Ian Prout Premiers The Stokes Foundation Vinyl

Ian Prout’s SCDA BMW #40 car with its new Stokes Foundation vinyl. The car is slated to race las Sunday, October 7th, 2012 at Watkins Glen in a 4-Hour Enduro w/ Ian and pro driver Eric Curran co-driving the race. Visitwww.scda1.com for more info. on Ian’s work.

Every Kid Deserves a PAL

Just a few of the dozens of regulars at the JCPAL Boxing Program. These guys have been the main beneficiaries of July’s Stokes Foundation and Goldman Sachs restoration service project since they use the space the most!

Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks 2012

Many thanks to Goldman Sachs wonderful team of eighteen employees for making this year’s Community TeamWorks Project a success. GS staff conducted a significant cleanup and restoration project of three areas at Jersey City’s Old Y w/ Stokes Foundation and JCPAL. View a few photos…

Serving Others

NYC Rugby Mayor’s Cup 2011

CPAL takes home Play Rugby USA’s 2011 Mayor’s Cup and Tournament MVP trophies!

Bellow, Mark Griffin, Play Rugby USA’s Executive Director, presents JCPAL and Coach Chris Otundo with the Mayor’s Cup! It took 8 matches in one day from group stage to knockout, to win a dramatic final.

Bellow 2011 Rugby Mayor’s Cup Tournament MVP Matt Williams being presented with the individual accolade won by skill, sportsmanship, and team ethic. Event sponsor representative from HSBC presented Matt with the hardware.

Below, It took a total of 8 wins including the final match to take home the Cup. All seven young men worked every minute of every game and left it all on the pitch, playing to 7 wins, 1 draw, and no losses on the day.

College Rugby Outing: 2011

A fun day for all in getting 25 kids out of the city for a day!

First Tee of Metro NY and Jersey City’s PAL Connect

Back in 2011, we facilitated a meeting between The First Tee of Metro New York and Jersey City’s PAL that resulted in use of their facility and tee-time access at Weequahic and other Golf Courses for our kids, logistical support, coaching resources and pros, and allow ing PAL to share resources like our four-lane indoor driving range that may help The First Tee engage more kids in a new geography.

JCPAL Rugby 2011 Recap

First Rugby Practice of 2011

The 1st Rugby Practice of 2011…

1st day of Rugby 7′s practice with Sgt. Williams, Head Coach Chris Otundo, and Ray Walker along with the first Stokes Foundation sponsored program. Ray concluded a pep talk to the boys with “…you are each special. You will always be special.”

 

 

Stokes Foundation Wish List

Beyond monetary contributions…  We are founded on a methodology of securing in-kind donations of goods and services.  Please take a minute to determine if you can help.

DONATE BELOW

Everybody Can Be Great

“Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. you only need a heart full of grace. a soul generated by love.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

IndieGoGo Pitch

Hay everybody check out our pitch below for IndieGoGO, the crowd-funding solution that empowers ideas and enables people to donate funds easily:

Great Article On A Complex Issue

A great article on a complex issue that our 5-Day Urban Boarding School Program Model approaches with great sensitivity. We’re building a support for single mothers and their children that allows continuity and nurturing… We can’t replace responsible fathers, but we can grow them. We can’t keep adolescents from having sex, but we can help them shift their priorities in life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39993685/ns/health-womens_health/?ocid=twitter

Navigating The Waters Of The Deerfield River

Catharsis… Ray Walker ’92 and some of his colleagues from Y.O.U., Inc. navigating the waters of the Deerfield River in Orange, MA circa 2005, just upstream from Deerfield Academy.

Schools Are Built To Change Lives

Schools like The Urban Assembly’s New York Harbor School are built to change lives! The school brings maritime education and unique opportunities on the water to students in New York City.

Touching All Three Stovetops

First you must serve others and you inevitably serve yourself. Secondly take aim and fire! Finally keep humility close to your core.

National Day Of Service And Remembrance

Regardless of political or ideological differences, I believe we can all agree that we should take 9/11 as a call to service and remembrance! click here to read a great article on the matter.

 

Staying Connected In New Hampshire

Ryan FitzSimons facilitated a genesis of sorts for Stokes Foundation… New and Old Friends of J.J. Stokes connected at Ryan’s place in Rye, NH (Summer 2010)

Swimming Proficiency In Low Income Areas

Although J.J. Stokes was an avid and capable swimmer who tragically drowned, one of our basic overarching goals is to increase swim proficiency in low-income areas. Below is a link to a great WSJ article on disparity in swim proficiency among African-American and Latino children relative to Caucasian children. View that article here.

 

 

Partnering With Existing Crew Programs

Team rowing is a great program in Holyoke, MA is one of several in New England that highlights the benefits and impact of team rowing sports on the lives of teen mothers. One of the projected core initiatives of Stokes Foundation is to bring crew teams to underserved students via partnerships with existing crew programs, corporations, and schools.

Goldman Sachs Community Team Works Partnership

Stokes Foundation was approved as a Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks  Partner Organization.  Garrett James (Deerfield ’93) served as our sponsor at GS, made a significant investment of time in the application process, and will serve as co-captain for our project with Stokes Foundation and Jersey City Police Activity League this summer.

In his prior work, our Executive Director had submitted three successful projects with Community TeamWorks that engaged students and Goldman Sachs staff in teambuilding and rock climbing activities.  This summer Stokes Foundation will work together with Goldman Sachs and Jersey City Police Activity League to renovate the youth center at 654 Bergen Avenue in Jersey City which is the old YMCA and now serves as Stokes Foundation’s Headquarters.

The project entails a cash grant of approximately $2k from Goldman-Sachs for the renovation/cleanup project in addition to the volunteer efforts of two dozen GS employees working in the downtown Jersey City Goldman Sachs office.

Stokes Foundation, Inc., 654 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304