This week we executed a plan that I had been brewing since last year at this time.
You may already have read about our “Black Friday” Hot Chocolate Giveaway. On that day, we gave out nearly 500 mugs of hot chocolate or coffee to shoppers braving the local Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving. Well, this week, we gave out flying discs to families at the fireworks show on Purdue’s campus on July 4. It was a blast, and it was a big success too.
The setup
At the top of this post, you can see the final design for the flying discs that we bought through <www.dollarimprint.com> for around 70 cents each once shipping was included. The design on the top is a gradual spiral (which looks really cool when the discs are flying) surrounded by the words “stop spinning, find your center, reach higher | southside church” our phone number, web address, and core value verbs are also printed on the top.
We ordered T-Shirts with a tye dyed look and a very similar logo design on the front and the back. Here’s a picture of what they look like.
The elements of the plan were simple and very much like the hot chocolate giveaway:
- Give a free flying disc to every family out there until we ran out or it got dark.
- Have two tables set up to take registrations for a free drawing to win an iPod shuffle or other prizes.
- Have all our volunteers wearing matching T-Shirts.
I should soon have a picture of what the setup looked like.
How it went
In all, it was a very successful event. The volunteers had a lot of fun, the people who received the flying discs were very appreciative, and a large number of people signed our entry forms. I don’t have a final count yet of those who were willing to be added to our mailing list. It was so cool to look across the field of families waiting for the fireworks to start and to see hundreds of purple flying discs whizzing through the air all over the place. It was really exciting.
On top of it all, I personally was able to get in some good conversations with at least 4 different families who were very interested in checking out one of our Sunday Gatherings. Who knows if they will actually make it this week, but I believe we really put our name out into the community in a positive way.
I’m really eager to hear more feedback from our volunteers and also from people who may visit our church because of this outreach. If I hear some good things (or criticisms) I’ll post them here. If you would like to chime in with your opinions please add your comment. I want to know what other people think about this kind of outreach. I especially hope that events like these let people in Lafayette know that there is a church around here that cares about them and is willing to invest in their lives in a way that makes their lives a little bit better (and a little more fun too).
Wally Whetstone
It all sounds great! Maybe next time, don’t stop at dark. Give out light-up Frisbees, generate more eye-catching buzz and give FlashFlight Frisbees. Just a thought.
P&L,
Wally
Jeff
Wow, those discs look cool, but $13 is a little rich for us to give out 1000 of them! Wow!
Jen
Also at the end of the night, Jeff and several volunteers went around the area to pick up any flying disks folks may have left behind (we didn’t want the clean up crew to hate us!) and we only found one laying around at all. It had been broken, all of the other disks appear to have gone home with someone so they might think about us all summer or play with some other friend who might later look us up…
Jim
Flashflights are OK, but not really worth the price as you say…there are better night frisbees out there. I’ve used Black Jax Sports LED Frisbees and they have been very stable and durable. Plus, I here they give deals for quantities and are super cool about supporting events and stuff. Check ’em out.