After collecting all our bins and equipment it was finally time for the long awaited Sports Swap. The day started early at 8:30 am in the NPHS parking lot. Kennedy and I’s families were also there to help transport and set up the equipment. We started by taking out 4 long white tables that were provided by Mr.Cooper and Mr.Wright. We covered one table with shoes and cleats and another in clothing items and specifically baseball and softball pants. The other two tables were covered in other equipment and was organized by sports. This took around an hour to fully set up the sports swap station. We had a very successful first hour of the swap due to sports and practices taking place around of New Pal. We had a big turnout of younger players and parents, but we also had a large amount of people that were bringing car loads of old equipment. We quickly realized that many people were more eager to get rid of their old equipment than to pick it up, so we were having trouble getting rid of equipment. After the first hour, people started to pick up items and a difference in the amount of equipment was obvious. As the people started to slow down and man approached Kennedy and I and offered to take the rest of our leftover equipment for a donation. This was a perfect opportunity given to Kennedy and I, so we accepted and waited till there were no more people showing up. We ended the swap at 1pm with the tables having some gaps, but most of the original items have been taken. The tables were full with donated items that were brought to the swap, but the swap was still very successful. We had a great turnout of families, so we invited the man back to take the rest of the items. He donated around 200 dollars that we will be giving to the Eyerman Family.
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After a slow start, Kennedy and I had to find new ways to get donations and fast with our projected swap day coming up fast. We started by making posts on local neighborhood facebooks and also on the New Palestine Parents page. This was a great success and brought us more equipment, so we decided to make two more drop off spots in the community. We first dropped off a box at Upward that is located near the middle of New Palestine and we also put a bin at the Boys and Girls club by Greenfield. The B&G club bin had to be set outside due to the amount of hours it was open to the public. We had to be creative and create a weather proof bin to hold these items. We ended up cleaning out an old trash bin and decorating it with a big poster. We lastly had to finalize the date of our swap, so we can start getting the word out to community members. We spoke to Mr.Cooper and Mr. Wright on a date and finalized the Saturday after spring break April 16. We also decided on hosting the swap in the parking lot of New Palestine High School and also reserving the main gym for a backup plan due to bad weather. Kennedy and I quickly found trouble when collecting bins. We found that only one school was participating, the New Palestine Middle School and we think that this was an issue because of the transporting. We found it hard for students to be able to bring this equipment to school due to many factors. This was something that Kennedy and I couldn’t directly fix, so we decided to find another way to still get donations. Kennedy and I started by contacting local businesses that community members would be willing to drop off equipment at, such as Hancock Wellness, United Methodist Church, local YMCA or Boys and Girls clubs. We got responses from all, but only two were willing to let us drop off a box. By the end of the month of February we had approximately 1 box worth of equipment.
After Kennedy and I finished our last project, we decided to pick a project that didn't need money donations. After brainstorming for a couple days, we decided on The Sports Swap. We created a plan to have all the schools in New Pal donate old sports equipment that they have laying around their homes. Then after collecting enough sports equipment we could set up a day to have a swap. Our goal was to set up tables at New Palestine High school full of equipment, so families in the community can swap out their old equipment for other donated items if needed. We started by creating two different flyers, one for our collection bins and the other to give to the participating schools. We then sent emails to all the New Pal schools asking for their permission and participation. We lastly needed bins for collecting the larger items in the drive. Kennedy's dad provided large cardboard boxes and we painted them white with a poster on the front. After putting together our boxes and flyers, we spent a long day traveling to all the schools hanging flyers and dropping off our donation bins. We are now waiting for the donation turnout.
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