Other than that, you may wish to consider using some of these items to
augment your program. Keep in mind that these things are purely optional
and only will augment any program you may wish to undertake. For the most
part, they would be useful for either the Kids Escort facet of the program
or the Community Patrol.
These "other optional" resources include:
- All Saints T-Shirts:
The Provincial Advisory Committee for the "All Saints Program" is in the process of locating corporate sponsorship for the T-Shirt phase of the project. In the first year of our program, we did not use the shirts because we focused on the Seniors and Children phase of the program. It is suggested that schools starting the program in 1998 do likewise.
However, if you are really determined to go ahead with the Community Patrol facet of the All Saints Project, then you will need the shirts for identification. We recommend a bulky t-shirt or sweatshirt with our logo on it. These will be available to participating schools at either cost or slightly below cost (depending on the location of a sponsor). These are usually high quality (we have traditionally used Fruit-of the-Loom brand) and are in three colours. Cost per unit is $10.00 for the t-shirt to $19.00 for the sweatshirt. Naturally, these prices are based on the small numbers we have used in the past and thus will go down per unit as more and more units are ordered.
It is recommended that each student contribute to the cost of the shirt. By doing this, you establish both ownership of the shirt as well as ownership of the program. In the Fund raising folder contained in this package, you will find everything you will need to run a very successful raffle. In our school, we raised $4800.00 this spring in this raffle which will purchase both radios and shirts for this fall's program.
If you are not into raffles, we suggest that you may want to approach the local Teachers Union, the community Recreation Committee and the local newspaper. Again, we did this with great success in previous years. The trick is to reduce the cost per shirt to just a nominal fee which is less than 50% of the cost value. This can be done by taking a portion of raised funds as a subsidy towards the shirt purchase.
- Flashlights:
For the most part, it is not feasible for any school to rush out and purchase 10-20 flashlights. For the most part, every student has access to at least one flashlight in their homes. Ideally, you should try to locate some batteries for these. Often, hardware stores and even large Department stores are eager to sell you these at a reduced price. We have even purchased these at the cost to the store. Again, the flashlights are only needed for the community patrol. For the most part, the children going door-to-door in search of treats usually do so in well lit urban areas.
Remember that local Emergency Measures Organization groups as well as fire departments often have a supply of these. They may be willing to loan out a number to you for Halloween.
Again, if you are going to do Fund raising, you may want to purchase six or eight flashlights each year from the portion of your Fund raising money. By doing this, you will build up a good supply in the school. It is amazing how often people will need to use these lights for other projects during the school year.
- Two-Way Radios
This is probably the most expensive facet of the project. The only time that you will need to go to either the bother and/or expense of acquiring these is if you are getting involved in the Community Patrol aspect of the program.
Assuming you plan to acquire two-way radios, let us review what we have learned from experience. Radios come in three systems: FM Band; Citizens Band (CB); and Ultra or Very High Frequency (UHF or VHF respectively).
First of all, the FM Band systems are only good for extremely short distances. They are useless for community patrols as they do not have the range you will require. Citizens Band (CB) does have a lot of limitations. On the positive side, the sets are easy to locate and are inexpensive by comparison to UHF. Naturally, the more channel selection and range you require, the more expensive the unit. CB units range from $49.98 to around $175.00. Ideally, you should have a good base station with a minimum of a "big stick" antenna which needed to ensure both good reception and good transmission. As for the base station, there are lots of these around. We suggest that you contact the local Citizens Band Club who may even want to get involved with you as dispatch that evening. Who knows??? They may even help with the hand held portable units. As for the radios, well, that is where Fund raising gets involved. Acquiring these radios is an expense, but once done, they are yours.
But, Citizens Band has limitations. First of all, the hand held units are somewhat large and require a fair amount of batteries. This is an additional expense you have to plan on. Secondly, we have discovered that other CBer's tend to pull pranks on us on Halloween by trying to dominate or even block our channel. With the co-operation of your local CB club, it may be curbed dramatically. Naturally, the ideal method is UHF radios. These are extremely expensive but have a long range, excellent battery life, etc. But, for most schools, these are cost prohibitive.
- Pen & Paper:
A key requirement in order to note names, addresses, license numbers, descriptions, etc..
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