WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
In order for our forays to go smoothly, we are asking for your help. We need volunteers to help the officers of the club in four areas: setting up the tables, etc. beforehand, welcoming and signing in participants, bringing a dish to pass, and taking down the tables and recycling the mushrooms afterward. We would really appreciate your help! Below is a description of each task.
SET UP before the FORAY
If anyone can come 30 minutes earlier (that would be 9:30AM) before the foray starts, we need your help: tables for the fungi must be set up, club library mushroom books displayed, tables for food, plates, plastic forks, spoons, knives and serving utensils arranged. In one location, assistance is needed to erect pop up sun/rain shelters as well. Many hands make lighter work!
WELCOME TABLE/SIGN IN SHEETS/NAME TAGS
This is an ongoing need at each foray: Would you like to help welcome returning and new club members as they arrive, and make certain that they sign in and fill out a name tag? This list serves two purposes. It tallies the number of attendees and helps us to “leave no one behind in the woods.” We ask fellow forayers to check their name off on this list when they return from their walk in the woods. In addition to the sign-in sheet for attendees, we have a second one for folks to list any food item that they have brought to share at lunch. On this list we ask that they list ingredients in their “dish to share.”
THE SVMS TRADITION OF THE DISH TO PASS/SHARE:
SVMS members have been bringing food to share for almost as long as the club has been in existence. Participation in this event has always been optional. But it is hard to feed 45+/- attendees when just 15 or fewer folks bring a dish to share. Perhaps this is a tradition that has outlived its lifetime? Everyone leads busy lives and sometimes it is hard to fit everything in. Would you like this custom to continue or not? Let us know what you think. (If you are not comfortable with bringing a “dish to pass,” we encourage you to bring your own packed lunch.)
TAKE DOWN AFTER THE FORAY:
Club officers will help direct the take-down after the foray, but we need your assistance to clean up the food table areas, making sure that containers get back to their correct owners. The mushrooms we all found need to be removed from their display “boats.” Every mushroom ID tag must be saved for entry into our computerized site list. The boats need to be dusted out and recycled for future use, or discarded if they are wet or soiled. Some mushrooms will be taken home for microscopic identification and spore print work. Some of the choice edibles, after being properly identified will be taken home. The majority of the mushrooms will be taken back and spread throughout their forests of origin. These tasks go quickly if several folks pitch in. We appreciate your willingness to help!!