Serve -A-Thon 2012  - A Day of Service

On May 12, Pass It Along had their annual Serve-A-Thon.  This is the biggest day of Pass It Along's year and takes place at different locations all throughout Sussex County New Jersey.  These service projects include landscaping, painting, yard work, and various other projects.  At Serve-A-Thon there were 168 volunteers who accomplished 594 hours of service.  There were 20 different locations where volunteers went to help and serve.  Some of these locations included Fredon Animal Shelter, Knoll Heights, Habitat for Humanity, Ginnie's House, Project Self-Sufficiency, and many more.

I attended Little Citizens at Project Self-Sufficiency in Newton, New Jersey.  Children from ages 2 to 10 years old came to participate in their own mini Serve-A-Thon.  There were five separate projects completed at this site.  The children painted a mural to be hung up at St. John's Children's Hospital.  They also made clay creations for Ben's Bells.  Another project the children did was making peace bracelets to be given to Tilly's Kids, a mentoring program within Pass It Along.  They made Mother's Day cards and also put together little care packages for the St. John's soup kitchen.  As volunteers we watched over the kids and helped them with each of the five projects.  The kids, as well as the teen volunteers, were so cheerful and happy to be helping others.

We're Back!!

Hey All,

We started this blog a while back as a way to really get the word out about what we're doing here at Pass It Along, but alas, life and work got so busy we weren't able to keep up. But things have changed and we will be posting here more often now!

So much has happened here at PIA and we're very excited about where things are heading. We are in a new AmeriCorps year and have three very capable AmeriCorps members heading up a lot of our programs and partnering with our youth leaders on many new programs as well.

We would like to welcome Raffaela Bonventre, Patricia Chesnulovitch and Theresa Wojtecki to our staff and we hope they have a fabulous, productive year working with us here at PIA. We will be profiling them in the coming weeks along with a highlight of our Youth and AmeriCorps Alums to let you all know where some of them are now and what they are doing.

As I said, expect more blogs to come, we have so MUCH to tell you about!

That's all for now!

New Service Corps for Pass It Along Youth - By Lauren Dick, Sparta High School

Creative minds and enthusiastic spirits gathered at the Sparta United Methodist Church on Sunday, September 13th, for the first act of service dedicated to the Pass It Along Service Corps. This newly formed group is a collection of high school students representing six local high schools.

After a brief introduction to what the day would bring from members of the Pass It Along staff, Diane Taylor, Kelly Bonventre, Mara Veidis and Donna Butzke, the Service Corps members began to experience the joys of being part of a close-knit team. Acquaintances turned into friendships through a morning filled with games and sharing circles that involved stories of past serving experiences and the benefits of community service.

Following a shared lunch, the Service Corps broke into small discussion groups to converse about what each individual desires to see happen in their year of service. After the small groups, all of the members united to speak about their goals and purposes for the year.

The group decided what they wanted to stand for and represent within the community. They agreed to represent not only society, but the environment too. The 2009-2010 Service Corps will dedicate its time to bettering the world by offering a hand to those in need through various charity drives, reach out to underprivileged children by providing them with memorable experiences and friendship, and work together towards an all-around positive change. The community leaders also spoke about their plans for conserving energy and giving aid to homeless animals.

After defining their mission, the group was sent off on their first act of service; the task of cleaning the Sparta United Methodist Church, original home of Pass It Along. Members were split into teams that carried out responsibilities such as power washing, cleaning windows, and washing floors. Together, after a tiring two hours, the church was sparkling clean.

The exhausted team gathered once more inside to reflect on their day. They decided that hard work is never quite as difficult when you're having fun with friends and doing something for the betterment of the community. Also, there is no such thing as a "small" act of service. All it takes is a few creative minds and dedicated spirits to make a difference for the better. As the Pass It Along Service Corps entered a group hug to end their first day of service, everyone knew that this was only the beginning of a successful and enjoyable year filled with infinite opportunities to "be the change."

Teens Leading the Way - By Leslie Sullivan, Sparta High School

As I sat in on the youth conference meeting and listened to the plans Pass It Along had for the week, the month, and the year I realized, wow, this meeting…this organized structured meeting is strictly run by the youth. Us teens were working in a professional matter to get our work done and to help our community. No longer were we the ones being taught, but we were now the ones teaching; teaching others to believe in themselves, teaching inner city children a new and different way of life. But mostly teaching ourselves that community service, volunteer work, and becoming mature is not the end of the world. It is a whole new and exciting world filled with many options and emotional rewards. You lose nothing, by helping and becoming a member of Pass It Along and gain so much. This program is run smoothly by the youth, and I would like to congratulate them for doing such a phenomenal job and serving our community to their fullest extent.

American University student chooses nonprofit media as a major

(This post was originally written May 31, 2009)

The third installment in our series of youth volunteer stories is from Tasha Miley currently a student at American University and a member of Alpha Phi Omega the coed community service fraternity.

Typically people volunteer because they want to make a difference in the lives of others. There is nothing wrong with this mentality; in fact, that was the mindset I had when I started to volunteer. However, since volunteering with Pass It Along my outlook on service has transformed into something much more meaningful. I have realized the impact volunteering has made on my own life.

The programs and projects I have organized and participated in with Pass It Along have helped shape me as a leader and an individual. The experiences I had while volunteering with Pass It Along helped me discover my love for filmmaking and influenced my decision to become a film major in college. Pass It Along ignited within me the desire to be a voice for social change through documentary film and non-profit media. Pass It Along is not just an organization that provides youth with opportunities to serve, but instead it is an organization that provides individuals with the opportunities to mature, learn, and grow.

I have learned more valuable life lessons and leadership skills through volunteering with Pass It Along then I did all four years of high school. The lessons and skills that I acquired over these past few years have proved to be invaluable not just at home, but also at school and in the workforce. What I want people to realize is that Pass It Along is not just a typical nonprofit, it is so much more than that. Pass It Along is an organization that creates sustainable change not just in the community, but in its volunteers as well, change that will last a lifetime.

-Maria Miley

Jefferson High School AmeriCorps member discusses volunteering

(This post was originally written May 28, 2009)

For Brittany Jerkovich, a senior at Jefferson High School in Northwest NJ, serving her community is something she does as an individual trying to do her part to make a difference in this world.

Brittany began serving with Pass It Along as a freshman in high school and is now finishing up a year of serving 300 hours as a minimum time AmeriCorps member. Brittany decided to put into video format her idea of a perfect world as well as what volunteering and serving others has done for her.



-Maria Miley

Local Youth Speak Out On Service

(This post was originally written May 26, 2009)

As a typical nonprofit struggling in these harsh economic times, Pass It Along is striving to do many things with very little financial resources. We take great pride in one of our greatest non-financial resources, our teen volunteers. In this capacity we are rich beyond compare.

Over the next week I am going to share some thoughts written by some of our teen volunteers. Please enjoy them and even share your thoughts. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." At Pass It Along our mission, to awaken, validate and nourish the innate desire to give back by mobilizing youth as community partners, was inspired by this wisdom and we feel that these stories exemplify this.

Luke Huelsenbeck is currently a senior at Sparta High School in Northwest NJ. He has been a volunteer with Pass It Along since 5th grade, but more recently he as been serving with us as a minimum time AmeriCorps member. As a minimum time member, Luke is serving 300 hours in one year and will receive a $1000 scholarship upon his completion. Here is Luke's story in his own words:

I have helped build a playground. I have slept in a box to help raise homelessness awareness. I have mentored youth from both the inner city and our own county. I have seen the crippling misfortunes of others down on their luck. And I have seen the unyielding power that exists among a group of volunteers. Pass It Along has been the gateway to my love of volunteerism, whether it is cooking for a soup kitchen or raking an elderly woman's lawn, I feel I am able to connect with my community, other people, and myself.

I first started with Pass It Along at a young age, but did not quite comprehend the impact I was making. More recently, I joined Pass It Along as an AmeriCorps Member (the domestic version of the Peace Corps). I had no idea what I was getting into. From the first time I walked into the office I was greeted with at least four smiling people, immediately treating me like one of the family; I thought they were crazy. As time moved on I served on more projects; participating with Tilly's Kids, working with Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) to raise homelessness awareness in Sussex County, and doing anything I could to help out.

However, it was not until my first trip to Newark under a program called "Cooking with a Mission" that I realized I was a part of something special. It seemed like a routine thing: enter the mission, cook, serve, and clean up. But something happened that day that will stick with me forever. A little boy named Clarence came into the kitchen, and immediately made us all smile. It was amazing to see that through all of the hardships, the bad luck, and the uncertainty that filled his own and his parent's lives, we could all see the innocence of this child. I was quick to notice a change in my own thought: we were no longer the middle-class helping the poor, nor were we the well-off helping the needy; we were humans, helping humans, through the love and compassion that we all shared in our common struggle of life.

I cannot say I was suddenly enlightened, and suddenly my life's goal was drastically changed. I can't even say that I went home that day and gave up all my possessions because I was so moved. All I can say is that I learned how to appreciate the life that is within all of us as well as the connections established through volunteering that are able to traverse all races, cultures, and backgrounds. I realized why on my first day I had been greeted with so many smiles; it was my first connection in my career of volunteerism, a salute to a fellow humanitarian, and the welcome to a world that has changed countless lives, including my own, forever.

-Maria Miley