Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

A Scavenger Hunt at Sunbeam
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Judie (our Activities Chairperson) and her "side-kick" Robin posted a "sign-up sheet" for a scavenger hunt a few weeks ago. Judie's hope was to make it a lot of fun, but also to connect residents with other residents they did not know.

Judy and Robin divided the list ofsignups in half. Half had their names written on a tablet. The other half had their name on a small piece of paper put in a glass jar. As a couple lined up, one of the volunteers pulled a name out of the jar and made the four of them a "team." These four were given a list of items to find. They had from noon until 4:00 pm to hunt for and bring back items on the list.

So off they went - knocking on the doors of other residents - searching all over the Park (some even went up to the corner store to pick up items they couldn't find in the park). Some even drove 8 miles into town to pick up items.

Within an hour participants began returning with their "goodies." A few items were food (can of vegetables, box of cookies, box of macaroni and cheese, and a few other items participants were invited to donate to the local food bank). A note on which was the president's picture (dollar bill) was also donated to the Red Cross by the participants.

At four thirty a "happy hour" was held during which prizes were awarded to the winners.

Only one set of couples found every item on the list, and thus earned the highest points.

A friendly protest was made against the winners because they forged one of their "found" items.

The one item most participants could not find was a rabbit foot key chain. The winning scoundrels absconded off with their dog's toy - a white stuffed TEDDY BEAR. They amputated the leg of the little toy and pretended it was a rabbit foot to which was attached a key chain.

The judges (who knew nothing of such blatant dishonesty) awarded the top prize to them. It wasn't until a protest did we all realize how gullible we had been in not recognizing the foot of a stuffed teddy bear was NOT the foot of a rabbit!

In all truth, one group actually did find a rabbit foot key chain, but there were items on their list they were not able to find, so the prize went to "you know ...."

All in all it was a very enjoyable and fun-filled afternoon. Judie and Robin came up with the idea that not only helped out our local food bank and the Salvation Army, but enabled folks to get to know neighbors they might otherwise not have met and enjoyed.

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"NO DEAL BASICALLY means that if we can't find a solution that wold benefit us both, we agree to disagree agreeably--No Deal. No expectations have been created, no performance contracts established. I don't hire you or we don't take on a particular assignment together because it's obvious that our values or our goals are going in opposite directions. It is so much better to realize this up front instead of downstream when expectations have been created and both parties have been disillusioned.
When you have No Deal as an option in your mind, you feel liberated because you have no need to manipulate people, to push your own agenda, to drive for what you want. You can be open. You can really try to understand the deeper issues underlying the positions." (9/9)

Paul & Kathleen Smith | 173 Rainbow Dr #7329 | Livingston, TX 77399-1073 | (510) 386-8973

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