Archives For giving back

Penny Wars!

Tom Williams —  August 3, 2012 — 6 Comments

manhattan gmat penny warsLast month, Manhattan Prep created a Penny War Challenge in order to raise money for UNICEF, an organization dedicated to child survival and well being. Staff members and instructors were divided into departmental teams, assigned corresponding team jars and provided the following rules: 1) Pennies count for +1 point, 2) All silver coins and dollars count as negative points based on their face value (example: $1 = -100pts), and 3) The team with the most points wins!

The competition jumped off to a frenzied start with teams strategically putting loose silver change in rival department’s jars. The activity heightened as employees began to bring in their saved pennies from home, slowly growing their team totals. After four weeks of displaying tallied team totals to help spur the competition, we entered the final countdown! Kim Moy, a member of the winning HR/Tech department team exclaimed, “It was coming down to the wire with departments neck and neck. The underdogs darted to the finish line, while we battled it out on the penny field! It was a close call, but we all came out winners in the name of charity.”

Thanks in part to both our dedicated employees as well as our company’s matching gift program, we raised a grand total of $616.74! Oh, what a difference a little friendly competition can make!

manhattan gmat on national wear red dayOn February 3rd, the team at Manhattan Prep joined together and wore red for the National Wear Red Day. This annual event is sponsored by the American Heart Association. Additionally, Manhattan Prep held its first “Give A Heart” drive. Throughout the month of February, Instructors and staff donated money towards the purchase of paper hearts. All funds were donated to the America Heart Association.

Manhattan Prep is a proud supporter of heart health, in addition to overall wellness. The company promotes an active and healthy life-style, encouraging employees to participate in company exercise initiatives and organizing healthy lunch programs each month. We are proud to support such a wonderful cause. Thanks to all that were involved!

Gilda's Club On Saturday, November 12, 2011, the Gilda’s Club New York City Associate Board, a volunteer board of young professionals supported by Manhattan Prep staff member Jessica Trujillo, hosted a day of lectures and workshops geared towards health and wellness at the Manhattan Prep headquarters. These lectures and workshops, free to all GCNYC members, promoted techniques for healthy living and included activities for the whole family. The Health and Wellness Day incorporated everything from meditation sessions, nutrition lectures, hair and beauty makeovers and family portraits. Gilda’s Club New York City creates welcoming communities of free support for everyone living with cancer – men, women, teens and children – along with their families and friends.

The following is written by Manhattan Prep College Marketing Associate Kristen Pittard.

New York Cares Day is a day dedicated to service for in-need elementary schools around the five boroughs, where people volunteer their time to renovate schools by painting, restoring playgrounds, organizing libraries, planting flowers, etc.

Last month, a group of Manhattan Preppers made their way to PS 137k, a school that has served the Brooklyn community for over 100 years, to participate in the rejuvenation of the interior by focusing on repainting the main hallway. With rollers and paint brushes in hand and a mint green color picked by the school principal, we were ready to go. After nearly 7 hours of painting, we had transformed an intense red and yellow hallway, into a calming mint green one, just in time for the students to arrive back to school the following Monday. Though we might be better at Data Sufficiency and Reading Comprehension than painting, it was a great experience for our staff to get together on a weekend to give back to the community.

manhattan gmat prep ny cares

New York Cares Day was a perfect fit for Manhattan Prep due to our core belief in helping students reach their educational goals – and who better to help than the children of New York? If you would like to get involved with any future New York Cares’ projects, they have thousands of projects listed on their website, which range from children’s education to working with the elderly of New York.