The Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared,” and that’s exactly the goal of Troop 674 in Montgomery, Ohio, when it comes the time to raise money for their activities. Once a year, the boys hold a fundraiser where they sell and deliver bags of mulch to local residents in this region, which includes the cities of Montgomery, Blue Ash, Symmes Township, Loveland, Mason, Indian Hill and Sycamore Township.
To raise the money, mulch orders are taken over a period of time. However, the deliveries must happen all in one day. Previously the troop manually created routes and got driving direction using Google Maps. Three years ago, they started using MyRouteOnline.com, and it has transformed the way the fundraiser works—as well as increased the amount of money they can make from the event.
The money raised serves as 100% of the troop’s budget for the year. It subsidizes the troop’s summer camp, rank and merit badges, and monthly outings. It also pays for the related equipment necessary for these outings, keeping the scouts safe while they are having fun. Troop 674 serves more than 50 scouts, who range in age from 11 to 17 years old.
“We used to spend days managing the routes and had to cutoff sales at least five days before the delivery day,” explained Miguel Palacios, Troop 674’s mulch fundraiser logistics coordinator. “Now with MyRouteOnline.com, we are able to take sales up to one day before delivery day because we can quickly manage the routes and create the delivery directions for our trucks.”
After the mulch orders are received, Miguel imports the delivery addresses by uploading a CSV file to MyRouteOnline.com. After creating separate routes that make sense geographically, he prints out each one for a different driver to follow on the delivery day.
“We were able to optimize deliveries for more than 200 orders of mulch bags,” Miguel explained. “We had four trucks delivering more than 3000 bags to more than 120 addresses. We could not have delivered this quantity in the timeframe required without optimized delivery routes and turn by turn directions generated by MyRouteOnline.com.”
As a result, Troop 674 has been able to expand their mulch fundraiser, which means more money for more activities and more scouts. It turns out being prepared isn’t just a motto for these Boy Scouts. It’s a way to get things done.
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