Perhaps another Way to help others while we cache hunt?

[donnelson]

Greetings everyone, I came up with an Idea today. We all know about "cache in Trash out" But how about this? Alot of us like the Urban Caches, They are easy to get too, and get frequented alot. As such perhaps in our respective cities we could set up slightly larger than usual caches, that are Deposit only type caches. My Idea is that We could call these "Can Caches" meaning that when you head over to them you would bring 1 or 2 canned foods with you, and Sign the logbook. then once a week or every 2 weeks the Cache Owner could collect the cans and donate them to their local food bank. This Way we could have fun and give back to the community at the same time. This way we could help the food banks all year long, and not just during the holiday season. After all Hunger is a problem 365 days a year. Think this is a good Idea?

[+ron50eli]

I think it's a great idea. But....some cachers meaning well but not thing about it, may leave food that isn't critter proof. Yes, I agree, cans only. Just wanted to answer that ahead of time.

rocker51

[+Marky]

Another alternative is to hide a micro near a food bank donation station and suggest that the people bring a can of food to donate when they come search for the micro.

 

A different idea: a virtual at the donation station, and to log the cache you have to take a picture of you putting your donation in, with your GPSr of course. (Don't donate your GPSr, it doesn't taste that great, and isn't really that nutritious.)

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

[donnelson]

I Think Marky has got it right. a Virtual or Micro in the area very nearby makes sense.

That way the originater doesn't have to haul items away, and yes non-critter proof items like crackers, and cereal won't get munched up by wildlife. Guess now all to do is hop around town and get Waypoints for the Food Banks an Shelters.

and get some 35 mm film cases for micro caches.

I will be doing this soon in the Phoenix Arizona Metro Area. anyone who would like to help in this endeavor let me know. especially if you work close to one of the locations and can get the waypoints. perhaps we can make a

"Team Fight Hunger"

[+Planet]

Clever, generous, and a great idea. The expansion on the idea to make it a virtual and have people drop off directly at the food banks is a good one, because sometimes you just want to give something better than a can of beans. If we could start one of these in every major city and some smaller ones too, we could have quite an impact. Call your local Town or City Hall and talk to Social Services about where these food banks are and then go get your waypoints. Another variation could be clothing or toys. And this is one cache you can claim more then once, with a new photo each time!

 

Cache you later,

Planet

 

"To err is human, to forgive....$5.00"

[+Geo-Johnson's]

Why not have it at the food shelf, and have the clerk at the food shelf hide a traditional cache there? That way everyone wins............

 

Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.

[+TeamJiffy]

...the sign-only or virtual cache at a food bank... Leaving a can of food at a food bank as a requirement to 'claim a find' seems to be as valid a reason for being able to 'claim a find' as any...

 

I don't think it would be good to have a traditional cache with a trinket box - there's something about trading McToys at a food bank as the homeless look on as we rummage through our 'treasure chest' looking for a stupid silly little toy... well, that picture doesn't make me feel very good.

[+TeamJiffy]

Geocachers sometimes look like 'bored rich kids' in the press (rich kid in some people's minds because lots of people couldn't afford a GPSr just to play games with...)

 

If we are known for giving food to food banks, and that we give food to as MANY different food banks as we can... well, think of the press for the local/state parks... "You mean those nice people who give lots of food - you aren't letting them put a little tupperware jar in your park? For shame, park ranger!"

 

I also think - quite seriously - that a food donation cache could be of a different 'type' - that you are *encouraged* to log more than once - as a different category - and you get totals incremented for that...

[+Desert_Warrior]

making it convenient for the cache owner. Now, I am in pretty good shape, for the shape I'm in. But I was dredding the thought of lugging a few dozen cans 5 miles across the desert so I could drop them at the food bank. This is an idea worth thinking about. Perhaps an annual holiday cache, a new one every year so you can log it every year? Jeremy, got any input??? Thanks..... for the ideas.... Hmmmmmmmm

 

Mike. Desert_Warrior (KD9KC).

El Paso, Texas.

 

Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom.

 

They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS!

[+GatoRx]

quote:

---

Originally posted by donnelson:

Guess now all to do is hop around town and get Waypoints for the Food Banks an Shelters.

and get some 35 mm film cases for micro caches.

I will be doing this soon in the Phoenix Arizona Metro Area. anyone who would like to help in this endeavor let me know. especially if you work close to one of the locations and can get the waypoints. perhaps we can make a "Team Fight Hunger"

---

 

A good place to start finding food banks and shelters may be through local churches. Some of them distribute donations directly from the church, and many collect clothing and food to take to places that are devoted specifically to this sort of thing.

 

A couple more ideas: If you live in a city with a children's hospital, there may be a Ronald McDonald house nearby, which provides housing for families of children staying for long periods of time in the hospital. A member of my church often collects toiletries for the families to use - things like sample sizes of toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and shaving cream. If you contact the House itself, they could probably give you a good idea of what could be used.

 

Hospice centers are another option. I live right next to a hospice house called Hope Lodge; its right down the street from a major teaching hospital, and provides housing for cancer patients who are coming from out of town to receive outpatient chemotherapy treatments that require them to be in town for several weeks to months. They don't necessarily need food or toiletries, but often ask people to donate things like magazines they've already read, or VHS tapes - mainly things to give the residents something to do while waiting for their next round of chemo.

 

----

When in doubt, poke it with a stick.

[+niskibum]

I had thought of a similar idea before, only at a blood bank. Get your photo taken while you are getting stuck, or eating cookies and orange juice, score a find. I am not really into the virtuals though, so if someone else wants to run with that idea be my guest.

 

Maybe it could be an event cache.

[+altree]

I know that the food bank idea would be great for the hobby and for the food bank too. I will try to get to the one near me and see what they say. Great idea

quote:

---

you will not starve with a p38 and a can of food

---

 

Altree

[+Logscaler and Red]

The one draw back I see is not all who cache will have the photo eqipment needed to get this done. Unless they get one of those disposable camaras.

 

Which brings me to the next idea.

Why not have the food bank involved?

They will be holding the Offical geocaching disposable camera and logbook behind the counter or in an office and you have to ask them to take the photo of you with your donation before letting you sign the logbook?

The cache owner developes the film and throws out any logs without the correspnding photo.

 

Lot of hoops to jump through but it might work, and like a earlier posting, the publicity will not hurt.

 

TTFN, logscaler.

[+Stunod]

There is one like this in the Chicago area.

 

Urban Reward Cache

 

"Take nothing, leave something"

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

[donnelson]

Well It is good to see that there are others of like Mind out there. However this should not detour us from proceeding with this goal and setting these things up. Perhaps we need to contact the Geocaching Webmaster to see if there could be a new Logo created for these "Can Caches"

or "Clothes Caches" or "Toy Caches" Wait a min aren't most regular caches toy caches? Anyway I think we are on to some good stuff here. Lets get it done. Maybe Get some press involved. Might even be able to swing some corporate Sponsership out of this to really make an Impact!

[+Jacksons]

I think this is a Great Idea and will get one set up locally here in columbus.

 

Those that can,do; those that can't,teach; those that can't do or teach, manage

[Cape Cod Cacher]

Especially considering how much $$$ that gets spent on all the electronic $%!^ we HAVE to buy, and how alot of people here exhibit 'type A' personalities (get there first, most finds, newest equipment etc...). IT COULD BE YOU on the receiving end some day. Years ago I walked 2 miles and rode a bus 1 hour each way to a minimum wage job. Read left over newspapers and had credit with the hot dog vendor till payday. Granted I also lived on a 40 foot sailboat, but alot (read all) of the gang on the bus didn't. Opened my eyes. Now that I can afford it, I clear out my freezer and donate 10-15 gallons of lobster bisque each T-Day.

[+DutchBoy]

I submitted a cache 12-16-02 as a Food Bank Virtual cache. The requirements were to take a picture at the site with gps, and the food donated.

 

The cache was denied, here is the email that I was sent.

 

Sorry, but your food bank virtual cache submission runs counter to the rules against

commercial caches posted here:

http://www.geocaching.com/articles/requirements.asp

 

"Commercial" in this context means anything that promotes an agenda, however well

intentioned.

 

Regretfully we cannot post it.

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Once again, another victim of inconsistant rules. My Toy-Drive cache had no problem being approved, and it is very similar. Its purpose is to collect toys for the "Toys for Tots" drive. Now, is there really any difference between the two?

BTW, the Toy-Drive cache is doing great. So far we have had 25 finders, all of them leaving a great toy (sometimes two or three...). Everyone that has found it has had nothing but great things to say about it. I am definatly glad we placed this.

The only down side is that the two-way radio I placed in the cache to allow cachers to try and contact us on dissappeared over the weekend. Oh well, it was a cheepie and everytime someone tryed it we were not home

 

Shannon

 

VegasCacheHounds

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Just another quick thought....we did put in the cache details that one did not HAVE to leave a donation to log the cache. That may have made a difference.

 

Shannon

 

VegasCacheHounds

[donnelson]

OK I have read the rules piece where it says Quote: "Solicitations are also off-limits. For example, caches perceived to be posted for religious, political, or social agendas will not be listed. Geocaching is supposed to be a light, fun activity, not a platform for an agenda."

 

What about the Previously mentioned cache that exists? http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=45456 Is this not contrary to geocachings rules? Anyway Too bad about not being able to add your site. Maybe I need to look into createing a website for just this purpose? So it seems we are Out of luck here on this idea. A Real Shame. But I can understand how Geocaching.com could be seen as supporting a particular agenda of sorts depending on what it allows on it's site.

[+Stunod]

I think the wording in the approved cache makes the difference. It is not REQUIRED to give a donation...only take a photo at the site to log it as a find.

 

"Because of the nature of these "urban" hides there won't be a log book, so you must post a photo of yourself with gps in front of the structure hiding the cache box."

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

[+Jacksons]

Perhaps Jeremy or one of the moderators could calrify this and post in this forum the correct way to accomplish a virtual cache for this purpose

 

Those that can,do; those that can't,teach; those that can't do or teach, manage