Subject: [GS] First Contact and some important activities for you

--INTRODUCTION--

Hello Cookie Managers and Troop Leaders, and welcome to the 2007 cookie sale
I'm Ralph and I'm the Cookie Chair for the Reading Service Unit for a
second year now. Time is moving along and we have some initial tasks
I'd like to get squared away so let's get to business.

--WEB SITE--

There's a "Cookie Managers" section of our service unit's web site
(http://readinggirlscouts.org) that I use to place reference materials
and to archive information. You'll fine this to be a useful reference.

--EMAIL PROTOCOL--

We'll be using e-mail for many of our communications, and since there
is so much traffic through my e-mail box from troops, we have some
techniques that make my life and yours easier. First, all my mailings
will have the subject line prefixed with [GS] so you can recognize
girl scout traffic right away. Second if you send me e-mail, always
mention the troop number on the subject line to save me time from
reverse indexing your name to the troop when I update my records. It'd
be a good idea for you to also prefix your subject line with [GS] so I
won't mistake any messages for e-mail spam.  E-mail sent to me with a
blank subject line has a risk of being lost.

Also, all my e-mail announcements will be archived on our website
so if you lose one or are trying to catch up you can use this resource.
I've also kept all of last year's messages and materials on the web site
in case you want to get a feel for how things proceeded last year.

--MAILING LIST ADJUSTMENTS--

I've created the main mailing list for my communications from last
years list and if you are on this list in error, or you think that a
Cookie Manager or Troop leader is missing from this list, contact me
with the correction information.  If you are a new troop I didn't work
with last year I need at least the following information for starters:

  1) Troop Number
  2) Cookie Manager's name
  3) Cookie Manager's e-mail address (last resort: phone number)
  4) Number of girls in the troop

If your troop has shutdown, also let me know the troop number.

--RECOMMENDED TRAINING and MATERIALS DISTRIBUTION--

A training session is coming up shortly on November 14th at Camp
Rice-Moody and it's crucial that any cookie managers attend.
It this date is bad, there are other dates at other locations.

NOTE: you must sign up for the training online through the Patriots
Trail web site:

  http://ptgirlscouts.org/training/training_desc.html?id=109

This meeting is where the troop cookie materials will
first be distributed, including the critical QuickBase ID and password.

--TROOP ACCOUNTS and DIRECT DEBIT--

This time around we are ALL going to use direct debit from official
troop accounts to pay for the initial cookie orders. If this worked
last year for you, it will be simple to update the information this
year. If you do not have a troop account (personal accounts are not
allowed) set one up as soon as possible so we can get the needed
information. I'll be needing a voided check that I can use to get the
bank and account routing numbers. Do not e-mail this secure information to me
but instead mail it by post or hand it to Lori or myself in person.

--LOOKING FORWARD--

We had a very successful sale last year thanks to the combined efforts
of many dedicated people, and I have high hopes for an even better
experience this year. We are the main funding source for the diverse
and vital activities that are provided by the Girl Scouts organization
and the benefits to our young girls are well worth the efforts we put in
to make this effort a success.

--

Ralph L. Vinciguerra
Reading Service Unit Cookie Chair
ralph@vinci.org