Have you ever found yourself calling all of your OA buddies or begging your parents to give you a ride to an OA event? Most Arrowmen without cars know this exact feeling. The Tutelo Lodge Executive Committee came up with a solution for its members. The committee organized a rideshare program by which Arrowmen needing rides could easily connect with those Arrowmen with empty seats in their car. Since the inception of the rideshare program, the lodge has been able to break attendance records at its functions and has allowed the lodge to break its all-time attendance record at a single function since the lodge was chartered. How does the program work? The lodge created a webpage on their lodge website where Arrowmen needing rides can easily connect with other Arrowmen to offer seats in their car. Arrowmen are able to plan ahead and request or offer rides to all the lodge’s functions for the year including Conclave. Arrowmen usually help the driver with gas money, providing a benefit to a driver who was already planning to attend a lodge function with extra room in his car. The program has been successful in Tutelo Lodge because it has strengthened the family atmosphere within their lodge. By sharing rides, Arrowmen are able to get to know each other better and because the attendance at lodge functions has grown, Arrowmen are able to meet more people than before.
If you are interested in starting a rideshare program in your own lodge or chapter, consider creating a program that is user friendly and heavily promoted. You don’t need to create a fancy website to have a rideshare program. Lodge and chapters can simply set up a group on Facebook where Arrowmen can connect with each other. A Facebook group can be just as efficient as a website because many members are already using social media and are already familiar with how to use it. Once your program gains its first users, it will promote itself. Once your rideshare program takes off, you could be looking at record-breaking attendance at your own chapter, lodge, and section events.
The above resource was submitted by Tutelo Lodge, Blue Ridge Mountains Council, headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. How does your lodge solve your members’ problems? If you have a unique practice to share with other lodges, submit it to ChapterResources@oa-bsa.org.
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