In the age of Covid-19, we have become accustomed to delivery on demand. Need to order dinner but don’t want to leave the house? No problem, there are services that will pick up your food and bring it right to your door. In the same way, for one weekend a year, Troop 581 provides the very same service for all your mulch needs. The sale and delivery of mulch is also Troop 581’s primary fundraiser and ensures that we are able to provide an active outdoor Scouting program for our troop. From campouts to summer camp, equipment and supplies, rank and merit badge patches, it all costs and mulch sales is primarily the way the troop pays for it.
Starting in January, Scouts canvas the whole region to provide information to residents on how to order brown, black or red mulch. This effort culminates in Mulch Madness, held this year on the weekend of 18-20 March. During this weekend, Scouts, Leaders and parent volunteers all helped with the organization, reception, and delivery of almost 18,000 bags of mulch. This was a Herculean effort that involved renting flatbed delivery trucks and forklifts, training drivers, receiving of multiple semi-trucks loaded with pallets of mulch, orchestrating delivery schedules and crews, loading delivery trucks, the care and feeding of all involved, and the generosity of Gainesville United Methodist Church for allowing us to take over the church and its parking lot for the weekend.
Its only through the hard work and dedication of our Scouts and volunteers that Troop 581 is able to have such a successful fundraising season!