2018 Volunteer Challange – The Roaming Rider

2018 Volunteer Challenge

Quarter 2 Winner!

July 3, 2018 roamingridersite

Wow!! The second quarter showed a big jump in not only total hours volunteered, but in the number of individual participants which isn’t too surprising since a lot of the country isn’t thawed out yet by the end of the first quarter. I’m very happy to see the numbers go up though!!!

Just some quick business stuff to attend to. While anything to do with horse showing is greatly appreciated by all who are involved, for this competition I am only counting those hours spent during a show helping to run that show. This means things like scoring, running, driving the golf cart, jump crew, scribe etc… For the scope of this competition duties performed outside of the show itself, such as prize lists and board meetings, are not counted. It doesn’t mean those are not appreciated, but that isn’t the focus of this competition. Keep giving back though!!!

Also please when you give me your hours list the job you performed and the venue. I’m trying to collect data and it is really hard when all I get is “2 hours!”. Thanks!!

Quarter 2 saw a total of 123.5 hours donated by 11 people!!! Congrats to all of you for ditching the saddle time and getting out there helping!!!

Here is the breakdown of those who participated this quarter:

Emma: 34 hours
Bette: 23 hours
Sarah O: 18 hours
Amy: 16 hours
Emily: 9 hours
Nadia: 6.5 hours
KC, Olivia and David: 4 hours each
Carly: 3 hours
Amanda: 2 hours

That means that EMMA is the second quarter winner with 34 total hours spent on the ground at shows. Congrats Emma!!!

So I must admit selecting prizes for you was a bit tricky. You already won a candle and the Road ID, so I needed to find something that you didn’t already have but was worthwhile and around $50. It took a while, which is why this post is delayed, but I finally came up with something that I hope you will like.

But you’ll have to wait until it shows up at your door!! I have a bit of work to do in ordering it yet so be patient with me. I hope the wait will be worth it.

A certain someone got all tacked up last night for the first time in weeks. I sure did miss riding the big orange guy.

For everyone else, don’t stop now. We are only halfway through the year and a lot of places are slowing down for the summer. July will be another random drawing, so anyone who volunteers for at least 1 hour this month will be entered to win a $20 gift. The hours keep totaling up for the year end awards, so even if you haven’t been able to get out yet you still have plenty of time to rack up hours and win. In case you have forgotten the grand prize is an embroidered cooler with a reserve champion getting a leather halter. So…get your butt in gear and get out there!!!!

Volunteer Challenge First Quarter Winner

April 2, 2018 roamingridersite

The first quarter flew by and saw four people getting out there and helping out at local events. I want to thank Amanda, Emma, Nadia and Bette for making the time to help out. I know not every region had events during the first quarter and I anticipate a lot more competition now that most of the country is thawing out and warming up.

As a reminder the quarterly award goes to the person with the most hours volunteered during that quarter. It was looking like a tight race between Amanda and Emma, but in the end the winner is:

AMANDA with 17 hours!!!

Congrats Amanda on putting in so many hours during the winter months. For your efforts you will receive a prize package worth roughly $50.

While I do not enjoy shopping for myself, shopping for others gives me great joy and as such I didn’t want to give a random and completely impersonal gift card or basket of uselessness. However, this is Amanda and she has pretty much everything coupled with infinitely better taste than I will ever have.

I wracked my brain, or what remains of it, all weekend to come up with something that she might find useful and/or actually use. A good bit of stalking her blog also commenced although I have been following for a year or so now anyway. I think I came up with some good items to reward her volunteer spirit.

Amanda, here is your prize package:

First, I recalled a post you wrote stressing a tiny bit over what to feed Presto once you got him home and while I know he is already with you now (or should be by the time Monday rolls around) I thought this might help you out:

A one month subscription for both your boys to FeedXl. This is an online tool that allows you to input all consumables for your horse to analyze potential deficits and needs. I know nothing about baby horses, so hopefully this provides some help, plus geeking out over numbers is always fun. I’ll need to create the account in your name, so please email me at agemofahorse at gmail dot com with the account name and password of your choice as well as the email address you would like it attached to.

That still left half the prize package which gets you:

This super cute and probably way too honest mug:

And last is a custom stick horse print of you and Henny (which pictures I pilfered from your blog is a surprise tho). These really caught my eye and looked so darn cute. Here is an example of a non custom print:

If you can email me your mailing address and the info needed to set up the online account, I’ll get everything ordered and out the door to you although the custom print will take some time to arrive.

April is another monthly drawing which is completely random. It doesn’t matter if you volunteered 1 hour or 100, everyone who submits hours to me by the end of the month has an equal chance to win. Also, while the overall numbers add up throughout the entire year, each quarter starts back at zero, so the 2nd quarter prize is now beginning. Get out there and volunteer!!

2018 Volunteer Challenge

2018 Volunteer Challenge February Winner!!!!

March 1, 2018 roamingridersite

This entire challenge was set up to give people an incentive to get out there and volunteer. Point chase so to speak. I’m not so sure if that is working or not, but it is early in the season and I am enjoying the process. Both Emma and Amanda got out there and did the thing this month and I am so happy to see bloggers giving back. While I’d love to give everyone a prize, I can’t afford to so the randomizer was employed to pick a winner from our two go geters this month.

The winner is……

Emma, please email me your address at agemofahorse at gmail dot com and I will get your prize sent out directly to you.

I’m trying hard to get to know each blogger and send something semi personal-ish. Within the budget of under $20 that is. For you Emma, I chose a candle from Grey Horse Candles in Show Day scent to get you pumped for when Sir Chuckles is back in action.

I’ll get it ordered and shipped to you as soon as I get your address.

But wait, there’s more!!!

Amanda is kicking butt out there with a whopping 17 hours of volunteerism this year. Emma is in second with 6 and Nadia is in third with 3. March is a big month folks. Not only do a lot of areas start ramping up, but it is the end of the first quarter which means the first hour based winner will be chosen in place of the monthly award (I can’t do both until that money tree starts sprouting in my yard :). The quarterly award is based on the most hours given back that quarter and right now Amanda is winning by a landslide! This package is worth $50, so get out there in March and start donating those hours. There are still plenty of weekends left this month!!

Feel the excitement for volunteering? No. Well, you should!!

2018 Volunteer Challenge, Uncategorized

EDITED Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is: A 2018 Challenge/Contest

December 28, 2017December 28, 2017 roamingridersite

My new favorite social media saying is “if you’re not doing, you’re just spewing”. Hitting like, sharing and ranting on social media pretty much helps no one if action isn’t also being performed in the background.

A while back I wrote about volunteerism in horse sports and how necessary it is to keep things moving. Without volunteers shows can’t happen. In order to be a doer and not a spewer, I’ve decided to put together a way to entice others to put more time into volunteering.

Introducing the 2018 Call To Volunteering.

Here’s how it works:

1) Sign on up by commenting on this post. You have until January 12th to do so. I had meant to do this before December ended but um…I got a bit busy.

2) Keep track of your volunteer experiences throughout the year. You’ll need to give me the name of the event, the position worked and the number of hours worked. You can do that by adding a comment on this post, on any other post throughout the year or on the page I will be creating once I have the names of those joined. Get the time sin as soon as possible after the event, but at the very least they need to be in by the end of each month.

3) Every hour of volunteer time equals one point. So a four hour dressage scribe position grants you four points.

4) The event can be local, schooling, fun or recognized but must be a real event. Clinics and camps don’t count. I reserve the right to contact the event to verify that you worked it though that will be unlikely.

5) Any equestrian discipline counts. It doesn’t have to be one you compete in and you don;t have to compete at all yourself.

6) This must be volunteer time, so if you get paid to do it it doesn’t count. Food, a swag bag, t shirt is fine, but if they had to pay you to volunteer it isn’t volunteering. ***EDITED: If you get awards towards your local club or association, discounted schooling days or events, or event entries for volunteering IT WILL STILL COUNT. The only thing that doesn’t is cold hard cash in exchange for hours worked***

What you get

Besides a feeling of warm fuzzies for giving back you mean?

This contest is in its infancy and my dream is to grow it pretty big over time, but for now it’s being funded by yours truly with a smaller than I’d like budget. I’m working on getting sponsors and will be reaching out to various companies. Again, meant to already do that but time slipped away.

Prizes:

1) Each month a random drawing will occur of all those who submitted times for that month. These prizes will be small, under $20 or so, and will be announced at the end of each month. This will reward anyone who got out there and give everyone an equal chance to win something regardless of how much time they can donate.

2.) Each quarter the participant with the most points for that quarter will get a prize package. Currently it is a Riding Warehouse gift package valued at $50 for the first quarter. As time goes on I will announce the following quarters. If I can get sponsors as planned, this package will grow and grow and grow.

3.) Overall yearly points will continue to accrue, so don’t worry if you have a slow quarter or two. You can always pick back up!

4) Year end will see the person with the most number of volunteer hours spent receive a monogrammed horse cooler. It will have “2018 Volunteer Challenge Champion” or something like that on it.

5) Year end reserve champion will get a nice leather halter with an engraved plate.

So that’s it. I’m very passionate about volunteering and giving back and this is my way of enticing others to get out there and spend some time working these events. Hopefully it is a fun way to grab some cool prizes too. Remember, it can be any position at any event in any discipline. Get out and volunteer people!

Oh and feel free to share this far and wide. The more who participate the better it will look to sponsors and the better the prizes will be. I can only spend so much on my own.