Continuing Weekly Service
October 28, 2016
Hello, service leaders! Circle K International defines Continuous Service as an event that has been completed with the same organization repeatedly at least once a month for a two-month duration. Continuous Service projects are an opportunity for your club to develop a stronger relationship with an organization through repeatedly going to help them throughout the year. This also gives more members an opportunity to go because if they were not able to go to the project one day, they have more opportunities later on.
Continuous Weekly Service can come in many different forms depending on the club’s preference:
- Once a week, every week
- Every other week, every month
- Projects can be seasonal (only for the winter months, etc.)
- However many times you want it to be!
Starting continuous service in your club takes time because it is built off a strong relationship and trust between the coordinator and the club. Here are the steps to get started and everything else will come in time!
- It all starts with contacting the coordinator! [for help with this or places to go to find projects, look at the How to Contact Service Coordinators section] If this is the first time setting up a project with the coordinator then once you introduce yourself and mention your club’s interest with helping, ask them if they are interested with help on a one-time basis or looking for help on a regular basis.
- Places usually interested in continuous help: Tutoring, nature cleanups at parks or nature preserves, projects at schools with kids, projects with animals, soup kitchens, etc.
- If you aren’t comfortable with bringing up continuous service right away, then feel free to set up one project with them and then see how the members feel about the project and how the coordinator felt about working with the club. If everything was great and it is something you want to continue to go to, then email the coordinator again!
- This email is when you ask them if they have any interest in continuous work from your club or if they were only looking for a one-time project. Assuming they are interesting in continuing, set up a few more dates to come in and let the service grow from there! After a few more weeks, the coordinators and the members will become familiar with each other and everything will set into place!
- If it is difficult finding projects that the members are interested in, form committees where members can go and plan projects that they want to see. This helps out the VPS or Service Chair and allows the members to have a better say of what projects they attend.
Some examples of schools with different service:
UCLA Circle K
(ex. weekly service)
VPS: uclackiservicevp@gmail.com
UCI Circle K
(ex. Service rotation)
VPS: ucickivps@gmail.com
UCSD Circle K
(ex: Impact Teams)
VPS: vps@ucsdcki.org
UCSB Circle K
(ex: service committee to help plan projects)
VPS: ucsbcirclek.vps@gmail.com
UN Reno Circle K
(ex: every other week continuous service)
….And many other great schools! If you have more questions on how to set up Continuous Service in your club and you know of a club in your area that has it set up, contact them and they will help you get started!
**NOTE**
If you are planning on working with other schools outside your home club you must fill out an Event Request Form or ERF to ensure the proper permission is granted and correct number of chaperones/advisors are available for the event. ERF’s take some time to fill out so please allow AT LEAST one month before the event to fill out all the required sections. ERF’s can be found on the CNH website in the Resource Database tab or at the link below http://resources.cnhcirclek.org/category/2-policies_forms_and_manuals/
- This is a big part of why staying organized while planning for weekly service is important! If you know ahead of time that you will be inviting other schools, stay on top of your work and get everything filled out in time for the event! This will ensure your projects will run smoothly! Best of luck! 🙂