How to Plan a Low Cost Volunteer Orientation Breakfast

A volunteer orientation breakfast is a wonderful way to kick off a new school year. Hosting one can get parents excited about volunteering within the school. Providing good food and premium coffee is a big draw for many parents. A volunteer orientation breakfast does not have to cost much money to put together. You can plan one that is inexpensive. It can still be very nice.

Instructions

1. Set a date for the volunteer orientation breakfast for 3 to 4 weeks into the school year. Most schools do not want parents in the classrooms until the students have settled into the school routine. You want to get the parents excited about volunteering in the school. Set them loose to volunteer with the school immediately.

2. Request a letter from the principal. Write a letter for the principal to sign that requests donations from local businesses. The letter needs to be printed on school letterhead. Many businesses are willing to donate food or other goods to local schools, but they need proof that the donation is actually going to a school.

3. Print out a flyer advertising the volunteer orientation breakfast. Be sure to include the logos of the businesses that you are hoping to sponsor the breakfast. Seeing the free advertising can make a local business more inclined to make a donation toward the volunteer orientation breakfast.

4. Solicit donations from local business. Bring along the letter from the principal and the flyer. Ask local businesses to donate items towards the breakfast. Be sure to get donations for coffee, fruit and baked goods. Remember to acquire paper products, too. Using donations to put together the breakfast will make it low cost.

5. Advertise the volunteer orientation breakfast. Place an advertisement in the school newspaper, including the sponsor logos. Also, send home flyers about the volunteer orientation breakfast two weeks prior to the event. Send out another one a week before the breakfast. Generate lots of interest in the event.

6. Recruit volunteers to help with the low cost volunteer orientation breakfast. Ask staff and PTA members to talk about volunteer opportunities at the breakfast. Get people to help pick up the donations and set up the tables.

7. Greet the parents who attend the low cost volunteer orientation breakfast. Be sure to talk with everyone who comes to the breakfast. Make them feel welcome. Get them excited about volunteering with the school.

Tips & Warnings

• Grocery stores often offer a small gift certificate that is good toward anything in the store. Use those gift certificates to purchase paper products for the low cost volunteer orientation breakfast.

• Bagel donations often come unsliced. Be sure to recruit volunteers to help slice the bagels on the morning of the low cost volunteer orientation breakfast.

• Be careful of people's feelings and egos when it comes to a volunteer breakfast. All people have different needs when it comes to their giving spirit and sense of charity. Praise those that genuinely need it. Thank others. Listen and pay attention to those who are generously giving of their time.