"Like" on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend In the Spotlight: Hayfa Aboukier A former Teach for America member and Fullbright Fellow in Turkey, Hayfa currently serves as the Manager of Sustainability Initiatives and Programs for the Global Institute of Sustainability and the School of Sustainability at ASU.   She recently traveled with us to Agua Prieta, Mexico and took in the many experiences with an open heart and mind. From feeding sweet babies at the orphanage to bagging food to hand mixing cement like a champ – she worked hard and was touched by the experience. We are thrilled she will be joining us again in March for our Spring Trip.   She will also be heading up our exciting partnership with So What's On Your Plate.   And she is a Next Generation Philanthropist. Thank you Hayfa for your continued dedication.   We Are Expanding! Carl Hayden Community High School, Betty H. Fairfax High School, and Trevor G. Browne High School have joined Camelback High School in the Suppory My Club program. Their clubs and organizations are in the process of registering their items and these additional schools will be launched in January.   Our Impactful Semester  With Camelback: With the help of all of our generous donors, this semester has been a huge success!  Support My Club was able to give clubs and organizations of Camelback High School items to turn their ideas into reality.  Over 200 items supported! Over $10,000 in support! 76% of the clubs recieved items off of their wishlist Highlights:  > The Football Team & JV Cheer will be sporting new game socks > JROTC will be sending 5 students to the Military Ball > Fashion Club received a new sewing machine ​> The entire basketball team recieved brand new travel duffel bags > The Dance Team received 10 new pairs of Jazz pants > The Health Occupation Club members were trained in CPR Cerification Thank you to all who donated – your support is greatly appreciated not only by Next Generation Philanthropists, but also the students whose extra curricular activities have been enhanced and made possible by your generousity. If you have not yet visted the Support My Club website, check it out today to donate by visiting www.supportmyclub.org Trip Success! Check out the video: Click the picture above to see a video showing you how our trip went! Check out all of the cool things that we accomplished in just one weekend:   More than 700 reusable bags containing food were distributed We built: 2 concrete floors, a band beam, and a brick wall We provided a scholarship for a Colegio Anais student   Mark Your Calendar… Our Spring trip to Agua Prieta is scheduled: March 15th-17th.  Registration has just opened up and spots will go FAST!   Don't miss out on this life-changing trip. Visit www.nextgp.org/agua-prieta for more information and to reserve your spot today.   New Partnerships: SeedSpot: Locally Grown Innovation – This fabulous incubator is helping social entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful ventures that will change the world.  We are proud to be a part of their Community Program! So What's On Your Plate: A group of amazing women who collaborate to help enhance the needs of a local non-profit.  We are thrilled to be working with them on creating a more automated, enhanced and sustainable club on-boarding process. DECA: 2 honor students at Camelback High School have chosen Support My Club as their State Competition Marketing Project.  We can't wait to see what innovative ideas these remarkable young ladies can bring to the table.   Volunteers needed!   NGP is looking for several volunteers to help with new product uploading to our Support My Club website as well as content enhancement. Please email us at info@nextgp.org if you are interested in helping out.  No tech experience required. Want to help in another capacity? Drop us a line & we can get you set up.   Arizona Community Foundation: Thank you for your outstanding support!

]]> http://nextgp.org/next-gen-news-volume-2/feed/ 0 http://nextgp.org/to-be-given-a-chance/ http://nextgp.org/to-be-given-a-chance/#comments Fri, 28 Sep 2012 22:05:06 +0000 AmyArmstrong http://nextgp.org/?p=515 Continue reading →]]> Trip participant Nedra Stuckey mobilized by far the most donors for this past Agua Prieta service trip.  With $10 and $20 donations, she and her army of Facebook friends truly understood that ANYONE can be a philanthropist and that each donation made an impact.  They alone fed over 100 families in their collective effort.

And while the monetary success was important, it was one particular moment that really impacted Nedra.                   Please read her story below:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.   –Rumi

When you live in a border state, everyone seems to have opinions about the people on the other side.  Some of those opinions are more fact-based than others.   I’d been lucky enough to make a previous service trip to Agua Prieta, and the stories behind those faces had stayed with me.   The people that NGP helps in AP aren’t any different than people anywhere – the fact is, they don’t want a hand out, they want a chance.  Here are some more facts:  groceries and gasoline cost almost as much in AP as they do in Scottsdale, but a week’s salary in a maquiladora is about $60.  Did I mention that the typical maquiladora work week is six ten-hour days?  Oh, and that’s if you’re lucky enough to get a job.  Fifteen years ago there were over 30 factories in AP and today there are less than half that many.  Say what you will about global economics, entitlements, offshoring, nearshoring, welfare, whatever:  Most people want honest jobs, to earn enough to live with dignity.

One of the stories behind the faces I met on my last trip is someone I’ll call Carlos.  I was lucky enough to meet him on the last trip I made, and lucky enough to see him again this trip and catch up.  After we’d both helped with the food distribution, we chatted about our families.  (As a previous recipient of assistance from Rancho Feliz, the foundation that NGP works with on these trips, Carlos continued to volunteer to pay it forward.)    After a lull in the conversation, Carlos said to me, “you know, if it weren’t for Rancho Feliz, I have no doubt that I’d be dead or in jail.”  I was taken aback, as we didn’t know each other that well and that sounded pretty personal to me.  I asked him what he meant, thinking I’d misunderstood his Spanish.  He told me that he had been at a point in his life where he could not support his family, and he explained that if you can’t find a job, you end up working for the mafia (his word), moving drugs or undocumented workers across the border.   Here it was, right in front of me:  this man with the kind eyes and warm personality that had worked in the background of our trips just told me he would have become a criminal if he hadn’t gotten the chance that Rancho Feliz gave him. 

That’s a return-on-investment anyone can get behind.  A weekend of my time, nagging my semi-affluent friends for their spare cash, some sore muscles ….mix it up and bake for an afternoon under the Mexican sun, and you get two people from two different worlds forming an unforgettable connection.  Some people may think:  what’s the point of doing all this work to give some people in another country some handouts?  Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s not a handout, it’s a leg up, and in that moment when I realized what Carlos was telling me, I never felt so humbled by another person’s fight.  It’s an honor to be in a place where you can work with someone to change each other’s lives, and I’m proud to be part of NGP.  

Thank you for your contributions Nedra.  We are proud to have people like you as our Next Generation Philanthropists.

]]> http://nextgp.org/to-be-given-a-chance/feed/ 2 http://nextgp.org/its-not-charity/ http://nextgp.org/its-not-charity/#comments Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:00:44 +0000 AmyArmstrong http://nextgp.org/?p=504 Continue reading →]]> Our service trip to Agua Prieta, Mexico affects every participant in a different way.  This is how Brad Jannenga, President & CTO of WebPT, felt during our construction work on Saturday:

While every decent human being should have some base notion of charity and a desire to help those less fortunate, I feel a great deal of philanthropic activity is more self serving to the donor and does little to actually improve the perspective and long-term outcome of the recipient.  

That premise was rocked last weekend while pouring cement for the foundation of a one room house last weekend in Agua Prieta Mexico.  As I turned to pick up a trowel from the half finished window sill I noticed an elderly woman, with shovel in hand, diligently filling wheelbarrows full of sand and rock for what would eventually become her floor.  Side by side she worked with the volunteer crew in the hot sun to take part in improving not only her own future but the future of her daughter and grandkids.  Next to the job site stood the leaky particle board and rusted tin shack where they had been living and it hit me at that moment that                                                                                        this was not charity work, this was community work.  

There are those who stand with hand extended waiting for someone to
do the work for them and there are those who pick up a shovel and put in the effort for a brighter tomorrow.  I consider myself the latter and the unexpected companionship I felt with this woman transcended economic class, ethnicity, border lines and age and for that afternoon we were simply focused on our individual roles in making that house a reality.

http://nextgp.org/our-first-next-gen-news-read-it-here/ http://nextgp.org/our-first-next-gen-news-read-it-here/#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:20:07 +0000 AmyArmstrong http://nextgp.org/?p=350 Continue reading →]]>

Agua Prieta 2012! Whether it be volunteering on the trip or donating to our fundraising campaign, you can be a philanthropist! Make a difference by helping us make a difference!  With your help and our partnership with Rancho Feliz we will make a difference in the lives of many. We do not believe in welfare. Rather, we believe in the democratic redistribution of opportunity. Through services like our food distributions, volunteers can help families receive the basic ingredients to provide the food needed for their family to live productive and happy lives. Our group, consisting of volunteers in their 20's, 30's, and 40's will travel to Agua Prieta, Mexico in mid September to provide housing improvements and distribute food to the amazing families there. Help us reach our goal of $20,000. This will allow us to feed 1,000 families, complete multiple construction projects and provide a scholarship to a promising young person. Please visit www.nextgp.org to make a tax deductible donation. Your support is greatly appreciated!

In the Spotlight: Brynn Johnson Brynn has been a rock star volunteer. She has uploaded products into the Support My Club website, hosted our trip orientation and will be working hard with us in Agua Prieta. Day to day she is a Catering Sales and Event Coordinator at one of our favorite local restaurants, Macayo's, and is handling marketing and social media for the recently opened Milagro Grill. She plays intramural soccer in an adult league, jams out to good tunes and loves spending time with her family – especially her nieces and nephew. And, she is a Next Generation Philanthropist. Follow us on Pinterest! Did you hear the word on the street? NextGP is pinning! Follow our Agua Prieta board to watch for updated pictures or our inspiration board for doses of feel good expressions and influential phrases. We will also have our Support My Club board up soon so you all can see our products and they will take you directly to the Support My Club site. Repin our pins and we will repin yours! Thank you for your support!

"Like" on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend New school year, new opportnities Click on the Support My Club icon and discover more ways to help! Research shows that participation in organized extracurricular activities works to keep teens in school and reduces the likelihood that they will engage in risky behaviors. Beginning at Camelback High School in Phoenix, AZ, Support My Club is a program that links the needs of under- funded school clubs and activities with donors like you. With product asks ranging from $5 and up, sponsorship and volunteer opportunities, anyone really can be a philanthropist!   We have already helped over 10 clubs with donated items and sponsorships totaling over $4000.   Did you know?  For every $100 of support a club receives, they in turn give an hour of community service.  A way to say thank you to the community, further engage the students and keep the cycle of giving going.   Volunteers needed!   NGP is looking for several volunteers to help with operations, web site content enhancement and the odds and ends that come with running a new non-profit.  Please email us at info@nextgp.org if you have skills that could be put to good use here.