Mercy Crew Hospitality

Hello Fellow Crew Families,

Family volunteers plan the menu, purchase the amount of food needed for the regatta and clean up the site.  All families are expected to volunteer for meal preparation for at least one regatta per season. Help is available for menu selection and quantity of food needed. The Hospitality Committee will provide reimbursement for any expenses incurred. Please use this Hospitality Reimbursement Form for your expenses.  Volunteers then organize and prepare the meals at the regatta site. Grills, pots and pans, utensils and everything needed to prepare meals will be at the regatta site in the trailer—volunteers do not need to bring those items. Usually several people work together to prepare and cook meals and it can be a lot of fun! Parent volunteers are also in charge of preparing hot beverages, cold beverages, and more. Please do not shy away from volunteering. Crew is a family sport that requires your time and effort to be successful.

Two highly important jobs are needed at every regatta...the hot and cold beverage coordinators.  The Hot Beverage Family is responsible for keeping coffee and hot water supplied to the team and their families throughout the entire regatta day.  The Cold Beverage Family brings ice and water to regattas and ensures that everyone has an adequate supply of Gatorade and other cold drinks throughout the entire regatta day.  Please consider volunteering for the honored job!

For some regattas, the entire team will be rowing but for other regattas only selected rowers will participate. Coach will inform the girls ahead of time as to which regattas in which they will be participating. You only need to provide your food item for the regattas your daughter will be attending. 

OUT OF TOWN REGATTAS: For out of town regattas that require a hotel stay, the reservation form will be for meals and for the hotel fee. Rowers are strongly encouraged to stay in rooms with team members because it builds friendships and closer team bonds. The Hospitality Committee will reserve rooms for all rowers participating in the regatta. If you have a situation that requires your rower to have a different arrangement, please notify us as soon as possible for planning purposes. Rowers that do not stay in team rooms are expected to stay with their parent(s) in the same hotel as the team. The Hospitality Committee usually reserves an additional block of rooms for parents, however, it is the parent's responsibility to make his/her own reservation from this block of rooms, secured by his/her credit card, if he/she needs overnight accommodations. 

CANADIAN REGATTAS:  Mercy Crew  participate in several regattas that are held in Canada. Currently you can use a Birth Certificate with a raised seal along with a photo ID to cross the border but in the near future a U.S. Passport will be required. If rowers are not traveling with a parent, they will also need a letter authorizing them to cross the border with another adult if the rower is under 18. Rowers will also need their school ID since most regattas in Canada require this documentation. The rower is responsible for having these documents with her at all times. Always check BEFORE you leave Rochester to make sure you have the proper documentation. 

Due to the unique nature of this sport, we have decided to pull together some information that will ease your transition into the world of rowing. Many new parents feel overwhelmed and confused, as this sport is unlike any other. They don't know what to expect or how to contribute,so we hope this overview will help you feel like a part of the team, as well as understand how the team operates on a  hospitality level.

Mercy Crew has  developed a Hospitality Committee to handle the many aspects of crew events including transportation, meals, hotel arrangements for out of town regattas, and organizing special events such as the Crew Mass and Banquet.

The Mercy Crew Hospitality Tent is our home base when our girls are rowing. This is where you will find the parents, team, and families at all events. If the girls are not there, then they are at the boat trailer or on the water for a race. Even if rowers are not racing, they should be assisting their teammates with rigging, launching, de-rigging, and packing the trailer. At the Hospitality Tent, the Hospitality Committee provides hot meals, hot and cold beverages, and snack items for the team and their families throughout the day. 

The Hospitality Committee obtains the food served at each regatta in two ways: 1) each family is asked to donate a specific item which has been assigned to them ahead of time (for example, ifyou are asked to bring 2 bunches of bananas, you will bring them to each regatta, each day you attend); and2) food is purchased to prepare whatever hot meal is being served at that particular regatta. Prior to each regatta, a reservation form will be sent to each family. It will list which meals will be available for each day of the regatta and what the cost will be per person. If a rower attends a regatta, she is expected to pay for meals. It is the responsibility of each rower to return the reservation form with a check for the correct amount by the RSVP date listed on the form.  It is crucial that you watch for these forms and return them quickly as Regattas are almost every weekend during the season.  For planning purposes, you are requested to reply and pay in advance for all meals.
 

For general hospitality questions, please email us at hospitality@mercycrew.org.
For specific questions, please contact any of the members of the hospitality committee.

Hospitality Reimbursement Form