You may have received the following email regarding the need for new volunteers. I'd like everyone's thoughts on this program. I was part of the Planning Committee for quite a while, and my reasons for leaving were not hidden from the staff. This doesn't exactly make me want to go back.

D.R.I.V.E. Program

Daybreak Resident Incentive Volunteer Exchange

This policy is structured to allow residents to earn points to redeem FREE Daybreak amenities by volunteering for DCA sponsored events and Committee meetings.

Members within a household are entitled to combine D.R.I.V.E. cards to accrue points. However, combining cards or sharing with other Daybreak Residents is not permitted. Cards must reach a total of 12 points and need to have a mixture of events and meetings. Cards will only get stamped at the time of the meeting or event and must be done so by a Daybreak Community Association staff member.

Residents may earn points by:
• Volunteering (this does not include participating at events) for Daybreak Community Association events (point amounts may vary per event).
• Participating in committee meetings earning 1 point per hour per meeting (10 points may be earned by participating in five consecutive committee meetings).

To exchange points, an adult resident, 18 years of age or older, must bring their cards to the Guest Services at the Daybreak Community Center. Redeemable amenities may be used for Daybreak guests (less the Party Trailer Rental, Small Room Rental, and Large Room Rental). Adult Daybreak Residents, 18 years of age or older, must be present with guest in order for the amenity to be used.

Amenities redeemable to residents:
• DCA Splash Pool Guest Punch Card - 12 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 6
• (1) DCA All-Access Guest Punch Card - 12 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 6
• (1) DCC Child Watch Punch Card - 24 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 18
• (1) DCC Combo Card to explicit fitness classes - 24 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 18
• (1) Complimentary Adult Dinner at a DCA sponsored event - 36 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 30
• (1) Complimentary Admission to DCA event of choice - 36 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points - 30
• (1) DCC Small Room Rental - 48 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 42
• (1) DCC Large Room Rental - 96 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points – 90


• (1) DCA Party Trailer rental - 96 points
o Meeting Points – 6
o Event Points 90

* Party Trailer and Room Rentals are on a first come, first serve basis.

Sign up with the Lifestyle Director, Tina Esparza at 253-6418 or by email at tesparza@ccmcnet.com to help with event set-up, event jobs or event clean-up. Once you have completed your hours for the event the Lifestyle Director will stamp your card. Also, once a committee meeting has ended, obtain your punch pass from Daybreak Community Association staff member.


Daybreak homeowners are responsible for lost or stolen cards

Card will expire 1 year from date issued

This policy is subject to change without notice.


*** Watch for detailed information on earning points in this Friday’s ***
“What’s Happening at Daybreak” email blast.

*** Cards will be provided to residents at events and meetings only. Guest Services at the Community Center does not have access to D.R.I.V.E. cards. ***

I fell asleep half way through the e-mail. It sounds overly complicated. And I don't think it will accomplish a thing as most people's time is worth more than the hours it would take to earn $5 worth of goodies. The folks who volunteer already do so because they want to.

I have been involved in the community since the beginning. It has been disappointing to see that it is always the same 10 people giving and the same 10,000 taking. The programs committee is comprised of a great bunch of people who I have loved working with. However, Daybreak is designed to facilitate "spontaneous community" and the DCA and DCC policies don't necessarily facilitate that. I would rather see more spontaneous community like the concert at the amphitheatre last weekend or the up and coming Daybreak Community Theatre schedule than all of the luau's and other parties. Make it easy and affordable for the residents to use the facilities we have and assist them in organizing events they want. I am not sure we are successful in doing that.

A lot of fantastic people have been involved in the activities committee since it's beginning. They each have put in a lot of time and energy. But there is a reason for the difficulties in putting on these activities and there is a reason that more people don't jump on the committee. Good people can work really hard with the best intentions, but if the whole philosophy is fundamentally flawed, the system won't work.

Daybreak gets bigger every year, yet the amount of $$ available for activities has gone down. It is not covered by the HOA, as some would mistakenly believe, but rather the sale and resale of homes. That is why it is a flawed calculation. Even in a healthy market in which 1,000 homes a year were being built and sold, the funding wouldn't go up, but the number of people served would continue to increase, forcing the committee to charge for things, cut back on food and activities, etc. It's a losing propostition. Eventually, when Daybreak is completed, The activities for 14,000 families would have to be funded by the resales in the community. Impossible. For the biggest community event of the year, the Summer Celebration was massively lacking. Why? No money, no food, etc.

The answer doesn't lie in creating incentives to get volunteers, or by discussing cuts that can be done to fit the activities into a budget. It necessitates a complete paradigm shift in the way community works. I would love an open discussion of this with the residents of Daybreak. I have already shared a vision of what I think could be done with Tina, Derrick and Gina among others on the staff and activities committee, but it was to no avail. There is a better way, but it requires change, and change is uncomfortable for most people.

I agree,I would like to see more spontaneous community events, and am looking forward to the Daybreak Community Theatre programs, when is the schedule being published? My opinion, and yes its only my opinion is that the party planning team needs to be removed and replaced by one full time homeowner who lives in the community and who can do the job as it should be done. This should be a 40-50k yr job which would trim 75-85k off the budget, and perhaps a portion of that could be put to better use in some community events that people will actually go to.

love it or hate it, just my opinion...

I agree that the Program/Activities Committee was a grand idea when it was originally formed. The volunteers who comprised the committee have brought valuable insights and countless hours of their time to contribute to the betterment of the sense of community. Due to the real estate "downturn" (which the BOD disputes vis-a-vis Daybreak's standing as one of the most salable communities in the Valley) the $$$ just isn't there to continue to fund the 'feed-'em-and-they-will-come" events and the "color between the lines, kids, and we'll give you an iPod" events. The volunteers are disenchanted and disheartened. The philosophy of "let the volunteers leave; the new residents will continue to come" to flesh out the committee is a bankrupt notion. The Program staff is running an invisible and non-existant empire.
Regrettably, the "incentives" are just a transparent attempt to entice new blood to a committee when the life boats are being lauched from a sinking ship. The Programs staff needs to go, a new and fresh approach is needed and the resultant savings could subsidize a neighborhood and community identity of social interaction, cooperation and enthusiasm. Goodness, I almost fell asleep halfway through this one. deepdoodoo...