Projects
District Project - Children's Specialized Hospital
This year's NJ District Key Club Project is Children's Specialized Hospital. CSH is the largest comprehensive, pediatric rehabilitation hospital in the United States. Last year, more than 16,000 children around the state of New Jersey were treated in the hospital. Anyone under the age of 21 that requires medical, developmental, educational, or rehabilitative care is admitted into the hospital regardless of the ability to pay for the treatment. The hospital provides a wonderful environment filled with a staff dedicated to help the patients in need. Inpatient and outpatient services are available, and the hospital continues to accommodate all the children. There is a new facility located in New Brunswick and it needs our help. They have spent billions of dollars building this new facility and they spend thousands of dollars daily, paying for those patients who are under-privileged or under-insured. No patients are ever turned away due to inability to pay. This is where Key Club comes in.
Key Club is currently seeing CSH merchandise. This merchandise consists of teddy bears, magnets, lanyards, and even CSH bags. All of these are very affordable and greatly benefit the hospital. The MAST Key Club also runs several fundaraisers and events to benefit the Hospital (listed below). If any Key Clubber would like to order some of this merchandise or start their own CSH projects, please contact LTG Charlotte.
CSH Walk
The most recent Children’s Specialized Hospital Walk took place on Sunday, November 2, 2008. About 150 members attended the walk and a little over $3,000 was raised. We did not reach our goal for the walk, but it was still a great success. Everyone had a great time walking (or riding their bikes). The chaperones accidentally took the wrong route during the walk but no harm was done. The students just kept on walking. Students from other schools also raised money and attended the walk. In addition, a few lieutenant governors from other divisions decided to join MAST in their Children’s Specialized Hospital Walk. After the long act of actually walking, everyone got to come together and eat at the annual walk barbeque prepared by some volunteers. We all had a great time together goofing around and listening to music. In the future, we hope to have even more attendees and hope to reach our goal that we set this year. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to the walk, we were happy to have you there and you really contributed to the amazing turnout of the walk.
CSH Prom
This year, MAST held a prom for CSH. This year's theme was the 50's. Alyson and Maren worked extremely hard on the jukebox/soda barphoto backdrop that the kids took a picture in front of. Allie, Holly, and Elizabeth helped out as well And with the help of many other Key Club members, we had awesome decorations. On March 7th, everyone headed out to Toms River to the Children’s Specialized Hospital. There were twenty of MAST’s finest Key Clubbers that attended the event, as well as Mr. Ellithorpe and the CSH Coordinators. There was music, food, decorations, pin the tail on the poodle, limbo, and four corner games for the kids and their families. The smiles that lit up each child’s faces were incredible, and from the mad dash for forms to the final stages of cleaning up, those smiles made all that we did 100% worthwhile. We would like to thank Pete Cavanaugh, our fabulous DJ; Mr. Ellithorpe, our amazing advisor; and Jenna Regal, Allison Dixon, Breege Boyer, and Melissa Polewczak for putting it all together and spending so much of their time on this great project.
CSH Dance-a-Thon
On Friday March 20th, Key Club hosted a dance-a-thon to raise money for the Children’s Specialized Hospital. Danielle Devinsky and Courtney Stefanik did a spectacular job of pulling everything together and making sure the dance happened. Unfortunately these two lovely leaders were sick the day of the dance-a-thon, but all their hard work definitely paid off! The theme was neon and there sure was a lot of neon in Building 77 Friday night. There were colorful streamers, balloons, lava lamps and glow stick necklaces everywhere. All the dancers were also in neon attire. Pete Cavanaugh was a wonderful DJ and played everything from the Cha-Cha Slide to Poker Face by Lady Gaga. There were also dance off contests which everyone had a blast participating in. Around six o’clock we all sat together to eat delicious pizza that Chiafullos kindly delivered to MAST. The dance went on until nine o’clock, when we were all ready to fall asleep! Between admissions, raising money and selling glow necklaces Key Club raised over one thousand dollars for the Children’s Special Hospital. The CSH Dance-a-Thon was definitely a success and I hope all of MAST’s Key Clubbers can attend next year!
CSH Pajama Party
The Pajama Party was a great success this year. Therefore, we plan to make this one of our regular projects. This event raised over $275 for Childrens Specialized Hospital in one night. This project will hopefully raise more money for us in the future as more and more see how much fun it is. This night of hanging out with friends, playing video games, and eating great food will become a great new tradition for our Key Club.
Project Noel
Project Noel is our major service project every year. This project starts two months before the holidays and ends right before break. Through different organizations, we obtain the names and descriptions of families in need. As a club we get members and students to donate gifts that cater to their needs and wants. This project has been a great success as we have helped Katrina victims, military families, and local families in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Project Noel is always in need of help and is greatly appreciative for all that it receives.
Read to Lead
Read to Lead is a fun, easy program where students of MAST read and perform for the nursery located right by the campus during Lunch A. It is a great way to earn community service hours and builds leadership qualities in all participants. People who sign up would meet with either Sue Jean Sung or Paige Hakim in Building 316 at the beginning of Lunch A. One of the two would explain what to do and walk you over towards the nursery. Read to Lead takes place every Monday and Thursday, and once every month there will be different group of people that put on a little show for the eager kids. If you are interested in participating in any way, see Sue Jean Sung or Paige Hakim.
Kiwanis Fish Fry
On February 25th, the annual Fish Fry was held at the Town and Country Diner by Kiwanis. A lot of our Key Club members helped out at the Fish Fry, either by preparing the food, serving the fish and the French fries to customers, serving drinks, and doing other tasks as well. The event was a great success because a lot of members showed up at the diner to help and large amount of people came to eat. The people eating at the restaurant really enjoyed our helpfulness and the joyful attitudes we all put forth. Thanks a lot to everyone who came and made this a success.
Global Angels
Global Angels is an international children’s charity. Julia Garrick sold their bracelets at lunch time for three weeks on Tuesdays and Fridays. She also also sold them around her neighborhood. The money donated to Global Angels by buying these bracelets goes directly to children in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Mozambique, Sudan, Angola, Thailand, Kenya, Brazil, Rwanda, India, and Uganda. The money goes to centers which help provide impoverished children and orphans with nutritious food, clothing, and shelter. It also helps the centers and programs that take care of rescued child slave laborers, trafficked children, and children prisoners of war. These children have no other place to go than the lonely streets where they are not fed, can be bought and sold, or abducted. You may think that buying one bracelet will not make much of a difference, but it will. Every cent put forth to helping these children, represents our community coming together to help a cause bigger than ourselves. We would like to thank everyone at the Marine Academy for being so supportive and caring about children all over the world. There are many other ways to donate to Global Angels and their different projects. We encourage you to visit their website, www.globalangels.org, to see how you can donate. Thank you all very much. Your concern and thought is greatly appreciated. You are all angels.
Relay for Life
Every year, M.A.S.T. students participate in an American Cancer Society event called Relay for Life. It is an all-night fundraising event for cancer research. People make teams of 10 to 20 people, and they collect donations and raise money before and during the relay. On the evening of the event, all the teams gather at Mater Dei High School’s track and pitch tents. From the beginning to the next morning, each team must have at least one member walking around the track. Some people may walk all 17 hours, and some may only walk for 10 minutes, but every person is helping to find a cure for cancer and support survivors. Relay for Life is a fun as well as moving event. People who have been touched by cancer speak about their experiences and really motivate the relayers to fight for the cause. There is a candle ceremony that touches the hearts of everyone attending. But RFL is also packed full of exciting activities and competitions to keep those who aren’t walking entertained all night. From hula-hoop contests to live bands, the Relay organizers really know how to make it a night to remember. For the past few years, M.A.S.T. has been a key contributor to the Relay for Life of Middletown. Each grade puts together a team and raises money for the American Cancer Society. It’s safe to say that everyone who participates in Relay for Life with M.A.S.T. has a great time. This year, RFL of Middletown is June 19th – 20th, and it’s time to start getting ready. If you are interested in starting a team, talk to Tori Lucyk or Julie Walker. Relay for Life is all about celebrating those who have survived, remembering those who have been lost, and fighting back against cancer, and M.A.S.T’s teams are sure to be fighting back with all of their hearts.