[JaneYoung]

I'd start by taking a good look at your post and thinking about the message that you are conveying to your readers. Example: do you really need 5 bright red mad looking faces in the post? That shows anger and frustration but with a week to go, would you want to be asking for advice in a way that portrays your team in a less negative light than anger presents?

It's too late to write a letter campaign to friends and relatives of the team members via snail mail but it's not too late to send a letter via e-mail and/or make some phone calls.

Write a letter and/or 2-3 minute elevator speech to give over the phone - for the team to use this week. Give instructions on sending the e-mail or making the call to request a donation. Send that e-mail letter out to friends and loved ones asking for help and support in your effort to obtain registration costs with a deadline looming. You can give them suggested amounts but let them know that any amount will help with the registration, build, and travel costs for the team - but that right now the focus is on making the registration deadline. Ask them to respond with an answer and provide them with the mailing address to send in the monies. Make sure that address is valid and can be trusted - such as the school mentor's address or one similar. The letter presents an excellent opportunity for members of your team to share why FRC is valuable to your team and to your community.

If you don't have a good communication network with the team, pre-season is a great time to start. As it is, get the letter/information to the members of the team and let them know the importance of the deadline without assigning fault or blame. Dave Lavery has an awesome post in CD that says something about a team succeeding together and failing together. You are there. It's not you and them. It's all of you, together. I'll see if I can find Dave's gem of wisdom and share it with you.

Good luck,
Jane