Foundation for Rural Living - Rural Philanthropy Network
Ontario Agricentre
100 Stone Road West, Suite 109
Guelph, ON   N1G 5L3
Phone: 519-826-4126 | Email: info@frl.on.ca | Web site: www.ruralphilanthropy.ca

Foundation For Rural Living Rural Philanthropy  
Rural Living

Success Stories

Title: United Way of Sault Ste. Marie Starlight Film Festival
Date: 2/6/2007

United Way of Sault Ste. Marie Starlight Film Festival

Let the Movies Begin!!!

…support the issues the community is faced with.

For the past five years, the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie has been running the Starlight Film Festival where teens have the chance to watch any of 5 movies, play arcade games and munch their way through popcorn, nachos and popcorn all night long. The Starlight Film Festival is a perfect way for them to have fun, hang out with their friends, and support the community all at the same time.

 

On Saturday October 21 st , 667 students lined up well before the event opened at midnight, and rushed through the cinema doors to save spots for their movies of choice. Students are able to stay up past their bed times and parents can be comfortable their children are in a safe environment. St. John’s Ambulance and Police were onsite to ensure every precaution was taken for a safe and supervised event.

 

The 2006 Starlight event was a huge success, good reports all around. A whooping 667 high school students packed the Galaxy theatre. The Galaxy staff was happy with the minimal amount of clean up. There were no medical problems reported to the St. John’s Ambulance nor were there any major issues for the Police. The volunteers said it was well run and everyone relieved each other on time. The students were happy and one commented “Anybody who is anybody will be here tonite – cool people will be everywhere”.

 

Like any large scale event, there is a lot of preparation and planning to ensure a smooth event. However, since the event had been run in previous years, guidelines had already been developed and information was readily available. Planning began in early September and the component which took the most amount of time was receiving approval from the

school boards.


 

Starlight Film Festival Checklist

·                      Order volunteer shirts – We had red long sleeved t-shirts with our logo

·                      Volunteers needed (30-40)

·                      Need adult ticket sellers for Monday through Friday

 

·                      Volunteers

§          Have each fill out a police check form, we delivered them all at the same time, 1 full week before the event

§          Every volunteer needs to pick up the completed check themselves (to verify ID)

§          Everyone needs to sign the waiver form (can do it that night at 10pm or at the Orientation)

 

·                      Volunteer Orientation: If they don’t attend, make sure they get a copy of the volunteer book before the event)

 

·                      Coat Check Tickets – prepare (you will probably not need all 700 –however it would be easy to do coats number 1 to whatever – and start purses with their own set of numbers.  (If a student had a coat and a purse, they got 2 numbers, and because the purses are put in bins or laid out numerically on the floor, they have their own set of numbers (say 500-600)

 

·                      Services from Security Company

§          G4S Security

§          Sign and fax completed invoice

 

·                      Bracelets for door – 2 entrances set up with police checking bags and coats

 

·                      Coat racks and hangers (we got from manager at Sears.  She gave us 3 coat racks and 500 hangers. 

 

 

Volunteers

Volunteer ticket selling hours                   15 hours (4 volunteers)

Volunteer event hours                            243 hours (31 volunteers)

3 staff sold tickets and worked event

 

Total Volunteer Hours                                 258 hours

 

 

Revenue/Expenses

The Starlight Film Festival has the capability of raising large amounts of funds because there are minimal expenses, which included security, police officers and radio promotion. 

 

Revenue                                                        $13,311

 

Expenses                              

3 paid police officers                              $1,114

2 paid security guards                            $   211

Miscellaneous                                        $      7

Radio Advertising                                   $    325

Police Checks                                        $    360

 

Total                                                               $2,029

 

Calm before the storm

Net Gain                                                         $11,281

 

 

Advice for other organizations

Jannette Porco, Rural Development Officer was the Special Event Coordinator for this large fundraiser. The best advice she can suggest would be to make sure you have a lot of volunteers and help.  We pulled from the University and High Schools, Staff, Board of Directors, and family.  With respect to the police checks that need to be done for security purposes I would encourage you to get them done as quickly as possible. 

 

Through this event, Jannette was able to take away some valuable skills which included how to develop and manage timelines and people coordination.

 

 

Description of Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Sainte Marie is the name of two cities on the Saint Mary’s River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada.  Formally founded in 1668 by Father Jacques Marquette as one city, then split into two in 1797.  Sault Ste. Marie has the distinction of being the oldest city in both the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan. 

 

Similarly to many other Northern Ontario municipalities, Sault Ste. Marie’s population has declined in recent years.  Since the early 1990’s the city has dropped from 84,000 to 74,000 residents. 

 

The city has made a name for itself in steel-making, and Algoma Steel is the largest single employer with 3,150 employees at the main plant.

 

The United Way of Sault Ste. Marie’ mission is to improve lives and build community by engaging individuals and mobilizing collective action. United Way of Sault Ste. Marie supports over 55 programs and services provided by their 23 member agencies in the community. United Way is working with rural communities from Elliot Lake to White River to assist and support them in identifying priority issues. which in turn improves the lives or rural individuals and rural communities. When human service agencies, business, government, labour, schools, institutions and citizens come together they can address the immediate needs of the community and create long term change

 


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