WRITING SAMPLE

Notice to the Reader

This report is taken from the Chairman’s Planning Guide (CPG) for my project with the Greater Hartford Jaycees

(GHJCs) to install playground equipment for children with disabilities with the City of Cromwell, Connecticut. The

CPG is a standard form used to propose a project and get it approved by the board of directors. This document

was added to the file at the completion of the project to inform the planning of future projects.

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Chairman’s Planning Guide (CPG)

2005 Cromwell Improvement Project (Line Item: 5120)

Jennifer Dickson, Chairperson

SUMMARY

Under the direction of the Town of Cromwell Parks and Recreation Department, the Greater Hartford Jaycees

organized participated in the installation of accessible playground equipment at the Pierson Park playground for

young children and children with disabilities. The playground equipment was provided by the Jensen’s Fund, a

local non-profit organization, and paid for with donations and a matching grant from the town. The project ran

from 9am until 2pm on October 16th

, 2005.

With the budget for this project, the GHJCs also sponsored a picket for a memorial fence around the playscape.

The original scope of the project included the installation of the fence. However the materials for the fence were

on backorder and will be installed later next spring. The board should consider this for the next GHJC Cromwell

project. In lieu of installing the fence, the scope was modified to adding spread new wood chipped mulch for the

playscape.

The primary purpose of the annual GHJC project Cromwell improvement project is to give something back to the

community of Cromwell in return for the their support during the TPC tournament. The resulting benefits are:

Impact on Chapter:

This project supported a positive relationship with the City of Cromwell and positive exposure to the local

Cromwell community and Jensen’s Fund charity.

Impact on Individual Members:

Individual members benefited from a rewarding community service project and personal growth through

teamwork.

Impact on the Community:

The local Cromwell community received installed playscape enhancements that included new wood chips

for the facility, a new sandbox, and a new wheelchair accessible sandbox.

The project goals for participation were successfully achieved with twelve Jaycees attending, including two new

Jaycees, and seven additional participants from the local Cromwell community. However, no press release was

issued because the frequent changes and dwindling of the project scope made it difficult to publish details for the

project in advance. Publicity was achieved in the form of a picket advertisement at the park.

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Contents

Lessons Learned and Recommendations .................. 3

Contact Information .................................................. 3

Schedule .................................................................... 4

Budget ....................................................................... 5

Communications ........................................................ 5

Public Relations ......................................................... 8

Participant List ......................................................... 13

Photographs ............................................................ 14

2

Greater Hartford Jaycees - Cromwell Improvement 2005

3

LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS

− Recommendation--Work gloves were a valuable asset. Shoveling mulch without work gloves could have

caused injuries. Cheap packs of five are available from WalMart.

− Recommend more pitch forks than shovels for getting the mulch off the pile into the wheelbarrows.

− Recommend recruiting more people if possible and an extra wheelbarrow would have made this task of

the project easier and faster. Participants rotated shoveling, hauling and distributing mulch duties often

and as required. This work is strenuous and took several hours to complete, but there were no injuries.

− Recommend (if playground equipment is in the project scope) that the Chairman either have a firm

commitment from the City of Cromwell to have access to one of their large tool sets or coordinate having

participants bring a large assortment of socket, torque, and Allen wrench sizes to the project just in case.

The City of Cromwell did not provide a list of tools needed for the assembly of the playground equipment

despite my repeated request for a list, and on the day of the project they did not supply all of the tools

required for the equipment assembly. Therefore, in the early hours of the project we made several phone

calls to Jaycees and digging through toolboxes from community members to locate the torque, socket and

Allen wrenches necessary for assembly. Jaycees coordinated a trip to Home Depot to purchase the two

sizes we were not able to find through participants.

− Recommend getting lunch from another location. No Anchovies provided excellent service and the price

helped keep the project within budget. However, the sheet pizzas we got (cheese and pepperoni) got cold

fast and did not taste very good cold.

− Sandwiches would have worked out better though it is difficult to afford on a $50 food budget.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Jaycee Roles and Responsibilities:

Title Name Contact Information Phone Responsibilities

President Deb Howard GHJCPres@yahoo.com 636-0208 The President provides the initial direction for the project.

Vice

President

Jenifer Sobanski Jenls16@aol.com 613-2978 The Project VP is responsible for the overall direction of

the project, servicing as liaison between the Executive

Board and the director, and ensuring that that CPG is

completed.

Director Darlene Rice ricedarl@yahoo.com The Director is responsible for selecting a Chairman,

providing expertise and leadership skills to the Chairman

Project

Chairperson

Jennifer Dickson jlynnd@sbcglobal.net 447-8360 The Project Chairperson develops the plan of action,

presents the project to the Board of Directors, supervises

Community Contact Information:

Sue Shein, Parks and Recreation Director

Town of Cromwell

Nathaniel White Building

41 West Street

Cromwell, CT 06416-0189

(860) 739-8938

sschein@cromwellct.com.

Fred and Cynthia Lynn

Jensen’s Fund

8 Ranney Road

Cromwell, CT 06416

info@jensensfund.org

Hartford Jaycees Office

2nd Floor, One Financial Plaza

Hartford, CT 06103

(860) 522-4171

4

SCHEDULE

July 25, 2005 Contacted Cromwell Parks and Recreation Dept. Talked to Sue Schein (860-739-8938). The

date is set as September 10th

or 24th

at Pierson Park. The project will implement park

improvements envisioned by the Jensens’ Fund charity for Cromwell community

development.

July 26, 2005 Completed CPG Project Proposal.

July 27, 2005 Project is approved by board.

July 27, 2005 Advertised at monthly membership meeting.

July 31, 2005 Followed up (email and phone call) with Sue Shein on initial project details

August 20-28, 2005 TPC Buick Championship in Cromwell

August 14, 2005 Town of Cromwell needs to move the project date. The new dates are agreed to be

October 2nd

with a rain date of October 16th

.

August 28, 2005 Advertised Mail invitation to Jaycee members from the Cromwell area.

September 6, 2005 Advertised new project date with flyer in the monthly mailing.

September 29, 2005 Town of Cromwell cancels the October 2nd

project date because materials could not be

delivered on time. Rescheduled to the rain date of October 16th

.

October 4, 2005 Recruited for Rain Date at monthly membership meeting.

October 16, 2005 Project Runs 9am-2pm

October 30, 2005 Completed CPG.

Note:

The City of Cromwell cancelled the planned Sunday October 2nd date for the project on Friday September 30th

due to problems getting supplies delivered to the site. They asked us to reschedule for our rain date on Sunday

October 16th. Participants who signed up were informed by telephone and a special edition of JCybernotes was

issued to notify everyone of the cancellation and reschedule. Recruiting for the rescheduled date was difficult since

many of the original participants were not available for the new date due to board meetings and preparations for

World Congress. The Jaycees pulled together and participation was excellent in the end.

5

BUDGET

Project Budget: GHJC 2005 Cromwell Improvement Notes

INCOME Value of Donated Items $30,175.00 Appropriation from Chapter 100.00

Total Income: $30,275.00

EXPENSES Playground Equipment $30,000.00 Purchased by the Town of Cromwell and Jensen's Fund Mulch 100.00 Provided by the Town of Cromwell Water $60.00 Donated by Jensen's Fund

Snacks for Volunteers 15.00 Donated by Jensen's Fund Camera 0.00 Borrowed Lunch for Volunteers 48.67 Purchased at 50% discount from No Anchovies

24 pairs of Work Gloves 19.06 Purchased at Walmart Plaque for fence 25.00 Donation to Jensen's Fund towards the purchase of

the memorial fence.

Subtotal: $30,267.73

Return to Chapter: 7.27

Total Expenses: $30,275.00

COMMUNICATIONS

Coordination with City of Cromwell

This project was coordinated with Sue Shein of Cromwell Parks and Recreation. Here phone number is (860) 739-

8938 and sschein@cromwellct.com. I recommend duplicating phone contact with email contact and vice versa to

confirm communication. Sue manages all parks and recreation activities and summer seems to be an especially

busy time for her due to the volume of summer activities. Sue is a very nice enjoyable person to work with. She

coordinated with the Jensons’ fund family, Fred and Cynthia Lynn.

Fred and Cynthia Lynn, who established the Jensons’ Fund charity, are talented fundraisers and coordinators for

the Cromwell community. Each year, they organize a community “Fun Day” in late summer and are interested in

having Jaycees help to staff activity booths for the event in the future. I believe this could be a future Cromwell

Improvement activity for the Jaycees (rather than spreading mulch).

The original scope of the project was to install a memorial picket fence around the Pierson Park Playscape. This

fence is funded through $25 donations for a picket small plaque. The Jaycees were going to sponsor a picket on the

fence with the plaque message to be:

Greater Hartford Jaycees

Change your world

2005

However, the City of Cromwell began looking for fencing materials to buy until mid-September and was unable to

obtain the fence they wanted. (Note: Special orders take at least 3 weeks). So they turned to plan B to assemble

and install small pieces of playground equipment and spread new mulch around the playscape.

6

Email Communication with Sue Schein of the Cromwell Parks and Recreation Department

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Schein, Sue [mailto:sschein@cromwellct.com]

Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 4:49 PM

To: 'Jennifer Dickson'; Schein, Sue

Subject: RE: Jaycees 2005 Cromwell Project

just read your e-mail today work was crazy the beginning of the week---Oct 2 is fine I met with the Jensens Fund and

we will have things in place for both of those dates---I will be in touch more later this week thanks Sue

-----Original Message-----

From: Jennifer Dickson [mailto:jennifer_dickson@sbcglobal.net]

Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 11:55 PM

To: sschein@cromwellct.com

Cc: 'Darlene Rice'

Subject: Jaycees 2005 Cromwell Project

Dear Sue,

This email is to put in writing what we discussed last week and open up the opportunity to coordinate this project

further through our email accounts.

Here's what I think we've agreed on:

- The Jaycees and other community volunteers will either install portions of the new picket fence

commissioned through the Jensen's Fund or small pieces of playground equipment at Pierson's Park on

Sunday October 2nd (with Saturday Oct 15 as the rain date?).

- You will make sure the Jensen's Fund family are available on October 2nd as soon as possible (We need to

have the date confirmed before Tuesday morning Aug 2).

- You will be responsible for ensuring that the materials are delivered to the site for the project and for

providing someone knowledgeable to be responsible for making sure the work gets done properly. :)

- The Jensen's Fund will be responsible for coordinating community involvement for the event and for

coordinating lunch for the community volunteers.

- The Jaycees will coordinate our volunteers' participation and lunch.

I forgot to discuss the time for this event. I had in mind that it was a four hour project and was thinking of setting a

five hour window of 9am to 2pm. I would prefer that we start the project in the morning, but other than that, I think

we are very flexible: start at 8am, longer or shorter project, etc. So please let me know what you have in mind.

By when do you think we'll know whether we'll be installing a fence or playground equipment or both? I need to

make an advertising flyer for our August 17th membership meeting and for the September 14th mailing. The more

exciting details we can put on those flyers, the better.

Finally,

• Is it appropriate for the Jaycees to make a picket donation with our message displayed?

Thank you for taking the time to get this going in such a short time.

Regards,

Jennifer Dickson

jennifer_dickson@sbcglobal.net

(860) 680-8487 cell

(860) 447-8360 home

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7

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From: Schein, Sue [mailto:sschein@cromwellct.com]

Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 12:44 PM

To: 'jlynnd@alum.mit.edu'

Subject: Cromwell work day

Just checking in now that the tournament is over and you hopefully have had a chance to catch up on sleep--we are

meeting today to work up things on our end for the workday---I will get back to you on Tuesday with the exact plans

but just wanted to say hello---question for you---you were going to ask if there was any grant money for this project

to buy a piece or mulch etc ---is there any or just the work ? Whichever is greatly appreciated

thanks and have a good week-end Sue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Schein, Sue [mailto:sschein@cromwellct.com]

Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 3:10 PM

To: 'jlynnd@alum.mit.edu'

Subject: Sunday Oct 2

Sorry I missed your call yesterday--I was at the doctors--seems I have a slight tear in my right achilles tendon--I have

had problems since late spring and never got better so figured it was about time to find out what was the problem

and why it was not healing with rest--now I know---

I checked with my park department to make sure they had done some of the things I had asked them for--bringing

over the mulch etc---and they had not and said they couldn't get it done on Friday---other jobs ---

I was so mad at them not answering any of my e-mails and letting me know earlier ( I had to be at their office at 7:00

this am to get the answers) therefore we are better off cancelling totally for this week-end and just going on the 16th-

--I truly apologize for this but they never got back to me ( sent them 3 e-mails since Sept 15 and never said they

couldn't ) I will call you again on Friday Again I am so sorry Sue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Jennifer Dickson [mailto:jennifer_dickson@sbcglobal.net]

Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 11:55 PM

To: 'Schein, Sue'

Cc: 'Darlene Rice'

Subject: RE: Sunday Oct 2

Hi Sue.

I don't quite know how to cancel this even other than for a weather delay, but I am looking in on how to do it. You

don't sound at your best.

I am a little disappointed that the scope of the great 2005 Cromwell project keeps shrinking (Your vision is inspiring

and exciting), but I am not upset. To be completely honest, I am so sorry for not helping more in getting this project

organized. I'm new in the JC organization and I think I was told to leave the actual project planning to you and just

coordinate the JC part of the effort, but honestly, I could probably help more. I mean, it's our project. you have a full

time job of things to juggle. I have a full time job too, but it has flexibility and I am great at making things happen.

If we are in fact going to have to postpone, perhaps you can think of some ways that I can help you (that doesn't

require me to have money:). Is there anything we could do to motivate the Mulch movers for the 16th? Also, I'm still

just wondering, did the fence get postponed because of delivery of materials, availability of the fence we want, or

cost? Are you planning to put it up next year sometime? There are some JCs who know the Lynn family, so they are

interested in this project (including the fence).

I didn't volunteer cancelling Oct 2nd before because you never know what the weather will be like in two weeks and

we don't have another backup plan. I've got about 15 people on my list committed to coming this Sunday, informing

them that we are postponing is not a problem. I need to find a few ways to inform the unofficial people who were just

going to show up, and I also have to make the rounds again to get people signed up and available for the 16th (I think

there are at least 10 I can count on.)

Sorry for your troubles. Good for you for going to the doctor to take care of yourself.

Best regards, Jennifer

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8

PUBLIC RELATIONS

A variety of advertising was used to publicize this event:

− Six weeks of Advertisement in JCybernotes:

− Announcement, advertisement and project table at the September Membership meeting

− Distribution of note card announcements at other Jaycee community service events

− September and October flyer mailing (see following pages)

Note Card Announcements

Note card announcements (distributed at other Jaycee community service events):

Front:

Back:

JCybernotes Announcements

JCybernotes for the Week of September 5th,12th & 19th, 2005:

9

JCybernotes for the week of September 19, 2005

JCybernotes Special Edition October 1, 2005:

10

JCybernotes for the Week of October 3, 2005

11

Posters

Poster for September Mailing:

Poster for October Mailing:

12

Letter of Appreciation from the Town of Cromwell

13

PARTICIPANT LIST

RSVP Roster

14

PHOTOGRAPHS

For Cromwell Improvement 2005, the Jaycees supported members of the local Cromwell Community to….

…..Build a ground level sandbox:

……Fill it with sand:

15

…..Build a wheelchair accessible sandbox:

16

…..And spread new mulch around the playscape:

17

Cynthia & Fred Lynn, founders of Jensens’ Fund in memory of their son.

Sue Schein, Director of Cromwell Parks & Recreation