How a "Pick Up" event works

---

A Simple Gesture Charter starts off with their initial campaign to bring donors and drivers to the ASG EVENT MANAGER (www.asimplegesture.net/[your Chapter].     One very successful way to do this is a program we call "Join Us Bag".    You can read all about how to organize and run a "Join Us Bag" event or select from many other options by clicking on the 'START A CHAPTER' link in the tool bar.    

Once Donors and Drivers have started to sign up, the next step is to schedule a "Pick Up Event".    Emails (and texts) will go out to the donors and drivers that are in those zip codes covered by that particular event, asking them to confirm their participation.  

As the day of event arrives the drivers that have been confirmed will receive an email with a link taking them to a 'Routing Page'.   This page lists the donors for their route along with a "google map" button to provide turn by turn directions.    The routing software optimized each drivers routes based on their starting point (their home address), so that drivers are picking up from friends and neighbors.

As they work through their route they return to the 'Routing Page' to enter in their result;  "yes" or "no" to indicate that the donor left the bag.    If its a no they also enter the problem the ran into.  

The final stop for the driver is their drop-off point.   This is often a large food bank or pantry in their area.   An ASG event might be dropping off to one location or they may want different drivers to drop off at several other locations.    

For those of you that want more detail about the process, just keep reading this page!

In most cases the first event for a Chapter is the "Join Us Bag" Event.   For more information about this start-up event CLICK HERE.   

Regardless of how the Chapter is bringing Donors and Drivers to the website, at some point enough have signed up.    The Chapter Administrator can see the signup volume by Zip Code or within the "Active Territory".   They can then schedule a Pick Up Event for certain zip codes or the entire territory.    

A Pick Up Event Date and Time is selected.   This is normally a Saturday or Sunday, and usually it's scheduled for 2 hours.   A typical time is 9am to 11am or 10am to noon.   After a successful event, the next event for this same territory is usually in a pattern.  For example, the 2nd Saturday of every even month (Feb, Apr, June, etc).  Or the 3rd Sunday of every odd month (Jan, Mar, May, etc).

The ASG Event Manager will handle the communications with the Donors.   The Chapter Admin determines the notification frequency in their Chapter Profile Settings.   Emails and/or text messages go to each donor prompting them to confirm their participation.    As they confirm yes or no, that data is visible on the Event Page. 

As Donors confirm their participation they will see the "Needs List" which is provided by the Chapter on the Chapter Profile Page. 

The Chapter Administrator has an important job of determining the Drivers.   In most cases there will be more drivers than are needed.   The "Driver Wizard", under the Chapter Admin drop down on the ASG Event Manager website, allows the Chapter Admin to identify the drivers.  The first step is to send notifications to selected drivers to confirm their availability.   As they confirm the Driver Wizard will display that information.  The Chapter Admin continues reviewing this tool to finalize the driver list.  

The day before the event the Chapter Admin can open the EVENT page to run the Routing.   This is mainly to see how things look.   The Chapter Admin can then rerun the program the night before and then click the appropriate button to send the routes to the drivers.    

The morning of the event the Drivers will see their email that has the link to the route.   As they proceed through the route they will receive turn-by-turn direction on Google Maps.   After each pickup they enter the result, and any notes that may apply to each pickup.    If donors contact the Chapter Admin during the day, and before the driver has arrived, they can make real-time adjustments to the drivers routing.   

The final step is when the driver gets to their last address; that is the DROP ADDRESS.    When the Chapter Admin sets up the Drivers in the Driver Wizard they can use the standard drop address, or they pick a custom address.   This is useful if the Chapter wishes for food to be delivered to multiple distribution points. 

In most cases the first event for a Chapter is the "Join Us Bag" Event.   For more information about this start-up event CLICK HERE.   

Regardless of how the Chapter is bringing Donors and Drivers to the website, at some point enough have signed up.    The Chapter Administrator can see the signup volume by Zip Code or within the "Active Territory".   They can then schedule a Pick Up Event for certain zip codes or the entire territory.    

A Pick Up Event Date and Time is selected.   This is normally a Saturday or Sunday, and usually it's scheduled for 2 hours.   A typical time is 9am to 11am or 10am to noon.   After a successful event, the next event for this same territory is usually in a pattern.  For example, the 2nd Saturday of every even month (Feb, Apr, June, etc).  Or the 3rd Sunday of every odd month (Jan, Mar, May, etc).

The ASG Event Manager will handle the communications with the Donors.   The Chapter Admin determines the notification frequency in their Chapter Profile Settings.   Emails and/or text messages go to each donor prompting them to confirm their participation.    As they confirm yes or no, that data is visible on the Event Page. 

As Donors confirm their participation they will see the "Needs List" which is provided by the Chapter on the Chapter Profile Page. 

The Chapter Administrator has an important job of determining the Drivers.   In most cases there will be more drivers than are needed.   The "Driver Wizard", under the Chapter Admin drop down on the ASG Event Manager website, allows the Chapter Admin to identify the drivers.  The first step is to send notifications to selected drivers to confirm their availability.   As they confirm the Driver Wizard will display that information.  The Chapter Admin continues reviewing this tool to finalize the driver list.  

The day before the event the Chapter Admin can open the EVENT page to run the Routing.   This is mainly to see how things look.   The Chapter Admin can then rerun the program the night before and then click the appropriate button to send the routes to the drivers.    

The morning of the event the Drivers will see their email that has the link to the route.   As they proceed through the route they will receive turn-by-turn direction on Google Maps.   After each pickup they enter the result, and any notes that may apply to each pickup.    If donors contact the Chapter Admin during the day, and before the driver has arrived, they can make real-time adjustments to the drivers routing.   

The final step is when the driver gets to their last address; that is the DROP ADDRESS.    When the Chapter Admin sets up the Drivers in the Driver Wizard they can use the standard drop address, or they pick a custom address.   This is useful if the Chapter wishes for food to be delivered to multiple distribution points.