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Friday, July 3, 2009

Lapel Pins Boost Community Service Efforts

By Caryn Smith © 2009, All Rights ReservedMoney is tight. Unemployment is the worst it's been in decades.There's no wonder the number of people that need help is on therise. While donations certainly play a large part in bringingaid to the less fortunate, helping hands and strong backs arealso a must. If your organization is looking to increase itscommunity service volunteers, put lapel pins to work for you.Food BanksFood is a need not a want. Unfortunately, more and morefamilies are finding themselves with an impossible choice: foodor medicine? Food or electricity? Feeding America bringsrelief by giving food to over 25 million people each year.Feeding America recently conducted a survey with 160 food banksacross the country and published the following startling resultson their website:> > 100% reported increases in demand for emergency assistance.Those increases ranged from 28% to 37% over last year's figures.> > 99.4% of the food banks surveyed reported seeing people whowere seeking help for the first time.It takes lots of people to stock and distribute food to thosewho are hungry. So how do you bring in more volunteers to meetthe growing needs of your organization without spending afortune on advertising? That's where lapel pins come into play.Lapel pins can be created in any color or shape. If your grouphas a logo, it can be made into a pin. If you're not sure howto design your pins, choose a lapel pin company that has expertson staff who will design your pins at no additional cost.Lapel pins are also affordable. For a small price your groupcan have pins for every volunteer. Each person that wears theirpin will be advertising for your organization when they visitthe grocery store, schools, banks, doctor's offices and more.The more people who know about your organization, the better thechance of bringing in additional workers.Blood DrivesOne of the most effective ways to bring in blood donations is tohold blood drives at local businesses. The problem with thatplan is that many businesses are closing or laying off a largepart of their workforce. With fewer businesses and employees to participate, blood banks have to raise awareness by appealing directly to the public for donations.When volunteers wear lapel pins they remind others of the needto donate. By increasing awareness through the wearing of lapelpins, your organization stands a better chance of bringing inothers to donate.Many community service organizations would cease to existwithout the help of volunteers. Lapel pins can also be used toshow appreciation and say thank you to those that keep theorganization running. Volunteers will wear their pins withpride, bringing opportunities to give testimonials to others about why they support your cause. A positive endorsement cando a lot to encourage others to join your team.There are numerous other groups that provide important communityservices. All these groups require volunteers to keep themrunning smoothly. Whether your organization builds houses,cleans up after natural disasters, provides mentoring to teens,helps adults learn to read or any number of other worthyactivities, lapel pins do an amazing job of bringing involunteers by spreading the word.Caryn Smith is Manager of Lapel Pins R Us. Visithttp://www.lapelpinsrus.com today for custom lapel pins in just10 days, guaranteed!

1 comment:

Stanley said...

customized pins
Increase employee morale and recognize outstanding employees with an employee-of-the-month or other award style lapel pin. Creates incentive for a very low cost. Recognize years of service.