All Posts by Admin

Hilltop Country Day School Day of Service

On Saturday, 1/27/18, Pass It Along was invited to host a day of service at Hilltop Country Day School in Sparta, NJ. Hilltop is an indpendent day school serving students in preschool through eighth grade. Over 20 families came together to serve, including students, parents and grandparents!
Projects included:

  • Activity bags for Family Promise, including decorating canvas bags, bubble kits and friendship bracelets.
  • Cards of Encouragement.
  • Valentine’s Day vases for the residents at the Homestead Rehabilitation & Health Care Center.
  • Thank You Boxes of Treats for local heroes and first responders in our community.

The day included breakfast and a talk-back about service and giving back – check out a few pictures below. Thank you to Hilltop for hosting us!

 

Service Corps Project Update

Our Service Corps is hard at work completing their first service projects of the year. Starting in November, the teens were broken up into teams of four or five and were tasked with creating a service project to help the community which has to be completed by the end of February. Service Corps is a highly motivated group of teens who are committed to serving at a deeper level. Service Corps teens meet on a weekly basis and help to research, plan and administer major service events during the year.

Group 1 – Faith, Nick, Steph, Kelsi

27398542_10157131870224899_209678790_o-e1516991150857.jpg
The first group to complete their project, group 1 hosted a table for kids at the annual Family Promise Christmas Party! There were crafts, coloring, letters to Santa and Christmas cookie decorating. They were the hit of the party and were joined by other Pass It Along teens to make it a night to remember, including a visit from Santa!

Group 2 – Grace, Kate, Mike, Mikyla, Michaela

Starting next week, this group will meet with both goLEAD groups to lead them in a night of various activities inspiring bonding and self-discovery. Stay tuned for updates!

Group 3 – Delaney, Canivan, Kevin, Brendan

25906152_15132597850_r
Group 3 has taken their project to the next level! After deciding to work with teenage mental health, they started Happy Cases. The goal is to make care packages full of different items such as tie-dyed pillow cases (for a touch of comfort), journals, socks, coloring books, etc, that will help those that are in the Carrier Clinic based in Montgomery, NJ for almost 18 months. To date, they have raised $6,640 through GoFundMe! They will be helping over 90 teens currently receiving care and hope to bring a little love and fun into their day.

Group 4 – Jaida, Robby, Riley, Cam, Hailey

Group 4 will be working with SCARC right here in Sussex County! They will be hosting a night of fun, complete with board games, a movie, snacks and more!

Group 5 – Hailey, Victoria, Val, Trent, Maddie

Inspired by all the GOOD happening in our community, Group 5 has chosen to create a video highlighting all the positive happening in the world. The video, which will take a few months to complete, will include interviews from local students and community members. We can’t wait to share it with you!

Group 6 – Isa, Michael, Landon, Tyler

Wanting to work with youth, Group 6’s project will include care packages for the kid’s emergency department at Newton Medical Center. Each care package will have a stuffed animal, a coloring book and some crayons. To donate and get involved with their project, click here.

Group 7 – Daniel, Jamie, Maddelyn, GianLuca

Group 7’s project is a nursing home game night! Hosted at a local nursing home, they will bring a night of fun to the residents. Stay tuned to see who wins bingo!
 
This post will be updated as projects are completed, so check back to see progress!

2

Nancy Nester – Pass It Along Intern

In 2017, Pass It Along had the honor of having Nancy Nester, 16, of Sparta as an intern! Nancy began volunteering with Pass It Along during her freshman year of high school, and over the past year took her volunteering to the next level. Starting in March 2017, she teamed up with OSCAR (One Step Closer Animal Rescue), a non-profit animal rescue organization in Sparta, NJ. In total, Nancy completed 268.5 hours in 2017 and now organizes their volunteer program!
“She does everything when she comes to help us from cleaning to helping feed the pups to loading for events to helping with adoptions,” said Anthony Prisco of OSCAR. “You name it, and she helps us with it. Last weekend (January 6 & 7, 2018) we had 16 pups go to their forever homes. Nancy came to help on Saturday and we had 10 pups go home on that day. That definitely would not have been possible without her help.”
We would like to take a moment to thank Nancy for all of her hard work; you are the definition of what makes Pass It Along incredible! She will continue her internship into 2018, and we cannot wait to see what she accomplishes.

Christmas in the City 2018!

It was another successful year of Christmas in the City here at Pass It Along!
We were able to provide gifts, snacks and a day of holiday cheer to underprivileged children in the Oranges and Irvington, NJ. Over 400 volunteers helped to serve more than 2000 low-income students. Each year, this holiday outreach program helps get gifts into the hands of children who otherwise would not know the simply pleasure of a new toy at Christmas.
Thanks to all of those who donated and have lead this program year after year, including High Point Regional High School, Sparta High School, Pope John High School. Check out a few pictures below!