our program and soccer in general, has agreed to collect the items at her home in the Easter Lake area of Des Moines.
Please feel free to call Nancy at 515-402-0157 to arrange a time to drop off your donations.
The due date for the collected items is Saturday, January 29th. For more information on how the donations will be distributed please visit the group’s website.
Our director of development, Lisa Wilson, will be focusing more of her efforts on writing winning grant requests so she’ll be giving up several duties that she’s been responsible for for the past couple of years. So we’re looking for your help.
We need volunteers to coordinate we’re trying to carve off tasks that she’s been doing over the past couple of years. I know you’ve always stepped up in the past so I’d be very confident putting this responsibility into your hands.
These are the main responsibilities:
Concession stand manager(s) – The hot chocolate, hot dogs, pop corn and other goodies help improve the game-day experience for everyone visiting our complex. It also helps us raise a good deal of money to fund enhancement of the complex. But it won’t work if we don’t have it open. So we need a team of volunteers to manage the concession stand. Specifically, the team will be responsible for:
Clean the stand and set up for opening weekend
Clean the stand and prepare for the off-season after the closing weekends
Open and close stand each Sunday (and Saturday mornings if volunteers are available)
Work with the volunteer director to get a copy of concession stand volunteers
Order food weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the need (food is delivered to concession by our vendor and automatically billed through our account)
Keep track of money box and provide proceeds to the Club Treasurer each Sunday afternoon
Arts Festival Supervisor(s) - The Des Moines Arts Festival has been the single largest fundraiser for the Club for the past two years. We staff one of only four beer and wine tents at one of the city’s most popular summer events. It’s a fun time and a great money-maker for the Club. We need a couple of supervisors to lend their energy to lead a team of volunteers for this event. The specific duties include:
Attend Arts Festival meetings a few months prior to event (and you’ll usually get cool free stuff during the festival for attending)
Work with the volunteer director to recruit volunteers and create work schedule for the three-day festival
Ensure all first-time volunteers have attend the beer training session
Maintain and collect proceeds from the tip Jars during the event (this is one of our best sources of collections from the event!)
Keep an organized, staffed and stocked tent during event and
Recruite and train shift managers so you don’t have to be there the entire time
Spaghetti Dinner Manager- The end-of-season spaghetti dinner is quickly becoming a tradition for the Club and for the community of Carlisle. It’s a simple way to bring together parents, players and members of the community while raising money. We get to take advantage of a generous donation from Barilla Pasta Company and other vendors, and have great records so it just requires someone to make it happen. Specifically, the spaghetti dinner manager is responsible for:
Work with Club secretary to establish date and reserve a location
Work with the director of Development to complete the request for donations from those who have given in the past (and others, if you have ideas)
Work with the director of marketing communications to advertise to Club and the community via email, signs, Carlisle Citizen Newspaper and other media
Work with the volunteers to create a volunteer schedule
Supervise the preparation and serving of the dinner
Submit the proceeds to the Club treasurer
If you’re interested in any of these duties, we’d love to hear from you. The only way to guarantee the continued growth and success of the Club is to get new people involved. If you have any questions or would like to take on these responsibilities, please contact Lisa Wilson or Mark True.
The new parking lot on the northwest side of the complex is taking shape. Thanks to our good neighbor, Howard Goodhue, we put the posts into the ground on a cold Tuesday afternoon. Howard sent his employees - Steve Gilliland and Kendall Fogle - and an end loader down to make quick work of inserting posts. I guess this is pretty standard for farmers, but I was pretty impressed with how the big bucket pushed the 56 posts into the ground like a toothpick in butter. Most went it four feet, but some hit a barrier and we’ll have to cut them off before putting up the rails. Watch this video to see a couple of posts go into the ground.
Because we’ve had difficulty staffing the concession stand, the Board of Directors approved a new Volunteer Policy which will go into effect with the spring 2011 season. The key element is a $50 fine if you don’t show up for your concession stand duty.
"Part of making the game day experience a good one is offering a concession stand," says Mark True, president. "We’ve done a lot to improve our concession stand…adding hot chocolate, hot dogs, pop corn and cold beverages for families on the run on a busy Sunday afternoon. And it’s a good revenue source to supplement our registration fees.
"But we can’t make that money or provide that service if volunteers don’t show up, so we’re going to have to implement this penalty to ensure that volunteers who sign up for concession stand duty actually show up."
The board understands that things come up and a person may not be able to fulfill their duty. That’s why they are allowed to find a replacement. And there are other opportunities to volunteer.
If you like to be outdoors, we have grounds work that needs to be done…at work days or throughout the year. If working on the computer is your thing, you can help with registration or serve on the fundraising committee, helping identify sources of grant monies. And if you like working with people, we can always use you to help recruit additional volunteers.
To let us know how you’d like to serve, contact the volunteer coordinator, Bridgett Davis at 989-6000.
A small group of dedicated folks braved the heat of the day to hep prepare the Carlisle Soccer Complex for the fall season on Saturday, August 21st.
They set marker ropes for the parking lot, lined fields, placed goals, repaired nets and thinned out a lot of dead trees in the tree line (check out the before and after photos above). Local business man Ed Dillman, of Dillman Grading, even stopped by to help smooth out our driveway.
We still need your help. Despite all the wet weather and the lateness of the season, sand burrs have reappeared despite the our application of the recommended chemical treatment earlier this year (does ANYBODY know how to kill these things until our grass gets dominant?). The good news is that our above ground sprinkler is working on a regular schedule again.
If you have a pick up truck and can give us 15 minutes once a week, we’d appreciate your help with our watering program. Just contact Ryan Woodruff, director of facilities (208-6328).
Thank you, volunteers
Ben Dawson
Keaton, Quinn & Walter Walker
Ken & Melissa Sadler
Mark True
Rob Clark
Lisa & Brian Wilson
William & Gaylene Rick
Dave Kallemyn
Joe Fortelka
Jerry
David Gutierrez
Ed Dillman
Carlisle Soccer players and friends Taylor Whipple, Ashton Goodhue-Nolte, Lindsey Kamerick and Madison Polley attended the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy (JFSLA) in Chicago last summer, and completed a community sevice project spawned by the camp experience on January 9, 2010. The goal of the project was to introduce young kids to soccer, get them to sign up for soccer with the Carlisle Soccer Club which in turn would help increase funds for the club to help improve field conditions. The failure of the well pump late last summer slowed progress and the girls wanted to help raise money toward the replacement.
"The Club needs funds to pay for a costly irrigation system to keep the grass growing," Taylor wrote in her letter to camp leader and former U.S. women’s national team member Julie Foudy.
The girls and their friends from the Crazy Kickers and the Carlise Crush held an indoor soccer clinic for kids ages 4 to 6 years old. All participants received a soccer ball and a "Krazy Crush Clinic" t-shirt. The 35 kids were formed into groups of 8-10 players where they went through several activities such as "Red Light Green Light," "Ghostbusters," "Tail Chase" and many others. Each activity included elements with the soccer ball and some without a ball.
"We taught the kids what part of the foot to dribble with and how to shield the ball," Taylor wrote to Foudy. "The kids had a blast!" The clinic organizers had registration for spring soccer and information about our club available and several kids registered. The board of directors was so impressed, it’s considering making this an annual event. Besides the core group, other Carlisle soccer players helped with the clinic, including: Emma Staecker, Madison Staecker, Johanna Haack, Mariah Sadler, Jonathan Kamerick, Kyle Whipple and several parent helpers.
The "Krazy Crush" clinic wouldn’t have been such a success without a$250 grant from the JFSLA, and a $200 donations from Sheels and a $150 donation Goodhue-Nolte Insurance.
If you have a pick up truck and can give us 15 minutes once a week, we’d appreciate your help with our watering program. Just contact Ryan Woodruff, director of facilities (208-6328).
Carlisle Soccer players and friends Taylor Whipple, Ashton Goodhue-Nolte, Lindsey Kamerick and Madison Polley 
The clinic organizers had registration for spring soccer and information about our club available and several kids registered. The board of directors was so impressed, it’s considering making this an annual event. Besides the core group, other Carlisle soccer players helped with the clinic, including: Emma Staecker, Madison Staecker, Johanna Haack, Mariah Sadler, Jonathan Kamerick, Kyle Whipple and several parent helpers.