Pittsburgh Regional 2016/Idea Thread

[j801642]

Hi all,

Team 128, The Botcats, are excited for the 2016 Greater Pittsburgh Regional Competition and would like your help with a project. This past winter The Botcats traveled to our local YWCA, which houses community members who have fallen down on their luck, and are temporarily homeless. The YWCA offers a 30 day safe haven for those accepted, and the rules are incredibly strict while living there. The options for entertainment are slim, and the children often have trouble finding things to do. We took our Regional Winning 2013 robot as well as a ton of fun activities, and gave the children/parents a fun day. While we were there, we noticed that there were several requests for donations of assorted toiletries such as soap and shampoo. A team member had the idea to collect all of the toiletries given to us by the hotel during The Greater Pittsburgh Regional. But then we thought, why stop there? So here is our request: If you are attending The Greater Pittsburgh Regional, please save all toiletries that are given by the hotel you're staying with, and donate them to our cause. We will have the donations open and easily visible in our Pit. To increase awareness, we ask that you spread the word of this Toiletry Drive. Thanks so much, and we are excited to see how well this plan can be executed!

See you in Pittsburgh!
Jay H.
Team 128 Student Coach

[D_Price]

Hey Jay I will gladly relay this to all of my team members and mentors and hopefully they will spread the word also. Since we are local and will not be staying in a hotel I would love to try to help set up a booth/box etc to collect toiletries that people bring:

IE: A case of toilet paper, shampoos, etc.

Shoot me a message and I can speak with Cal U as a facility to see if they can set up a space for it. Let me know.

[kmodos]

I'll pass the message on to 1126!

[smcmahon]

Very cool idea! Will share with the 2656 mailing list.

(Funny 128 story: I was just writing a note this morning with an old 2008/2009 Botcats pen! It says "Holey cow! It's team 128 - the Botcats - Grandview Heights, OH")

[j801642]

Hi guys! Sorry I went AWOL, I was super busy with competition and scouting. Thanks for all your support at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional, we received over 730 pieces of assorted hygienic materials! Again, a huge thank you to all who spread the word and donated. It worked so well we're going to do it again at the Queen City Regional in Cincinnati!

[catmanjake]

Have any other teams done anything like this at a Regional? I help out some at a youth homeless shelter, was there today and remembered this thread. I wondered how/if I could do something more at our local regional as far as collecting donations. I just wondering how well something would be received if we asked teams to bring items from home. I know how full our trailer is when we travel. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions.