User: The Sample Family
 

Open Letter from a support group leader, Florida

To:       Support Group Leaders, Florida
From: Jen Henriksen, Chairman, The Fellowship of Christian Homeschoolers, Palm Harbor, Florida
Re:      If there's one thing that all support groups have in common, it would be that they take…
 
…WORKto succeed! 
 
Volunteer leaders come together to organize, communicate, donate their time, their labor & many times their money to share ideas and mold the group so it can serve local families.
 
But after the group's vision is in place and the groundwork has been laid it may very well be an entirely NEW team of leaders that take it to the next level. How then can we ensure continuity from year to year and limit the number of changes that are implemented as leadership changes?
 
At the FPEA convention several years ago, we received a brochure in our goodie bag from a company called www.homeschool-life.com. Our affiliation with this company has completely changed the face of who we are and how we serve our families! It also threw us into the major leagues! Anticipating 75 member families in our first year, our membership swelled to over 150 families! Although that's quite a few families; managing them is a SNAP because of our affiliation with www.homeschool-life.com.
 
In today's society, homeschoolers are busy! Some are busy with field trips and outside activities. Others are busy at home and don't really have the time for outside activities. One MAJOR thing that homeschooling families have in common, is their need for support! 
 
As support group leaders, we take on the job of catering to ALL homeschooling families, regardless of their personal schedules or homeschooling styles.
 
If there's one thing we all tend to use these days, it's the internet!
Some weeks, it may be our only link to the outside world! We send e-mails for directions to the field trips. It's how we buy & sell curriculum and get advice on new things we'd like to try. The list goes on and on.
 
E-mail & the internet... ladies and gentlemen, it's the gateway to supporting homeschoolers and retaining leaders. If there's a way to harness the power of the internet for your support group now, why would you wait another year doing the work by hand?
 
As a group, we made the decision early on that we were going to minimize the workload on our leaders as much as possible. Not only would it entice more families to volunteer their time in leadership positions in our new group, but it would also honor families that were serving, by not overloading them.  After all, we're all homeschoolers first!
 
What we didn't realize was that by setting ourselves up electronically, we were also encouraging new families to step up to serve!  They could see that our current leaders actually enjoyed what they were doing and most signed up to serve again the following year. (We encourage our leaders to serve no more than two years in a row).
 
Today, we are a completely electronic support group!
Now, that means that all members must have an e-mail address to join. That may sound scary to some of you, but remember, the public library system offers FREE internet access. That makes e-mail access available to everyone, free of charge!
More importantly, being completely electronic also means FAR less work for our leadership staff!
 
E-mail is our primary means of communication, not phone calls.
Registrations are handled through our website, not handling paperwork.
 
Imagine what it would be like!!!!
 
If you're the Membership Director of a group -
    Imagine all new or renewing memberships being taken right on-line! NO PAPERWORK!
    Imagine being able to take membership 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Not just at meetings!
    Imagine how much MAIL in your P.O. Box you will cut out!
    Imagine your membership & leadership directories all being on-line for easy access 24 hours a day!
 
If you're the Treasurer of a group -
    Imagine all payments being taken & made on-line at any time!
    Imagine your reports downloading to Quick Books!
 
If you're the Events Director of a group -
    Imagine all events being listed on the on-line calendar for member viewing 24 hours a day!
    Imagine taking all sign-ups on-line and sending automated confirmations and reminder e-mails!
    Imagine printable directions to each location!
 
If you're the Yearbook Coordinator of a group -
    Imagine members submitted all of their event photos right on-line!
    Imagine scrapbooks of each event available for member viewing 24 hours a day!
 
If you're the Newsletter Editor of a group -
    Imagine NO MORE MAILINGS!
    Imagine having an archive of past issues available for member viewing 24 hours a day!
 
If you currently hold one of the positions mentioned above, I'm sure you can already begin to see why we see less turnover on our leadership team than the average support group. The workload is much more manageable when it's electronic!
 
Now, summer is upon us. I encourage you to visit www.homeschool-life.com today and see for yourself the many benefits that your group's membership will afford you as a leader. Please feel free to visit our FCH website as well so you can see how we have customized their services to best fit our group's needs. If you have any questions, simply contact their website administrator. They have been such a pleasure to work with over the years! Attention to detail, prompt responses and regular service upgrades! Who could ask for more?
 
Their goal is to serve US... as leaders of homeschool communities across the country.
It's one of the BEST benefits of leadership that you can offer your staff.
Take your leaders to the next level.
 
Harness the power of the internet and www.homeschool-life.com.
 
I have volunteered to staff their booth in the exhibit hall at the FPEAConvention on Thursday evening. I am not being paid for this but wanted to share with all of you how we have taken our group to the next level.  Please stop by and say hello!  The booth # is 216. 
 
Serve & Be Served.
 
Jen Henriksen
Chairman
The Fellowship of Christian Homeschoolers
www.fellowshipofchristianhomeschoolers.com

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