Middleton Parents, Students, and Sponsors:
We survived the Middleton Madness tournament and all three Middleton FTC are now qualified for the State Championship. The team and school administration has scrapped together enough funding to pay for our FRC registration. Our last few weeks before the Christmas break should be focused on community outreach activities and fund raising.
The following are the topics that will be cover in this email:
1. The Spring Christmas Drive End December 12, 2011
2. Possible Garage Sale Fund Raiser
3. FTC Demonstration at FLL Tournament December 17, 2011
4. FIRST Sponsored Fund Raiser
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1. The Spring Christmas Drive End December 12, 2011 – The attachment to this email is about our Christmas toy drive. Last year we did a Marine Toys for Tots drive as our community outreach event. One of the things FIRST stresses when building a robotics team is to make sure the kids learn about more than just robots. Teams are encouraged to get involved with their local communities and find ways to help. Toni Lupo has worked with The Spring to help us organize a Christmas drive for teenagers. We will be collecting money, gift cards, or toys targeted at teens between the ages of 13-17. We need all contributions returned by December 12, 2011 so that we can deliver them to The Spring. Please read the attached flyer for more details. Please pass around to co-works and neighbors to help us support this fabulous event.
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2. Possible Garage Sale Fund Raiser – Kathy Nevins is considering organizing another garage sale on Saturday, December 17 at her house in Brandon. Please contact Kathy directly if you are interested in helping or can donate items that can be included in the garage sale. Kathy’s email address is rnevins1@tampabay.rr.com.
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3. FTC Demonstration at FLL Tournament December 17, 2011– Rich Berglund will be hosting and FLL tournament on December 17, 2011. We plan to leverage this as a community outreach opportunity and fund raiser. We will be selling hex bugs at the event and we plan on setting up our FTC field so that we can run FTC demonstrations. Please send me an email if you will be available to participate in this event. See attached flyer for more information about the FLL tournament. The tournament will be held at University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC) Community Center, 14013 N 22nd St, Tampa, FL 33613.
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4. FIRST Sponsored Fund Raiser – FIRST has organized a fund raiser for FTC teams by selling lower energy consuming light bulbs. The email below from FIRST explains the program. Please let me know if anyone would like to move forward with organizing this fund raiser.
Greetings Teams:
2nd generation e-watt saver bulbs are now available for your fundraising effort.
Over 450 teams participated in FIRST’s e-watt saver program during the past 11 months, raising more than $650,000. We are excited to see 25 new teams involved with the fundraising since the new 2nd generation bulbs launched in October.
There is still time to sell bulbs for the Holiday Season! Bulbs ordered before noon ship the same day, and with more than 15,000 bulbs in inventory, you can confidently accept orders and deliver them before the Holidays.
Here are some key points about the new bulbs:
- Two bulbs available this year:
o a 450-lumen replacement for the 1st generation bulb selling at $15 (suggested retail price) – a $5 price drop from the prior bulb!
o a new 800-lumen bulb that directly replaces a 60W incandescent bulb with a suggested retail price of $2 - Thanks to continued support from our friends at Google, Teams can purchase bulbs for only $7.50 for the 450-lumen bulb or $17 for the 800-lumen bulb
- 2nd generation e-watt saver bulbs are designed and tested in Florida and produced in Mexico
- Significant upgrades and new features:
o dimmable to 5% light output
o omni-directional (light in all directions, like an incandescent)
o 5-year warranty
o 25,000-hour life
To learn about setting up an account to order bulbs visit: www.usfirst.org/e-wattresources. The program is year-round.
Good luck raising funds for your teams with our e-watt saver bulbs. See you at Regionals and in St. Louis!
Dean Kamen
FIRST, Founder and President, DEKA
