[CrackMonkey] Finally, a viable business model!

[Nick Moffitt]

----- Forwarded message from glen mccready <gkm at petting-zoo.net> -----
Forwarded-by: William Knowles <wk at c4i.org>

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20010106-9999_1mc6potty.html

By Jonathan Heller 
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER 
January 6, 2001 

ESCONDIDO -- Coming soon to a front yard near you, the latest thing in
outdoor luxury: your personal portable toilet.

What? You don't want a toilet in your front yard? That's exactly what
the Escondido Education COMPACT is counting on.

The service group is sponsoring an unusual fund-raiser next week. For
a small donation, you can have a potty delivered to whomever you
choose. That person will then be asked to make a donation to have it
removed, and can designate where the toilet should go next.

COMPACT, which stands for Creating Opportunities, Making Partnerships
and Connecting Teens, helps area high school students develop job
skills and get real-world work experience.

The group hopes to raise $5,000, said Teri Safranek, a board member
and head of the fund-raiser. Suggested donations are as follows:

* $40 to have a potty removed from your yard. 

* $35 to have it forwarded to the victim of your choice. 

* $100 for the right to attach a note "professing your unselfish
  giving of this lawn ornament to your friend," Safranek said. 

Although the group's fund-raising methods might be a bit unorthodox,
Safranek said the suggested donations are reasonable.

The group will have the use of three portable toilets, donated by
Diamond Environmental Services of San Marcos, from Friday through Jan.
27. "No home is safe during that time," Safranek said.

Anyone can participate, regardless of where they live, she said. She
declined to reveal the preliminary "target" list but hinted that it
included several prominent residents, public officeholders and board
members of service groups.

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, a COMPACT board member, figured she would be
an obvious target. To avoid that, she offered to help deliver them.

"If I'm controlling one of the Port-a-Potties, I can make sure it
won't show up at my house," she said.

Word of the fund-raiser has started to get around, and some people
have called COMPACT hoping to buy "potty insurance" -- a donation
intended to prevent a delivery to their home, said Carolyn Starr, the
group's executive director.

"I've accepted the donations, but I haven't made any promises," Starr
said.

Contrary to what some might think, the group did not get the idea from
the movie "Cast Away," in which part of a portable toilet
serendipitously washes up on Tom Hanks' tropical island. The idea came
from the San Pasqual High School Band Boosters, which held a similar
event about five years ago.

That event was memorable not just for the money it brought in --
several thousand dollars -- but also for a notorious goof, said Jerry
Van Leeuwen, that event's organizer.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to deliver a potty to the
mayor. The only problem was that they got the wrong address. The
unlucky recipient happened to have a daughter who was getting married
at their home that same day.

"He called us and he wasn't very happy," Van Leeuwen said. "We didn't
get our $40 donation, either."

Safranek and Starr said they are having a lot of fun with the plan,
which is only the second fund-raiser COMPACT has done in its 11-year
existence.

Last year, it hosted a swing dance. Until recently, the group has
subsisted mainly on annual contributions from its three main partners:
the city of Escondido, the city's high school districts and the
Escondido Chamber of Commerce.

But with a growing budget -- this year it's nearly $800,000 -- the
group has started to look elsewhere for funding. COMPACT provides
opportunities for high school students through internships, job-shadow
days, community service and mentoring.

"COMPACT is really trying to bridge that gap between high school and
the work force," said Jack Anderson, deputy city manager and the
city's representative on the group's board.

"One of the concerns driving this is that a lot of people view high
school as preparation for college, but not all kids go directly to
college.

"Even those viewed as college material still need to understand about
work. After they finish college they likely will be working their
whole lives."

Anyone interested in participating in the fund-raiser can call COMPACT
at (760) 839-4515.


----- End forwarded message -----

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