Rancho Cordova Little League Volunteer Program

As many of you know, this program replaces the candy sales that occurred in the league several years ago where each player would be required to sell ‘50’ candy bars.  This was not possible for many families who had 2, 3, 4 players in their family and that meant selling 100-200 candy bars.  It was hard to do with sometimes 6-7 little league players living in the same immediate neighborhood and competing to sale candy. Families complained at the amount of work required and from a league standpoint, we often had families who would not return product or money to us, therefore resulting in a significant financial loss to the league. The team coaches/managers were also responsible for reconciling all of the sales. We were challenged to create a new program that would raise money and promote volunteerism.

We had three options:

1. Increase league fees overall to around $275-$400 per player and NOT collect a $150 deposit.  This would give us the funding needed to pay snack bar workers and umpires.  We need both to be able to play and to make money in the snack bar to support our league!  We felt this would prevent many players from being able to participate in little league or cause financial stress to our families.
2. Go back to a process that was in place several years ago where teams were assigned to work snack bar shifts.  If the parents did not show, the game was cancelled.  This ‘forced’ volunteerism and also kept some parents from watching their kids play.  We also felt this was not a good solution at the time.
3. Implement a program where parents are ‘encouraged’ to volunteer in order to earn some money back.  While some families do not like this method, many do.  Some choose to donate the $150 and not worry about working.  Others choose to work around their schedule and do the type of work they enjoy and earn back funds.  This promotes volunteerism so we can staff the snack bar, yet, we’ve still had seasons where we ‘hurt’ for volunteers. As a reminder, our snack bar is our #1 moneymaker- we should all be doing what we can to ensure it is successful and earning money for the league.  For the funds that are not refunded, we generally pay those out to workers for umpiring and snack bar help.  The rest is considered money raised to offset league costs not covered by sponsorships or league fees received.

An interesting point to remember is that if we had 100% parent participation …. meaning everyone helps how they can by donating 8-10 hours to the league, we would not need such a program in place.  It can’t be said enough that we never have enough umpires or snack bar help.

We have been asked why coaches/managers are required to pay the deposit. They still represent the family/player in the league.  Board members also must pay the fee and some members volunteer 1000+ hours for our league.  Managers, in the past would have to reconcile candy sells for 12-14 players and potentially have their game cancelled if families did not work snack bar shifts.  These two areas of stress have gone away.   The fact that we ask board members and coaches/managers to pay a deposit does not mean we do not value them, we just have to treat everyone the same.

We are open to other ways to manage this process and we seek constructive suggestions that would work for the overall league.  Often, for the families who do not enjoy the VDR program we hear complaints with no suggestions that could help improve this program.