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I am asking for Rainbow Girls, past and present, to please email me with information about their Assemblies' fund-raising ideas, information on how they've improved their membership, how they've brought our adult Masonic family members as sideliners and volunteers, and so on!
I'm hoping for this page to be a resource of term ideas for Worthy Advisors. You know, fun activities, crafts, and, of course, the important fundraisers and Service projects. We want to come up with a wide range of ideas for cool things to do. Not just "Candy Bar Sales" or "Canned Food Drives", but the fun and unusual. Some Assemblies need that creative "kick in the hoopskirt", if you know what I mean.
Also, what works for you and your Assembly. How you make the meetings and other events fun and memorable; how you get your parents, sponsoring bodies, Masons, Eastern Stars, Amaranths, and those vital Majority Members involved with things (yes, all those 'old folks' are there for a reason!), and other hints, tips, and successful ideas you want to share.
This is just the start of this page; as you can see, we're sorely lacking for ideas! Kudos to my home state of California for your help and comments! If you've got some ideas that you'd like me to consider adding to this page, please let me know! I won't credit you by name (out of concern for your privacy), but if you include your Assembly's name (and maybe URL?), City and State, I will gladly add that to your quote!
I have corrected spelling and paraphrased as needed. Any notes from me will be [in brackets].
Need help picking a theme or motto for your term? Try our list of themes and mottos. There are over 200 choices!
Be sure to check out Term Planning for the Worthy Advisor and The Newbie's Guide for further term ideas!
added fundraiser idea on 11-03-01
Let's do lunch! "One of our best fund raisers is a boxed lunch where we sell tickets to the businesses (banks, schools, shops, beauty parlors, nursing homes etc) and deliver them lunch. We charge 5.00 and usually serve 1/2 barbeque chicken, potato salad, baked beans, a roll and dessert. The key is delivery. Our advisory board members cook the meal, the girls dish it up, and the board members and our 16 and older girls with cars and parent permission deliver the meals.. Really easy and short. Since each adult prepares only one item of food we are out of the lodge in about 3 hours. We have made good money and during the summer usually do a lunch every 2 weeks."
Twilight Ridge, Haines City, Florida.
Making meetings FUN! "Invite the Masons [and Star, Amaranth, etc.] to a Shadow Night [where each Officer has an Adult "shadow" that stands when she stands, walks when she walks, and sits next to their station during the meeting. [M.A. could have a Girl from a neighboring Assembly as her shadow!] Have it be a themed meeting at the same time. (don't make the mistake of having it on initiation night like we did -- 3 hour. meeting!) We've had a crazy hair and sneaker night where we even brought get ups for those that were on the sidelines. Imagine adults with balloons tied to their hair! We also had a meeting where we dressed in halloween costumes (within reason!) and the sideliners again were asked to participate! Make the meetings fun and people will think the fun activites on the weekends are EVEN MORE FUN!!"
Infinity (formerly Triangle) #261, Lake Forest, California.
Fundraiser earning power! "When I was Worthy Advisor, I followed the example of the WA's before me and pre-printed numbered tickets for each fundraiser (car wash, spaghetti dinner, pancake breakfast, etc) and signed them out to the girls three weeks in advance. The girls were responsible for the tickets -- if they sold them all and maybe needed more, great! If they didn't, and brought back the unsold tickets, that's okay, too. But if they didn't sell and didn't return, they were responsible for the dollar amount. Wait, it may sound harsh but with our girls it works! It teaches you to be responsible. I can only remember one girl who misplaced her tickets in the seven years I was active. Also, to sell more tickets, we would talk to the Master of the Lodge or Worthy Matron of Star and coordinate a night for a dessert table after a Lodge or Star meeting that we girls (usually five or six of us, and a Board member or two) would host. We'd have a table with paper plates, cups, napkins etc. and a great array of brownies, cake slices, cookies, punch and coffee that we had made ahead of time. This wasn't a bake sale, but... the key to this was having a sign near the table that said "Rainbow Girls Car Wash, (date), (time), TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE, only $3!" Then we'd greet the people as they came to our table, "How are you, nice to see you, please help yourself!" and so on, then say, "Would you like to support Rainbow by purchasing a ticket for only $3?" They usually would. Even if we had change for their $5 bill, they'd usually wave it away and say, "Keep it." They may not show up at our event, but we DID sell a ticket!
"A nice thing about the car washes was that, after the fundraiser was over, we'd carpool over to one of the girls' houses (several in our Assembly had pools and spas). We'd spend the rest of the afternoon swimming or tanning, and the parents and Board members had usually collaborated on a potluck or BBQ of hot dogs, burgers, and other good stuff. Our parents and Board members were the best. They were so active and supportive of all us girls."
California
Successful Fundraisers "Have a strong advisory board--they can help with all the activites, can't be done alone--teamwork. Get the word out in the community---put articles in the newspaper, hand out flyers in town, be noticed--car washes, bake sales, flower sales, community events!!!"
Derry #15, Derry, New Hampshire
Themed Meetings where Girls take charge! "The Worthy Advisor should have a theme for each meeting, and put it on the calendar for her term. Hope is in charge of the Refreshment Committee (with two girls and their parents as helpers). The committee's job is to set up (decorate) and clean up the dining hall after each meeting. They also bring the refreshments, with Hope being in charge of the beverage. Themes have included PWA night (encourage PWAs and Majority PWAs to come back and be recognized [and hopefully involved!]), Summer Picnic (lemonade and brownies), Ugly Dress Night (the girls would find the ugliest, but still Rainbow appropriate, formal dress to wear to the meeting, and be voted on by the sideliners and visitors after the meeting was closed. Winner got a $10 gift certificate for the mall, donated by the Board, to "help her get a better dress"!), Root Beer Float or Sundae Night, Baby Photo Night (where girls and Board members bring in a baby photo of themselves, which are then displayed on the wall with forms for people to guess who's who. Then the person who gets the most correct wins a small prize awarded at the next meeting).
"This was how it was when I first joined Rainbow. Over the years, people started to slack off, until it finally got to the point of "a jug of punch, a package of Oreos". It was depressing to go to 'just another meeting', but lots more fun when you knew tonight was going to be Mascot Night, and you could bring your stuffed unicorn to introduce at the end of the meeting, and get to eat things like Tiger-striped Cake, Circus Animal cookies, Peanut Paws (peanut butter cookies shaped like cat or dog prints) and frosted sugar cookies cut out in the shapes of various animals."
northern California
Fun and Funky Fundraiser! "You could hold Karaoke, or a Talent show/Gong show, where you have other assemblies come to do and be at the performances. Have the girls, the Board members and Advisors [and parents!] sell tickets, and post fliers and notices at schools or work offices. You can sell both advanced tickets and tickets at the door, but you might want to limit to a certain amount depending on the turnout of people [and the size of the building hosting this event]. You can set up a place, time and date; make sure to add it to the tickets and fliers, and a catchy and colorful picture to catch the person's eye. Remember to get back money and extra tickets from those selling them."
Brockton(?) #20, Brockton, Massachusetts. (I have been told that there is no such Assembly. Anyone?)
Organization is the Key "An Assembly in our District had a great idea which we eagerly copied and improved upon. Maybe others can too! We had three-ring binders (the white ones that you can insert things in the cover) that we gave to the new initiates. The Recorder and Treasurer were in charge of assembling these binders. We slipped in a sheet of paper on the front cover that had the girl's name done in colorful lettering. There was a pouch for pens and stuff (where we put her dues card), and we inserted the Assembly guidelines, Officer rules (each of our Line Officers had certain responsibilities for each meeting; better let the girls know now than later), the Worthy Advisor's calendar for her term, the phone and birthday list for the girls and Board members, the name of her Big Sister (an active girl assigned to a new initiate to answer any questions she may have, see that she has a ride to the meetings and activities, and just be a good friend to), the books for State and Supreme Guidelines (blue book, gold book, etc), the Open Meeting Ritual, the songbook, most recent issue of our State's newspaper, tally sheets for the points to earn our Merit Bars, and lots of other things, including binder paper for notes. The officers kept them under (or to the side of) their chair during the meeting, except during Initiation (where they were kept on the sidelines). Sometimes we gave out awards to the most-decorated binder, or we'd do a pop-check on them (whoever had their binder would get a lollipop, or some other small prize). The pen pouches were great for keeping change in, for the coin marches and feeding the Birthday Pig (a piggy bank on the Recorder's desk; one penny for each year).
"These binders, when their use was encouraged regularly, was a great help in keeping us all organized, and helping the new girls learn the songs and other things about Rainbow that make it so much fun."
rainbow.org's webmaster's Assembly [folded], California
Got something to add? Ideas, Assembly traditions, interesting facts about Rainbow in your Grand Jurisdiction? Send it my way! Again, please remember I value your privacy and mine. Names and other identifying information will be left out. I will only give credit to your Assembly if you wish me to.
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