No answer and a lot of questions raising

Some days passed, without any news...
I wrote a new e-mail, more personal, to Megan and Helen only.
(this was just before I leave to Martinique for some days of vacation)

Dear Ellen Ferben,
Dear Megan Latimer,

I hope you have received my previous e-mails...

Gary Bagley, the executive director of New York cares has given me your e-mail addresses, because he thought you could inform me better on the way new cities can become affiliated with the Hands on network, especially in Europe.

The concept seems brilliant to me, and I really hope that one day, people, in France, could find such organizations in their cities, that would organize, centralize and grow volunteering projects of all kinds, and a website that would allow them to decide as late as Friday evening that they want to be helpful for 3 hours on Sunday morning, in a place they've never been to, meeting people they would never have met without this decision, and make it happen in one click of a mouse.

I have no idea of how the other projects started, but I would just love it to happen in my country, and work.

That is why I come to you, because this network exists, and because it seems to me the best way to make it happen.

I have a few questions, whose answers would already help me a lot, to move forward:

- Where does the decision usually come from? Do you usually propose the idea to some cities, or do they come to you? Is or have there been some project already, to affiliate Paris or another French city?
- Who do you work with at the beginning? Should an organization be formed, previously to any work?
- What are the prerequisites to start a project?
- How does the concept work in Europe, for instance in Amsterdam? How do you see it possible in France?
- Do you think Paris and its suburb is a good place to start with, or would you advise to start with a smaller city?
- How long does it usually take between the time the decision to start is taken, and the time the first project gathers its first volunteers?

In a nutshell, what would be, for you, the best way to make it happen?

Thank you for your answers, advices and help,

Sincerely,

Jean