Brothers,
We are just over two months away from the next Men's Rites of Passage in Texas (November 9-13).
We need your help and support to create another powerful experience for the men coming to the Rites. Many of you have contacted me to volunteer to support the rites, and now we need to have men assume specific roles and responsibilities. (If you did volunteer before, I have passed your name on to Tony Deosdade, the MROP Coordinator.)
Our need for help has expanded because the Texas Region for MROP has now become self-sustaining and will not receive much of the support that was formerly provided by the Center for Action and Contemplation. Listed below are the specific needs we currently have identified. Please contact Tony Deosdade or Bob Strange, to volunteer your time and talent. Please be specific about what you want to do to support the rites.
1. Registrar. [NEEDED IMMEDIATELY.] Review all applications for the Rites, inform applicants of their acceptance into the rites and provide them instructions for preparing themselves for the experience. This position will require a daily check of the web mail for applications and about 3-4 hours per week to handle the communications. Contact Bob Strange (830-660-5204 or bstrangetx@gmail.com )
2. Bursar. (This could be the same man as the Registrar.) We need a "money man" who will collect the tuition. Men will be paying us here in Texas rather than sending money to the CAC. The Bursar will also forward scholarship requests to Bob and Tony. Contact Bob Strange (830-660-5204 or bstrangetx@gmail.com )
3. Leader, Setup team. The setup leader will coordinate the transportation of materials and equipment to the ranch and provide overall direction for setting up the site (tents, etc.) Contact Tony Deosdade, tonyd@sfasat.org
3a. Setup Team member. We need 8-10 men to prepare the site, volunteer their pickups and trailers for transport, move benches at the site, put up signs, etc. Contact Tony Deosdade, tonyd@sfasat.org
4. Pre-event Support. Contact Tony Deosdade, tonyd@sfasat.org for all the following roles, except #6).
4a. Copy support. Assist in preparation of handouts, folders and name badges. You should have a good computer printer. You will be reimbursed for your printing expenses.
4b. Travel Arrangements. Hector Garcia has volunteered to take the lead for this role, and he will need men to help ensure that all men have transportation support for getting to/from the Rites. Ideally, we need a volunteer from Austin and one from San Antonio.
5. Registration Team Leader. Responsible for ensuring every man arriving for the rites is signed in, assigned a space to stay, given a name badge.
5a. Registration Team Member. We need several men who can be onsite on Wednesday afternoon, Sep. 9th to assist in the registration process. It would be helpful if one or two could remain onsite until men arriving late (after 4 p.m. are registered)
6. Leader for Reunion of Initiated Men (RIM). From Saturday afternoon, November 12, through Sunday, Initiated Men are invited to participate in the reunion event. The RIM leader will coordinate all arrangements for the reunion (notification, registration, collection of tuition and activities for the RIM). There is a "manual" for the RIM, so you don't have to make it up as you go. Contact Bob Strange (830-660-5204 or bstrangetx@gmail.com )
7. Cook Team Leader. The cook team will provide the feast after the initiation rites on November 12. We need one man who will volunteer to lead the cook team.
7b. Cook team member. A number of you volunteered for this role earlier in the year. Please confirm with Tony your intent to be there on Saturday. You will help with cooking, serving and cleaning up after the meal.
7. Leader, Tear-down team. Responsible for being onsite Sunday afternoon, November 13, to supervise the tear down and packing up of all MROP materials and equipment. This role is key to helping a very tired MROP onsite team get finished and on the way home.
7a. Member, Tear-down Team. Helps pack up and redeploy all the MROP materials back to Seguin after the RItes. We need 10-12 men for this team. Men who attend the RIM will be encouraged to stay and help in the packing up; but we need specific volunteers for this part of the project.
This is a long email, I know; but as you can see, we need many committed men to work with the core team. If you read this far and didn't find anything to do to help--Stop! Say a little prayer. Re-read the list of needed help. Then contact us.
Thanks and God bless you,
Bob Strange Tony Deosdade
Convener MROP Coordinator