Apple Day

On Apple Day, youth in full uniform hand out apples for a donation. We normally congregate on the mall plaza at 6th Ave. and 6th St. and spread out down 6th St. to the mall plaza between the TD Bank and Starbucks.

We usually hold two Apple Days in a year - one in September/October and one in May/June.

We typically run the event from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. with youth and leaders doing shifts of a few hours. Leaders polish apples and help the youth where required. The youth are the ones interacting with the public.

As with all Scouting events, youth and leaders should attend in full uniform.

Historically, Apple Days were run by the New Westminster District, and later by the Friends of New Westminster Scouting. After the Friends were disbanded in 2016, Apples Days have been run by the Group.

Things to remember to do before the event:

• Request permission from Royal City Shopping Center Ltd. and fill out their “Request for Space Form”. We ask for the plaza at 6th Ave. and 6th St. and also the plaza at 6th Ave. and 8th St. The contact there is Mary Burris, mburris@strathallen.com. They then fill out a “Temporary Tenancy Lease” that needs to be signed by Doug Smith at the Scout Office and a certificate of insurance needs to be provided by Michelle Yu. Start this process at least 2 months before the event.
• Request permission from Westminster Centre for the plaza between Starbucks and the TD Bank. The contact there is Marisse Biuso, marisse@uptownpropertygroup.com. The Waves Coffee shop at 6th and 6th is their tenant and we need to ensure that we don’t block their doors when we are on the sidewalk there. The agreement needs to be signed by Doug Smith at the Scout Office and a certificate of insurance needs to be provided by Michelle Yu. Start this process at least 2 months before the event.
• Once we have the locations secured, apply for a Solicitation Permit from City and provide financial statement to the City (City Clerk’s office) after the event. The application can be found on the City's website or you can get it by contacting Gillian Day at (604) 527-4612, gday@newwestcity.ca. If the financial statement is not provided, they won’t issue a permit for the next Apple Day. The application sometimes takes a few weeks so don’t leave it until the last minute. They mail the permit to us rather than send it by email.
• Order and pick up apples from JBM Enterprises in Aldergrove at (604) 856-1466. Historically, they have delivered them to Dave Upham's house. Lately we have been going through 7-10 boxes of apples. In fall 2017, we ordered 12 boxes and when through 9 complete boxes.
• The Sections should get parents to sign up through ScoutsTracker so they know who is coming and when. It isn't really important to manage this too closely as people come and go through the day and we seem to always have enough people at all times through the day.
• Consider “thank-you tags” that go over a button, so people don’t get asked multiple times. These are available from the Scout Shop in packages of 1000.
• If extra coin cans are needed, they need to be purchased. In the past, we have purchased cans from Wells Can in Burnaby at 8705 Government Street. The cost was $140 including tax for 100 cans.
• The Coho area does a bulk buy for apples and cans. For some reason, we have always bought the apples on our own.

Things to remember on day of the event:

• Go to the storage locker and get the:
  • Metal donation cans (in carboard box that is about 18" cube),
  • Apple Day signs from top shelf,
  • wooden trays from top shelf,
  • thank-you button tags in plastic nut jar,
  • some rags for polishing apples,
  • two 10'x10' pop up shelters and something to weigh them down if it windy
  • two folding tables,
  • the Group banner and some rope to tie the banner to the shelter.
  • First aid kit,
  • duct tape,
  • green tape,
  • large bulldog clips to hold the signs,
  • twine to hold the signs to lampposts,
  • clipboard to hold sign-in sheet, and
  • pens.
• Bring some campfire blankets for display - this always generates discussion.
• Note that we can use a 10'x10' shelter on the two Royal City Shopping Center Ltd. plazas, but we are NOT permitted to use a tent at the Westminster Centre plaza (between Starbucks and the TD bank).
• Have an overall sign-in / sign-out sheet at the event so we know how many Apple Day badges to buy from the Scout Shop.
• Bring advertising literature for Scouting in New Westminster.
  

If we are using this as a venue to sell Popcorn, then also bring:

• Second pop-up tent.
• Second folding table.
• Folding chair(s).
• Boxes of popcorn.
• Popcorn price sheets.
• Square readers, pre-tested so we can take electronic payments.
• Printed popcorn signs.
• Roll-up popcorn advertising sign borrowed from Viki Fanous.
• Cashbox and a bit of a float of $5 bills.
• Clear tape to tape up the signage.

Things to remember after the event:

• Submit the Report of Collections and Disbursements to Gillian Day at the City of New Westminster.
• Sent a thank-you email to the two malls.