1. Who did you serve, and what did you accomplish that day?
We served Ken and Stephanie Akselsen who serve as missionaries
with Athletes in Action (AIA) in NJ. They serve with this nonprofit
sports ministry and head up a division in NJ which partners with local
churches to reach out to community children by running low cost
sports camps.

2. During this past summer of 2013 they had nine camps throughout
NJ and ministered to approximately 600 children and 400
parents. They also have winter clinics and various other sports
ministry events during the year.

3. Since starting with this ministry in 2010, Ken and Stephanie used
their own bedroom (pictured below) as their office. However, this
became too small and a church gave them some office space, but
it needed to be fixed up. During a few days in October there
were five of us who volunteered approximately six hours each to
help them spackle, paint, gather donated furniture, build cabinets
and counter tops, run electrical lines and computer lines, and
decorate.

4. Here is the office before it was fixed up.

5. The new office in process of being fixed up.
Cleaning, Spackling, painting, carpeting, etc…

6. Picking out colors, moving furniture, building and installing
counter tops and cabinets.

7. VOLUNTEERS
Bev Sollenberger helps with her interior design skills, picking
out colors for the paint, carpet, bookshelves, chairs, and
cabinets.
Jay Pierce, a manager of a local radio station, donates and
helps move office furniture.
Lou Brancadora helps clean the office and move all the
donated office furniture.
Vito Paratore, who owns a construction company, uses his
company truck to move furniture and he builds and installs
storage cabinets and a counter top.
Anthony Marsango cleans the office and helps install some
electrical/computer lines.

8. The new office and a thank you from Ken & Stephanie

9. What is your team’s plan for an ongoing relationship
with the nonprofit?
We each have a friendship with Ken & Stephanie Akselsen and
love the organization of Athletes in Action. We plan on continuing
to serve by volunteering our time and energy to help reach more
more kids and their families. Specifically we will help by
volunteering our time and energy during the very busy summer
camp season, and being involved with all the administrative
details.

10. What would your nonprofit do if they won part of
the prize money?
Ken and Stephanie raise all the funds that are needed to run this
ministry. Currently they have several opportunities that they are
unable to do because they do not have enough funding. The goal
is to help them raise enough money to successfully expand the
ministry into more cities in NJ and around the country. Also,
more funding would enable them to offer scholarships to needy
children especially in the inner city areas.