The Redemption Run Captain is responsible for making sure everything is running safely and smoothly, keeping everyone motivated and moving efficiently, collecting final cash and information to give to the Green Team Leads or Katie. As Redemption Run Captain, you are likely to do several of the following tasks as well, but depending on the size of your team, here's how you can break the tasks down:
1. Gather your team: ALL those who signed up to be in your group listed on the sign up sheet.
2. Transport your treasure: Go to the Green Team HQ for that muster, often near the recycle dumpster, and pack up the car or truck with clear bags filled with cans and bottles. Drive to Redemption location (see "FINDING A REDEMPTION CENTER" for options on how to find and select best one for you.)
3. Cueing up carts: Unload bags of sorted materials into separate carts - "all plastic", "all aluminum", "all glass".
4. Feeding the machines: Set one person at each machine with a cart full of only their specific material (cans, plastic, glass). This person will feed the machine with their can/bottle one by one as quickly as possible. When an item gets rejected by the machine, try again one more time, then toss into a rejected cart (some of this material will be redeemed at a liquor store in a later shift.) As receipts are spit out by the machine, the feeder will collect them and give to the Redemption Run Captain or Receipt Runner to be redeemed at the end.
5. Pipeline Runner: One volunteer keeps an eye on the volunteers feeding the machines, as the carts run low the runner can replace them with full one from the outside staging area. This person should also keep an eye on the cart for rejected materials and swap it out when it starts to get full. The rejected materials should be kept organized because sometimes they will be accepted by a liquor store or even the redemption support counter in that Supermarket (if you're lucky and nice).
6. Receipt Runner: One volunteer will hold on to receipts from each of the people feeding the machines. They will go inside the store to cash the receipts at the end, note the total on the tracker, and give all the money to the Redemption Run Captain or Katie.
7. Maintaining the Machines: It is likely that during your redemption run, each machine will become full of crushed material and will need to be emptied. There is usually one store staff person assigned to this maintenance work and you will find them through the customer service counter inside the store. Make friends with this person early - they are the key to our success. (You or another volunteer who is organized and diplomatic can do this.) Let them know how much we appreciate their help, that we're raising money for a music scholarship, and that we're happy to help them in any way. Sometimes the machines will also get stuck, or cranky, or broken. Become familiar with their quirks and try to triage ASAP - the quicker your team powers through the redemption part the better for morale and everything!
8. Deliver cash and Redemption Run Sheet: Make sure all volunteer names are included on the sheet, note the total cash received and any special notes about new ideas or gifts made by others during the run, and return to the Green Team Lead or Katie.
9. Celebrate and appreciate! THANK YOUR VOLUNTEERS and take a team photo. If you can snap a shot during the action, that's great too! Have fun - you're all making a difference in many ways. Thank you!
Be KIND and RESPECTFUL:
When another customer comes in to use the machines, cheerfully move out of their way while explaining who we are and what we're doing. Half the time, if we do this gracefully, they will give us their cans and bottles to redeem. Once in a blue moon, they will do their own redeeming and then give us their receipt! Just remember that while we're usually a pretty big group moving along at a rapid and efficient clip, we don't want to eclipse everyone else's ability to do their errand.
Redemption Centers - The JACKPOT!
If you're able to find a Redemption Center nearby that is equipped with machines that funnel and count mechanically, you're golden! Your team of volunteers will focus on loading and unloading the trucks, cueing up the bags at the center for dumping into the big machine, and staging the cases of glass bottles together for a full count. This work can be done quickly with enough hands. Sometimes the travel time to the center is longer than the work done once you're there.
1. Gather your team: ALL those who signed up to be in your group listed on the sign up sheet.
2. Transport your treasure: Go to the Green Team HQ for that muster, often near the recycle dumpster, and pack up the car or truck with clear bags filled with cans and bottles. Drive to Redemption location (see "FINDING A REDEMPTION CENTER" for options on how to find and select best one for you.)
3. Cueing up carts: Unload bags of sorted materials into separate carts - "all plastic", "all aluminum", "all glass".
4. Feeding the machines: Set one person at each machine with a cart full of only their specific material (cans, plastic, glass). This person will feed the machine with their can/bottle one by one as quickly as possible. When an item gets rejected by the machine, try again one more time, then toss into a rejected cart (some of this material will be redeemed at a liquor store in a later shift.) As receipts are spit out by the machine, the feeder will collect them and give to the Redemption Run Captain or Receipt Runner to be redeemed at the end.
5. Pipeline Runner: One volunteer keeps an eye on the volunteers feeding the machines, as the carts run low the runner can replace them with full one from the outside staging area. This person should also keep an eye on the cart for rejected materials and swap it out when it starts to get full. The rejected materials should be kept organized because sometimes they will be accepted by a liquor store or even the redemption support counter in that Supermarket (if you're lucky and nice).
6. Receipt Runner: One volunteer will hold on to receipts from each of the people feeding the machines. They will go inside the store to cash the receipts at the end, note the total on the tracker, and give all the money to the Redemption Run Captain or Katie.
7. Maintaining the Machines: It is likely that during your redemption run, each machine will become full of crushed material and will need to be emptied. There is usually one store staff person assigned to this maintenance work and you will find them through the customer service counter inside the store. Make friends with this person early - they are the key to our success. (You or another volunteer who is organized and diplomatic can do this.) Let them know how much we appreciate their help, that we're raising money for a music scholarship, and that we're happy to help them in any way. Sometimes the machines will also get stuck, or cranky, or broken. Become familiar with their quirks and try to triage ASAP - the quicker your team powers through the redemption part the better for morale and everything!
8. Deliver cash and Redemption Run Sheet: Make sure all volunteer names are included on the sheet, note the total cash received and any special notes about new ideas or gifts made by others during the run, and return to the Green Team Lead or Katie.
9. Celebrate and appreciate! THANK YOUR VOLUNTEERS and take a team photo. If you can snap a shot during the action, that's great too! Have fun - you're all making a difference in many ways. Thank you!
Be KIND and RESPECTFUL:
When another customer comes in to use the machines, cheerfully move out of their way while explaining who we are and what we're doing. Half the time, if we do this gracefully, they will give us their cans and bottles to redeem. Once in a blue moon, they will do their own redeeming and then give us their receipt! Just remember that while we're usually a pretty big group moving along at a rapid and efficient clip, we don't want to eclipse everyone else's ability to do their errand.
Redemption Centers - The JACKPOT!
If you're able to find a Redemption Center nearby that is equipped with machines that funnel and count mechanically, you're golden! Your team of volunteers will focus on loading and unloading the trucks, cueing up the bags at the center for dumping into the big machine, and staging the cases of glass bottles together for a full count. This work can be done quickly with enough hands. Sometimes the travel time to the center is longer than the work done once you're there.
| how_to_redeem.pdf |