Success Won't Wait!

Success Won’t Wait donates over 300 children’s books to Ministry of Caring in Wilmington, Delaware

Admin — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:19:54 +0000

This week Success Won’t wait volunteers provided over 300 children’s books to the Ministry of Caring daycare center, located on Jackson Street in Wilmington, Delaware!

The Ministry of Caring is a community-based nonprofit organization that provides a network of social, health and support services for the poor, including the homeless and working poor.

Services comprise case management, emergency shelters, transitional and long-term residences, a residence for people with AIDS, dining rooms for the hungry, a job placement center, child care centers, an outreach center, medical and dental programs and a distribution center.

To learn more about the Ministry of caring daycare program, or any of the other important services provided, please visit The Ministry of Caring.

Founded in 2002, Success Won’t Wait, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit literacy organization based in Wilmington, Delaware. Want to learn more about Success Won’t Wait’s literacy projects, how to donate used books, or volunteer your time? Simply visit About Success Won’t Wait.

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Success Won’t Wait provides 250 children’s books to Knollwood Community Center in Claymont, Delaware

Admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:37:54 +0000

Success Won’t Wait volunteer Matt McNeill, a sophomore at Archmere Academy, prepares 250 children’s books for the Knollwood Community Center.

Through Ms. Denise O’Meara of Archmere Academy, Success Won’t Wait recently learned that there was a real need for books in our own backyard! Ms. O’Meara heads up community service efforts at the school, and tutoring at the Knollwood Community Center is regularly provided by Archmere students. So, earlier this week, Archmere sophomore and longtime Success Won’t Wait volunteer Matt McNeill dug through book donations to find 250 children’s books that could be used by the children at the center.

Knollwood Community Center in Claymont, Delaware

The Knollwood Community Center serves as a summer day camp, develops recreational and social services, parenting curriculums, after school and mentoring programs, tutoring assistance, senior citizens services and a host of community activities and services for areas residents.

Read now, because success won’t wait!

You’ve been Sentenced! Celebrity Charity Tournament in Nashville will benefit Success Won’t Wait!

Admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:06:39 +0000

Country music artist Jason Michael Carroll is just one of the celebrities slated to participate in the You’ve been Sentenced! Celebrity Charity Tournament. Proceeds will benefit Success Won’t Wait and the Children’s Miracle Network.

Game manufacturer McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds, Nashville Music Guide, Music City Tours and RedBuck have partnered together to host an exciting celebrity charity event on Thursday, June 7 from 2:00-4:30 at the Hard Rock Café in Nashville. The event brings together some of country music’s brightest stars who will play the award-winning You’ve been Sentenced! word game in a tournament to benefit Success Won’t Wait and the Children’s Miracle Network

The event offers a unique opportunity for country music fans to sit down and play the You’ve been Sentenced! game with their favorite celebrities, plus see an intimate, acoustic performance by many of the attending artists.

Artists who will participate include:

Tickets may be purchased at the door. Or, for tickets in advance, please contact Cheryl Wood of McNeill Designs at 302-478-2757. Ticketing for the event is as follows:

$10 general admission
$25 VIP admission
$100 buy-in, which allows the fan to be seated at a table with various artists and participate in the tournament

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Success Won’t Wait volunteers hand out over 500 children’s books at the Winterthur Point-to-Point Steeplechase!

Admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:17:33 +0000

The annual Winterthur Point-to-Point Steeplechase was held last weekend on the stunning grounds of the Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Greenville, Delaware. Each May, this is one of the highlights of the event calendar for Success Won’t Wait volunteers.

In addition to thrilling steeplechase races, an amazing tailgate competition, a breathtaking collection of antique Rolls Royce automobiles, and loads of must-have offerings from exclusive vendors, the day also features the Success Won’t Wait Kids’ Fun Hunt!

The Kids’ Fun Hunt was instituted five years ago by Race Director Jill Abbott, as longtime attendees began bringing their children to the event. The Fun Hunt offers a “Kids’ Hunt Map” of the venue and encourages them to visit each vendor for an activity (like a free mani-pedi, painting horse shoes, or even playing dress up with a pony!) or a lovely prize. The Success Won’t Wait tent features a free children’s book provided this year by Scholastic!

The event is the perfect way to publicize the Success Won’t Wait mission and introduce families to the organization. Success Won’t Wait volunteers handed out well over 500 books at the event this year!

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Delaware’s Senator Chris Coons meets with Success Won’t Wait literacy volunteer Christine McNeill

Admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:28:03 +0000

Pictured left to right: Emma Rider, Prudential Spirit of Community winner (high school, Delaware), Delaware’s Senator Chris Coons, and Success Won’t Wait volunteer Christine McNeill, Prudential Spirit of Community winner (middle school, Delaware).

On her recent trip to Washington, D.C. for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, Success Won’t Wait literacy volunteer Christine McNeill was able to sit down and speak with Delaware’s Senator Chris Coons about her literacy efforts. Pretty heady stuff for a 14 year old 8^th grader!

Many thanks to Prudential and the NASSP, who were able to organize the interview!

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning pays tribute to Success Won’t Wait literacy volunteer from Delaware as part of four-day recognition events

Admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:47:39 +0000

CAPTION: New York Giants quarterback and 2012 Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning congratulates Emma Rider, 14, of Bridgeville (center) and Christine McNeill, 14, of Wilmington (right) on being named Delaware’s top two youth volunteers for 2012 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Delaware’s top two youth volunteers of the year, Emma Rider, 14, of Bridgeville and Success Won’t Wait volunteer Christine McNeill, 14, of Wilmington, were honored in the nation’s capital last night for their outstanding volunteer service during the presentation of The 2012 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. The two young people – along with 100 other top youth volunteers from across the country – received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning at the 17th annual award ceremony and gala dinner reception, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Emma and Christine were named the top high school and middle level youth volunteers in Delaware in February. In addition to their cash awards, they received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week’s recognition events.

Emma, a member of the Sussex County 4-H and a freshman at Sussex Technical High School in Georgetown , has collected nearly 40,000 pairs of used shoes over the past year and a half in order to buy water purification systems in developing countries.

Christine, an eighth-grader at H.B. du Pont Middle School in Hockessin, conducted a collection drive through the literacy organization Success Won’t Wait, that yielded more than 8,200 children’s books to stock school library shelves in New Orleans that were decimated by Hurricane Katrina. Christine began working on book projects before kindergarten, helping to sort, repair and deliver book donations for a literacy organization called Success Won’t Wait. As she grew older, she started to do even more by manning numerous book drives and working on special literacy-related events.

Last year, after hearing that the majority of school libraries in New Orleans were still understocked, Christine embarked on her own project. She decided to collect 150 boxes of books for the children of New Orleans, but immediately thought of a significant obstacle: getting the books from Delaware to Louisiana. “Books are heavy and expensive to ship,” she said. So she was very excited to learn that the organization Do Something would send a truck to Christine’s community and deliver her books to needy schools in Louisiana if she could collect the 150 boxes. Once she had a way to deliver the books, she started publicizing her drive by contacting the media. As a result, books for every grade level began to pour in. After sorting through the donated books, she packed them into 155 boxes. “I know that the books that I collected will make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids and help them get the education that they deserve,” Christine said.

“Through their extraordinary acts of volunteerism, these students are powerful examples of the way one young person can make a big impact,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. “We are proud to honor them for their achievements, and hope their stories inspire others to consider how they, too, can make a difference.”

More than 26,000 young people participated in the 2012 awards program last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the HandsOn Network. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state were selected in February, and flown to Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 17 years ago by Prudential Financial to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 100,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

“These young people have demonstrated remarkable leadership, selflessness and compassion, and they set a fine example for thousands of other students across the U.S. who want to make a difference,” said Ken Griffith, president of NASSP. “The actions of these young volunteers exemplify the best of what America’s youth have to offer.”

For more information please visit The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Community service dates for May; Get out there and do some good!

Admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:48:59 +0000

May 2012

National Foster Care Month – May
Older Americans Month – May
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – May
Global Youth Traffic Safety Month – May
National Preservation Month – May
Join Hands Day – May 5
Be Kind to Animals Week – May 6-12
Music Monday – May 7
World Fair Trade Day – May 12
National Family Month – May 13-June 17 (Mother’s Day-Father’s Day)
World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development – May 21
National Missing Children’s Day – May 25
World No Tobacco Day – May 31

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Success Won’t Wait has a new Abitibi Paper Retriever recycling bin; proceeds benefit literacy programs

Admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:34:47 +0000

Did you know that Success Won’t Wait has a paper recycling program called the Naked Book Project? Since 2009, we have been using the Abitibi Paper Retriever at local schools, but today, we received our very own recycling bin! That means that the proceeds from the recycled paper will go directly to Success Won’t Wait to fund our literacy programs.

You can recycle all of your newspaper, magazines, shopping catalogs, office and school papers and mail 24 hours/7 days a week right here in our green and yellow bin.

This is an easy way for you to recycle your paper every week and help us raise money for important projects. By recycling paper, not only do you save water and energy, but Success Won’t Wait earns money for every pound of paper you help us collect.

Please put all of your magazines, mail, newspapers and office papers in the green and yellow bin in our back parking lot; but do not include cardboard or phone books.

Thank you for your support of this important fundraising effort!

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Success Won’t Wait donates 500 books to the Friends of the Hockessin Library; Working hard to help them reach 70,000 books!

Admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:15:40 +0000

Success Won’t Wait volunteer Matt McNeill loads up the Friends of the Hockessin Library “shack” with book donations destined for the group’s annual Used Book Sale.

Earlier this week, Success Won’t Wait volunteers delivered another 500 books to the Friends of the Hockessin Library for its annual Used Book Sale. The Used Book Sale is the organization’s largest event of the year and this year’s sale (held in January 2012) was the largest in the group’s history – over 70,000 used books were available for sale. So, we’re working hard to make sure that the group is able to offer as many for sale in 2013 — or maybe even more!

In addition to the Used Book Sale, the Friends group raises money through private donations and membership fees. In recent years, they raised over $750,000 for the expansion and renovation of the library and spent approximately $100,000 on the reader’s garden.

Read now, because success won’t wait!

Success Won’t Wait literacy volunteer Christine McNeill receives commendation from the Delaware State Senate

Admin — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:47:14 +0000

Christine McNeill, an 8th grader at H.B. duPont Middle School in Hockessin, Delaware, is honored for outstanding community service by the Delaware State Senate.

Success Won’t Wait literacy volunteer Christine McNeill recently received a commendation from Majority Leader Patricia M. Blevins of the Delaware State Senate, 7th District, recognizing “the commitment of an exemplary young Delawarean to the well-being of others and her community.”

Christine, aged 14, is an 8th grader at H.B. duPont Middle School in Hockessin, Delaware. She has volunteered with Success Won’t Wait for 10 years, tackling many different projects. Just a few include:

a 8,000+ book donation for the schoolchildren in New Orleans,
Sorting, cleaning and repairing thousands of books for various programs,
Creating a teen library at the Claymont Boys and Girls Club,
creating dozens of children’s book baskets which are placed in locations where children have to wait, and
handing out hundreds of books at the annual Winterthur Point-to-Point Steeplechase.

Christine McNeill in 2005, mailing books to US troops stationed overseas.

Congratulations Christine!

Founded in 2002, Success Won’t Wait, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit literacy organization based in Wilmington, Delaware.

Want to learn more about Success Won’t Wait’s literacy projects, how to donate used books, or volunteer your time? Simply visit About Success Won’t Wait.

Read now, because success won’t wait!