BUSINESS CARES: SERVICE CRAWLS

The mission of the Pittsburgh Cares Service Crawl is to introduce volunteers to agencies based in neighborhoods that are facing social issues (i.e. homelessness, hunger, lack of healthcare, etc.). Many of the issues that participants are exposed to are issues that we may not otherwise be aware of given our existing living situations and backgrounds. The experience encourages volunteers to learn about several agencies and to participate in a short mission based project in support of these agencies. Through participation, the volunteers will hopefully be inspired to take action and continue to be involved within the host community through their community leadership roles.

Agenda

Pittsburgh Cares Service Crawl participants will begin the Service Crawl at a central location with a light breakfast / brief orientation to the service crawl. All team packets will be distributed at this point. The participants will be divided into teams of 2-5 people. All teams will be dismissed from the meeting spot.

The teams will have approximately 3 hours to complete the service crawl. The crawl includes both an education component where participants learn about regional nonprofit organizations as well as a hands-on service component where participants will be challenged to collect donations or raise money / awareness for particular social issues.

Each challenge is scored and points are awarded based on the criteria set forth in the challenge. All points are tallied at the end of the service crawl and the team with the highest number of points chooses a nonprofit agency to receive a mini-grant of $100 to support their mission.

A gift card to a local restaurant will be provided to each team so that they can purchase lunch while on the service crawl. All gift cards are to be returned to Pittsburgh Cares at the conclusion of the service crawl.

All teams are to report back to the meeting spot for the final score and reflection. The service crawl will typically conclude in 4 hours.

What to Bring

The following is a recommended list of what to bring (though it is not required):

• Car (each team needs one driver and a car that accommodates 2-4 additional people)
• Laptop computer (at least one per team is helpful)
• Cell phone (or contact info for family / friends)

Costs

The Pittsburgh Cares Service Crawl has a fee that is negotiated based on the size of the group participating in the crawl.

Contact Information

To set up a Pittsburgh Cares Service Crawl, please contact Daniel Horgan at 412-471-2114 or email.