Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Makenna about the use of virtual lost and found to let parents know what stuff was left behind from camp.
After the very first summer camp this past summer Elevate had so much left behind items from campers. This could have either cost a headache for the whole summer or bring about a fix, because lost items and preteens just goes together. Makenna wanted to come up with an idea of how she could let parents know how much the kids were actually leaving behind. Unfortunately, she didn’t think that a long email would even be read by the parents, so she had to come up with a plan to make them aware.
This brought about the idea of taking pictures of the items in categories and attached those to one short email at the end of camp. This allowed the parents to do a virtual lost and found tour of what was left behind. The email gave instructions for parents of how to claim the items as well. What was nice was that the items were categorized (water bottles, towels, tshirts…) which allowed parents to focus in on specifically what their preteen might have left.
When it came to the retrieval of the lost items, the clearer directions that you can give to the parents the better. IF you won’t be in the office on a specific day make sure you note that, so parents are not showing up and no one is there to help them. Parents are appreciative of the ease that a virtual lost and found offers but it can be a time-consuming process. This also allows for you to put a time frame on when these items need to be picked up by before you will be donating them.
Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.
