I got involved (I have not joined yet, but plan to soon) with the Parrot Head Club of Eastern Massachusetts late in the year last year. My thoughts were to do some cross-marketing for the tropical real estate I tout…little did I know that it would inspire me to add a charitable element to my over-all business plan and that I would meet some new PHriends!
Back in March I attended the annual New England Parrot Head Convention with a goal of reaching this group of people who already have the tropics on their brain and introduce them to the properties I sell in the Caribbean. While I did reach many of the 400+ people in attendance, what I really learned was the true nature of charitable giving! The tag line for Parrot Head Clubs universally (I think) is “Party with a Purpose.” And while the first impression is that this group of Jimmy Buffett fans really enjoy the party aspect, the overwhelming mindset of every single person I had the pleasure of speaking with was…”giving back!” This is such a strong part of what they do that I had to know more…and what I found out is that the documents each club files for it’s application as a “sanctioned” not for profit organization with the name Parrot Head attached…the organization MUST commit to supporting 2 (I believe) charities such as Special Olympics.
With that in mind I want to commend the PH Club of Eastern Massachusetts and the PH Club of Maine…Massachusetts for listening to my proposition and for helping me to get in the door; and the club in Maine for putting on the weekend event where I was able to receive my induction to the Parrot Head mindset!
But…there’s more! It’s not all about raising money and making donations! I have been following the email threads of the Eastern Massachusetts club, events, happenings, Jimmy Buffett concerts, local trop-rock artists playing here there and everywhere…a sunset club cruise…all fun stuff right? Well how about the noble cause of beach clean ups? These folks actually organized a group of people, and have done so for several years now, to clean up some of the beaches in Massachusetts. According to Paul ( a club member), he has “been organizing Coastsweep Beach Cleanups here in Massachusetts going on 7 years now for the Parrot Head Club of Eastern Massachusetts.
Our members have picked up over 2500 pounds of trash during that period-not bad considering most of it is paper cups and napkins and untold millions of cigarette butts!
We do our events rain or shine. We've had 45 degree days and 80 degree days, bright sunshine, overcast days, winds up to 30 mph and rain squalls with visibility down to about 100 yards. Yet our members show up every year to participate with big smiles and no complaints. This is a great event, especially for families with (well-supervised) 'keets.
We did two clean ups this past weekend. And folks are already talking about next year!!
I know that our neighbor club-the Nautical Whalers also have done Coastsweep cleanups.”
I hope Paul doesn’t mind that I quoted him, but I wanted to pass the credit along to these folks. I am certain that there are other PH Clubs which do similar projects to help out with their local community and my goal here is to spread the word so that others get involved in a like way.
In the mean time…you PHolks of the Eastern Massachusetts Club…keep up the good work and watch for my membership application!
While this is not meant to be a promotional post, if you want to know more about the Parrot Head Club of Eastern Massachusetts you can click here.
Hit ‘em straight!
SkipJack
