Presentation of Sam’s Club check by Lance de la Rosa (pictured in the middle), Senior Vice President of Operations, to Kevin Wortham (left) and Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez (right), MOB Co-Founders
Lawrenceville, NJ – February 13, 2015 –Sam’s Club awarded a check for $15,000 to Minding Our Business, Inc. (MOB), a nonprofit organization that has been recognized as one of the premier youth entrepreneurship programs in the nation, to support its after school programming in the Trenton School District.
MOB began in 1997 as a community outreach program of Rider University’s College of Business Administration and received its own 501(c) 3 designation in November 2012. Since its launch, MOB has coached and mentored more than 3,000 students on starting and running their own businesses. The grant award from Sam’s Club will be used by MOB to operate its after-school Service-Learning program to middle school students in Trenton.
“Without supporters like Sam’s Club, this program may not have occurred this school year, said Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez, MOB’s Co-Founder and Treasurer. “Due to school district budget constraints, we only received $5,000 of the $20,000 needed for the program. The generosity of Sam’s Club and a grant from State Farm helped make up the difference due to the freeze,” Dr. Hernandez added.
“Our founder Sam Walton, the ultimate entrepreneur, set our path at Sam’s Club more than 30 years ago – we’re in business for small business,” said Lance de la Rosa, Senior Vice President of Operations at Sam’s Club. “As Sam’s Club has grown to be the club of the Mercer County community, we are proud to empower young entrepreneurs by supporting Minding Our Business.”
The MOB Service-Learning Program at Kilmer, Rivera and Dunn Middle Schools in Trenton and currently has 130 students enrolled. During these sessions that run for 12 weeks, students will learn the ins and outs of running their own business. Sessions will focus on introducing students to entrepreneurship and cover pertinent topics including teamwork, advertising, branding, and the development and presentation of a business plan.
Toward the end of the program, students will participate in Market Fair Day, held on Saturday, April 18 at Kilmer Middle School, in which they have the opportunity to promote their products and services to potential buyers and investors. Because of the success of the Service-Learning Program, MOB is piloting this program in two more cities in New Jersey — Asbury Park and Perth Amboy.
MOB also offers a Summer Program at Rider University for low-income middle school students and an Advanced Program providing business coaching to MOB alumni seeking additional guidance. For further information about Minding Our Business, please visit www.minding-our- business.com.
About Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), is a leading membership warehouse club offering superior products, savings and services to millions of members in 647 clubs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. To learn more about Sam’s Club, visit www.samsclub.com/newsroom.
Mentors and students at a MOB Service-Learning Session at the Kilmer School in Trenton