Gates to the Swamp ( SwampGate Project )

[Oldman]

it was very dissapointing to see how little support at the stadium (volunteer workers)this past weekend, here i thought people were getting excited about the program and was willing to help......silly me, where is my brain or wait! where am i? but it's the same old thing we are going to wait until they win, no need helping out losers, after all there's no pride, no drive, no attitude, don't worry.....someone else will do it, or i made a donation why should i go out there! i guest i get worked up over the same old thing nothing changes here status quo, how foolish of me.....sorry!

[CajunNation]

Originally posted by oldman
it was very dissapointing to see how little support at the stadium (volunteer workers)this past weekend, here i thought people were getting excited about the program and was willing to help......silly me, where is my brain or wait! where am i? but it's the same old thing we are going to wait until they win, no need helping out losers, after all there's no pride, no drive, no attitude, don't worry.....someone else will do it, or i made a donation why should i go out there! i guest i get worked up over the same old thing nothing changes here status quo, how foolish of me.....sorry!

Do you understand how bush league "volunteer days" are? Now, this is not a put down on you or the people who showed up with you or the previous "volunteer" weekend. You guys are exemplary fans.

This is a knock on the University. Small upkeep type work for a 1-A university should be done and paid for by the university. End of story.

Many people won't show up because of this. Even when we are winning year in and year out, people won't show up for things like this.

[RedBug58]

I respectfully disagree.
I've been to almost all of the work days and see many people taking ownership in our school and facilities. There were close to 200 people out on the first work day, mostly painting the student side of the stadium, the red zone, murals, and other areas. It was extremely successful.

It was a beautiful sight that day when Coach Robe asked for a little help in dismanteling the left field bleachers. About 100 or so guys showed up with close to 10 compressors and air tools. It was gone in less than 5 hours.

There were several other occasions where volunteers performed work to get things done quickly to help UL move along faster and allow the money saved to go into recruiting. I understand your feelings this year though. We didn't have 200....we had less than half of that. I see 2 reasons. 1) All the hype was not there from the big coaching change of 2 years ago. 2) It was the weekend before the start of school in Lafayette Parish. (also, it was publicized, but not far enough ahead of time & there were no "banner/impact" type projects)

Hey, I know where you want to be, but we can get there a lot quicker with volunteer help from the community at this point. I think picking the right date & the right kind of communication will improve the event. And,Yes, you are correct, winning is a huge part of the solution.

[DestinCajun]

"I've been to almost all of the work days and see many people taking ownership in our school and facilities."

You nailed it, 'bug. I was very happy to be at them too and maybe more people simply need to figure out the true value of these opportunities.

[Turbine]

I think volunteer days are the coolest.

I also think there was virtually no promo of this past saturday. Voluteer days should have no less than 3 weeks of buildup.

People will not show up out of the blue.

[RaginFan2]

Oldman, I share your sense of disappointment. I have been to one volunteer day this year and one last year. I didn't go this past weekend. The reason I don't go more often is I live in Mandeville and it's about a 2+ hour drive. Also this past weekend I a commitment for a fund raiser for my son to go to the National Boy Scout Jamboree next summer. I would love to be able to go the each volunteer day, plus the QB Club, and other UL events. But it is tough to do living so far from Lafayette. I'm sure many people living in Lafayette also have to deal with conflicting schedules as well. I know many LSU fans who also have such conflicts and can't make it to events they'd like to go to. However, they have hundreds of thousands of fans, so the missing folks aren't too noticeable. We are dealing with more like tens of thousands of fans, so missing people are much more apparent.

[Hammer58]

I also had family committments Saturday morning that prohibited me form making it this last time. Why not shcedule these in the late spring when classes are still in and try to get all of the Frats and sororities involved? They usually need service projects to meet their civic obligations. It would be a good pledge class project as well.

[RedBug58]

Does anyone know if the north end zone fence and the gate were completed? I am curious because I was on the crew that started the project.

[Crawfish]

When I saw Gerald on Saturday, he said they would be working on it sunday at 1:00 PM. I went to the stadium to help at 1:20 (after church and lunch) but I could not find Gerald or anyone else. The fence did not appear to be finished.

[DaddyCajun]

Dan Hare called me back last week and told me that the NEW members of the Alumni Council were meeting and the SwampGate project was on the agenda! They were to look at getting the team of callers together to raise the MATCH monies!


Update to come,
DaddyCajun!!!!


See ALL of you at the game!! BEAT NSU!!!!

[Turner]

I sent $50 to the address in your link. lets get the gate going.

[DaddyCajun]

I spoke with Dan Hare today while in route to Home Bank and he told me at the last meeting he had met with Darren Guidry of Home Bank and Darren would be getting in touch with me.

Darren and I spoke about SwampGate and what it could mean to UL Athletics. He agreed this is a worthy cause and is going to present "The SwampGate Challenge/Alumni Match" at a Alumni meeting this weekend at the Alumni Center! Darren said, Although he does NOT have the final say and the final vote is up to the Alumni Council he felt it was a GREAT cause and should pass.

Back with an Update soon,
DaddyCajun
Troy Sonnier