Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter - The American Payroll Assocation

How you can help!

For Community Outreach programs, our goal is to provide you, our members, with opportunities to give back to your community in ways that you believe are beneficial to society. Your ideas and suggestions are essential to that goal. If you know of a worthwhile organization in need of donations or volunteers, please forward your suggestion to me at rmoyle@sepaapa.org.

Check back at this site and keep an eye out for our next meeting notice for details on our upcoming Community Outreach projects. Below are updates on some of our recent activities.

Homeless Children’s Initiative

Our Community Outreach project for this meeting will be a collection of school supplies for needy children. This was a very successful campaign last year and we are looking forward to exceeding those results this year!

We will again be working with the Homeless Children’s Initiative to donate pens, pencils, notebooks, rulers, art supplies, binders and everything else children need to head back to school.

Donations of large size book bags are the organization’s greatest need, however all types of supplies are being collected. Cash donations will be used to purchase additional book bags for our donation.

Please be generous in your support of this worthy cause!

On Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007, an estimated 100,000 volunteers across the country will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty helping to improve the nation’s parks, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands during the largest annual, single-day volunteer restoration effort for America’s public lands.

Valley Forge National Historical Park, the site of the Continental Army’s encampment during the winter of 1777-78 is inviting area residents, businesses, corporations, universities and schools to lend a hand and support your local National Park during the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance public lands.

In 2006, more than 320 volunteers planted trees, helped to reconstruct an observation deck using recycled lumber, repaired replica soldier huts, helped with trails maintenance, painted cannons and removed trash and exotic invasive plants from the Park.

“This year, with the help of our event sponsors, REI and Lipton Tea® we are planning an even bigger and better event” said Park Volunteer Program Manager, Ernestine White. We are planning to have twelve projects requiring from minimal skill to high skill that volunteers can choose from, a guided nature hike, an Environmental Expo and a fun youth workshop called “Create Your Own Bird Feeder”. Children, with their parents, will create their own bird feeders while learning about birds native to Pennsylvania, their habitats and their diets,” said White.

“This special day sends a message to visitors and users about what a wonderful and precious - educational and recreational resource they have at their disposal in America’s public lands,’ said Valley Forge NHP Deputy Superintendent Barbara Pollarine. “At Valley Forge, with its blend of historical significance, spectacular open space and such diverse recreational opportunities, that message is even more resonant,” she added.

Our chapter will again be participating in National Public Lands Day at Valley Forge Park. This year, the event will be held on Saturday, 29^th from 9:00AM to 1:00PM. Typical activities include restoring trails and huts, painting and clean up. This is a great way to give back to our community and help preserve this important natural and historical site! For more information, please see the NPLD website at http://www.publiclandsday.org/index.cfm.

Look for the sign up sheet at the registration table during our September chapter meeting.

We have been holding a special 50/50 raffle at each of our chapter meetings during the last year to raise money for a donation to the Flight 93 Fund. Flight 93 is the airplane that crashed outside of Pittsburgh on 09/11/2001 when the passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their intended target. The Memorial Fund is trying to raise $30,000,000.00 to build a memorial at the site of the crash for those who lost their lives. The ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 09/11/2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Currently the Memorial Fund has raised approximately $7,500,000.00 toward their goal. For more information, please visit their website at www.honorflight93.org

Our goal was to raise $500.00 from the membership, which would be matched by the Chapter, for a total donation of $1,000.00. I am pleased to announce that at our June chapter meeting we met our goal! We will be sending a check to the Flight 93 Fund for $1,000.00 in the name of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Payroll Association.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this fundraiser!

Thank you letter received! Click here to read!

At our June meeting, we collected donations for a food drive to benefit Manna on Main Street in Lansdale. Manna on Main Street provides a soup kitchen and food cupboard for the needy in Lansdale and eight surrounding municipalities. Your contributions help the elderly, working poor and homeless in the community.

We collected a large amount of non-perishable food items of every kind! Your donations were dropped off at Manna later in the week and they were very grateful. We received a very nice “thank you” letter, which we have posted above for you to read.

Thanks to every one for your continued support!