HELP! We need help NOW!!!

[Dan Petrovic]

Look around for sponsors that we know support FIRST teams. Like BAE Systems, Raytheon, GM, and the like. 2002-2005 166 did all of their work in an area BAE Systems had lent to us. Our situation was not unlike yours.

As for recruiting members... If you have any friends who are thinking about joining but aren't sure if they really want to, bring them to a mini-competition if there are any in your area. I got one of my friends to join by dragging him to a competition, now you'd have to drag him out of our work area.

[wendymom]

P.S. What type of food do you guys suggest we bring? (Nothing too expensive or fatty though )[/quote]

For the first meeting I had chick fil a nuggets..they turned into one of our better sponsors too! From then on it varied..sometimes cheese and crackers, subs, chips and salsa. Durning build season some of the kids approached local restaurants and they fed us nightly.

Being a home school team you might consider approaching other public or private schools in the area that don't have FIRST teams and ask if you can partner or at least recruit there. We have 4 schools on our team. Also check with a science musem or society in your area.

Dont rule out a good garage as a build space. We used one of our college mentors garages and just fed all his roomates every night so they didn't mind

Good Luck

[EricH]

Originally Posted by aksimhal

...What I'm really worried about is finding a building location where we can place our bins and our robots. We can have some meetings at a library (or someone's house), but we still need to fix our robot (it wasn't working as we hoped it would). Does anybody have any suggestions, idea, or techniques on how to get a building location?

Can't let a fellow homeschool team drop out due to lack of space!

Find a reasonably successful business that may have empty space (been there--we are currently in a power plant's old machine shop, after three other places). Ask for their help. If that doesn't work, go to machine shops to see if they will let you build there. Try to see if someone with an empty store or warehouse will let you build in it. (Our first two places fit this description, but they were owned by our church.) If all else fails, beg and then beg some more. Surely someone has empty space you can use.

[windup zeppelin]

welllll how about the next time your school has an assembly to you should mention the team and how long it has been in the school and demosntrate your best robot.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by windup zeppelin

welllll how about the next time your school has an assembly to you should mention the team and how long it has been in the school and demosntrate your best robot.

If you had read the thread, you would have known that this team is homeschooled. This makes your suggestion rather tricky. However, if they are in a homeschool group (very likely, as homeschoolers tend to stick together), then definitely this is a good idea, assuming you have space. Our group has a Night of Excellence every year, and Beach Bot has not missed a year since the team started to my knowledge.

And hey, if someone in the group has connections, why not use them?

[Wetzel]

You may want to contact the New School in Fairfax City. I think that they would be the sort of school that would allow homeschooled students to participate, while getting some of the benefits that go along with having a school of sorts.

Wetzel

[Woe]

We are a community team. Our kids are home schooled or from public/private schools. We had the same problem with building space and contacted our Board of Alderman. We ended up finding a building sponsor on our own, but contacting the Alderman did generate a few leads, and it was a great way to generate some public attention. You may also try the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club or even your library. Our library district has fantastic resources for non-profit organizations.
As a side note, our building donor believes an occupied building rents faster since people tend to remember the space with the robots. We may have to move several times, but you won't hear us complain.