Palomares Parent Teacher Club

Hospitality

Coordinator: Susan Soares

This committee is responsible for providing refreshments for the various PPTC sponsored activities during the year. These activities include the First Day of School Coffee, Staff Appreciation Days, the monthly PPTC membership meetings and any other Club event that needs snacks or food.

The members of this committee will maintain the inventory of the food and non-food items such as plates, cups, and napkins and make purchases as needed. It is expected that the time commitment will be about 2-3 hours a year. Perhaps just make a Costco run and deliver the supplies to the school!

The Coordinator Guide can be downloaded in MS Word format or viewed online below. All of the guides share a common Forward.

Hospitality Committee Description

The Hospitality Committee is responsible for providing refreshments for PPTC meetings, events, and other activities approved by the Board. This committee maintains an inventory of the PPTC's food and non-food supplies, replenishing them as necessary. Purchases will be reimbursed from the committee's budget. This committee is also responsible for preparing the refreshments and presenting them as self service buffet.

The Hospitality Committee works in cooperation with other PPTC committees that require food and refreshments. For example, the Winter Program organized by the Events Committee involves refreshments. As well, the Fine Arts Committee provides a luncheon for guest instructors and volunteers at its Fine Arts Festival.

Structure

Because of its potentially large number of obligations, this committee functions best with lots of members; 30 or more members is a good target. This ensures there is a large pool of volunteers for plenty of coverage and that nobody gets overburdened over the course of the year.

Depending on the interests of its various members, this committee could organize itself into subgroups focused on preparation, shopping, and so on. Borrowing a common practice among youth sports teams, there might be a "Snack List" subgroup set up for the monthly PPTC meetings. These are but a few ideas for dividing up the work and allowing members to contribute in a form that suits their skills and their schedules.

Time Commitment

This committee is great for parents who cannot devote much time volunteering. Someone who can only help out 1-2 hours over the year can shop for refreshments for one of the PPTC monthly meetings (there are 10 such meetings). Parents who are more generous with their time can dive into the food preparation activities, at which point their time commitment is driven by their enjoyment and their desire to contribute. When you do something you enjoy, time is not so much an issue.

With lots of members, the time commitment for any one member is proportionally lower.

Duties

The duties of the Hospitality Committee encompass everything related to refreshments:

Provide refreshments at PPTC events, meetings, and related activities. Sometimes this involves preparation well in advance, but usually preparation is on the spot. Service is usually buffet style, self serve.
Inventory and store all non-food consumable supplies, such as paper plates and cups
Inventory and store all food supplies
Shop for supplies as needed
Store and maintain all food preparation equipment, such as the grill and coffee makers
Maintain the kitchen in a clean and orderly condition
Participate in the budget process.

The Event Committee has a description of each event, including its food requirements. Consult with the Event Committee Coordinator for this information. Note that some events typically do not require refreshments, though that could change year to year.

Operation

It is up to the discretion of the Coordinator as to how to run this committee, based on the number of members, their interests and skills, and their time commitment levels. Some suggestions to think about:

Set up a list of members and rotate the duties.
Organize members according to skills or interests and divide up the duties accordingly.
Some combination of the above.

Schedule

The specific schedule will vary slightly from year to year. It is up to the Coordinator to contact the other committees to learn when their events and activities will be held and to determine their needs for refreshments (some events don't typically need any).

Generally, the following guidelines apply:

Back-to-school potluck - Monday before the first day of school, in the evening
First Day of School Coffee - the first day of school, starting after drop-off
Fall Festival and Costume Parade - Friday before Halloween, after lunch
Thanksgiving Feast - Tuesday before Thanksgiving, starting at noon
Winter Program - second week in December, in the evening
Spring Egg Hunt - Friday before Spring Break, after lunch
Watershed Festival - last Saturday in April
Teacher Appreciation Week - in May
Open House Ice Cream Social - in May, evening
Fine Arts Festival - in June
Family Campout - Friday before last day of school, evening and overnight
Monthly PPTC Meeting - second week of every month (Sept. - June), in the evening

Resources

Resources (if applicable)