Two Montgomery Academy students present Camp ASCCA with donations of $500 each

This year, two Philanthropy 101 students from Montgomery Academy selected Camp ASCCA as their 501c3 organization of choice. It is a summer program where selected seniors are challenged and taught how their own abilities and everyday actions can make a difference in their communities. The course was designed by the W. James Samford, Jr. Foundation and The Montgomery Academy. Within the program curriculum, students learn “how to analyze a nonprofit’s financial statement and learn how a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization operates.”

By the end of the course, students unfortunately do not receive school credit, but they are instead given a stipend that must be partially given to the nonprofit of his or her choice. At the start of the summer, the students travel to different nonprofits across the state including Camp ASCCA, Children’s of Alabama, Central Alabama Community Foundation and many more. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions about each organization and help them confidently select an organization. The students visited Camp ASCCA earlier this summer and spent the day with Camp Director Matt Rickman who explained how Camp ASCCA operates and the populations we serve throughout the year.

Once the students visited all of the nonprofits, The Montgomery Academy hosted a special luncheon for the students and representatives from each nonprofit organization. On Monday, June 10, Camp ASCCA Board Chair Bob Kelley attended the luncheon as Camp’s representative along with his wife. It was at the luncheon where Mr. Kelley was presented with two $500 donations from students Eric Doh and Femi Adediji. Each student presented a letter to Matt sharing why they selected Camp ASCCA. Eric shared, “I was confident of who I was going to donate to, but after hearing many amazing stories of Camp ASCCA’s significance, I realized that there was no place better to donate my money to and impact the lives of many children and adults with disabilities.” Femi wrote, “When our Philanthropy class visited I was extremely impressed with the facility and I feel that my donation will be in good hands at Camp ASCCA. Having seen how well your organization can stretch a dollar, I know that the money will be used as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

As always, our representatives had a great time at the luncheon, and Bob shared, “Donna and I had a wonderful time at Montgomery Academy. Femi, Eric and both their parents treated us like royalty.” We would like to say thank you to Eric and Femi for choosing Camp ASCCA as their donation recipient and the Philanthropy 101 program for continuing to show its students how important community impact is as high school seniors and beyond!