Volunteering

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     Although we are primarily a social club, we have a long rich history of giving back to the community.  We typically exceeded 20,000 hours of volunteer time each year.  We have donated close to or over 2000 pints of blood in each of the past two years. We have donated over $150,000 to Alzheimer’s over the past three years with our golf tournaments.   We have Parrot Heads actively volunteering at The Villages Hospice, The Villages Hospital, Toys for Tots, Food Pantries, Blood Drives and for many other charitable organizations.

 

      All of our club activities are organized and executed by volunteers.  Major volunteer opportunities include the Chili Cook-off in February, the Parrot Head Spring Festival in March, Pool parties in the Summer,  Halloween Party, Christmas Party, New Year’s Eve Party.

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      Get involved any way you can.  Run for office, chair a committee or a trip, attend committee meetings, take attendance, sell 50 / 50 tickets, give blood. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved and give back to the club and the community.  And if you volunteer, we hand out Volunteer Parrot Points.

 

Earning Parrot Points

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     Some of you might ask, What are volunteer Parrot Points and what are they used for?  Volunteer Parrot Points are simply our method of tracking the volunteer efforts of our members both for club functions and for charitable activities that have been pre-approved by the Executive Committee.  Members can earn Parrot Points from volunteering at our club’s various events. For example:  taking attendance at Phlockings, selling 50/50 tickets, donating blood, volunteering at the blood drive, helping at parties, and/or volunteering at any of our 3 big events per year (chili cook off, poker run, golf tournament).

 

     Accumulating Parrot Points  Points are accumulated on a “rolling” 12 month period, i.e., from February to January or July to June.  The rolling system works when points for a new month are posted and the points for the prior year period are dropped.  For example:  July points for the current year are posted, the July points for the previous year will drop off.  The only way your accumulated Parrot Point totals will change is when a new month is tallied and posted.

 

     Posting Monthly Parrot Points  The total of all Members’ Parrot Points are posted each month on our website: https://villagesparrotheads.com, Quick Links, Check Earned Points.  Monthly, event chairs submit the earned Parrot Points to me to track, tally, and post for the member’s review.  Check your points each month and let me know if you think any Parrot Points are missing. 

 

     Thanking you, our Members  Parrot Points are given to those members rewarding the volunteer work they have done for our club.  And this is one of the ways we thank you for volunteering.    

 

     Parrot Points are then recognized to purchase advance ticket sales, advance priority event seating, receive an invitation to the annual Volunteer Appreciation event (specific yearly total must be accumulated), and to receive a Volunteer Appreciation Pin in recognition for your Volunteer efforts.   

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     And, you do not lose Parrot Points if you use them to purchase advance ticket sales or priority seating.

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Using Parrot Points

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     Each year in January we hold a Volunteer Appreciation Party and award volunteer pins to those members who have accumulated enough Volunteer Parrot Points to meet the requirements set by the Executive Committee.  In addition, we use Parrot Points to determine who can and cannot sign up early for selected special events and parties

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     The number of points required to purchase early tickets using points is determined by the Coco-Nutz, the total  number of points must be more than the number of people on the order times the points required for early purchase.

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        Example:  If you have 3 people on your order and 4 points are required for early purchase, the TOTAL must be 12 points or more.  This can be 3 people with 4 points each, 1  person with 8 points and 1  with 4 points or any  combination as long as the total is 12 points or more. .

 

1. Log into Ticketleap for the event of interest.  Enter the FIRST and LAST name of the first attendee and check their points.

2. Enter the FIRST and LAST name of the next attendee and check their points.

3. Continue to ADD all points until you have at least a total of 4 points per attendee on the order for this example.

 

Point System Award Guidelines (from SOPs)

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     The Chairperson collects their volunteers’ earned points or volunteer hours and report the points / hours earned to the volunteer coordinator on a monthly basis and in a timely manner. Points / Hours shall be submitted to the Volunteer Coordinator in writing in alphabetical order.  Guidelines for the point awards are as follows:

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1. In general, meeting attendees, excluding the chairperson and Excomm members, will receive 1 Parrot point for attending the meeting.

2. 2 hours minimum contribution for an event or activity will receive 1 Parrot point. If a volunteer arrives on time for an event and the event is scheduled for less than 2 hours, shortened, cancelled or postponed, the volunteer may receive a Parrot point.

3. 4 hours minimum contribution for an event or activity will receive 2 Parrot points.

4. Members who donate blood during a “The Villages Parrot Heads Club” sponsored event will receive 2 Parrot points or 4 Parrot points for donating double red.

5. Chairpersons with less than 5 committee members (not counting themselves) will receive 5 Parrot points per month while the committee is active.

6. Chairpersons with more than 5 committee members (not counting themselves) will receive 7 Parrot points per month while the committee is active.

7. Chairpersons of major annual events such as the Poker Run, Basket Raffle, Golf Tournament and Homosassa Bash will receive 10 Parrot points per month while the committee is active. 

8. No member of a committee may receive more Parrot points per month than the committee chairman. In unusual circumstances the Volunteer Coordinator may grant an exception to this rule.

9. Excomm members will receive 5 Parrot points per month while serving on the Excomm.

10. The maximum points any member can receive each month is 5 Parrot points per Parrot Head event.  For approved events outside of the Club, the maximum number is 5 Parrot points.

11. The Volunteer Coordinator may grant exceptions to any of the provisions contained in this guideline in the interest of fairness and transparency