We finally realized the true meaning of what we had been doing all along while in MSPA. We ventured to the places where we each were donating our hard-earned cash, and got to know the owners even more. We ventured to Home For Good Dogs, the Morristown Community Soup Kitchen, and the NJ Highlands Coalition HQ on Main Street. It was the most exciting and inspirational part of MSPA for sure. We also stopped for pizza.

MSPA has definitely made me and my peers better people, and this club should and will become much larger than it is now, and needs to be spread throughout the U.S and the world.

Week 6 in MSPA included a two-period long panel meeting with two charities that a couple of the groups selected. We learned a lot about their charities and the panel members themselves. One happened to be my neighbor. Since my group is focused on improving the environment, we payed close attention to the panel member from the NJ Highlands Coalition. They are definitely on the top of our list on who to donate to.

My team’s fundraising activity is to sell hot chocolate. I am hoping that it will raise “sufficient” funds and not be irrelevant.

There are thousands upon thousands of charities worth donating to, and there are many ways on determining which one is the right one to donate to. There is the Quantitative branch of a charity, and the Qualitative branch of a charity. You can evaluate one’s quantitative branch by looking at 990’s and investigating into expenses. You can investigate the qualitative aspects by calling the executive directors themselves to learn about their interests.

I personally think that it is difficult to evaluate a charity. The 990’s can sometimes be too good to be true, or just generally bad. When you call the Executive of the charity, they might also be lying to you, so it is hard to find the right charity.

My group has started to narrow down which charities will be thought of when we decide who we are donating to. After learning how to read a charity’s 990 form, I researched one of my groups’ main candidates to receive our final donation. The group I learned more about, the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, based right here in Boonton, has above average numbers for a small charity. Once I learned this, it sparked even more internal interest to learn even more about this charity. I personally hope that they will be continue to contend for our donation against the other charities.

It was definitely important to look at the 990 form before continuing research on this charity, because if their financial statistics were in fact poor, I would unfortunately have to look past them. Instead, I learned that their quantitative statistics were admirable. Now it is up to see if their qualitative statistics follow suit.

This week’s MSPA meeting dug into what the program is all about. The picture is starting to be painted. My group’s purpose is to serve our community by improving the environment. We also thought about how we would achieve our goals by developing a vision. When each of the groups created their mission, purpose, and vision statements, it laid the foundation for the rest of our time at MSPA. We also started to identify some charities and make cold-calls which I was especially nervous about because I figured the charities wouldn’t have time to listen to an unknowing kid such as myself. I also identified an organization right in Boonton. They go by the name of “The New Jersey Highlands Coalition. They didn’t answer my call, but I left a message. During week IV, I hope to expand communications with this particular charity

During week II of MSPA, each person brought in three items that represent themselves. I learned that athletics are very important to me and that academics is as well. I also learned a lot about my group members Will, Xavier, Christopher, and Sameer. Each member had different qualities that made them unique. Will is into medicine, Xavier loves skateboarding, Sameer enjoys reading, and Chris wants to go into business. Each member of my group is different and special in their own way. That will attribute to my groups success in fundrasing.

My group is also planning to do a 50/50 raffle, we do not yet know when it will be held because we still need Administrative permission.

During the first week of MSPA we used MAD cards to find out a little more about ourselves. The set of MAD cards contained 20 cards, and each card was centered around a different problem that our nation faces. Out of the broad range of problems to choose from, the three problems that were most important to me were as follows: Environmental Conservation,  Medical Care for All, and Care for Veterans. This told me that I care for people who have served our country and that everyone deserves to have medical care available to them. I also want us to give back to our environment since it has done so much for us. I also learned that others in the class did not have the same feelings towards the problems I selected.

After the MAD cards, during next weeks MSPA meeting I would hope to learn more about the people that I do not know as well. I would like to understand how they think. This will make it easier to work with each other in the coming weeks so we can all accomplish our goals while we are involved with MSPA.