A group of kids from Leominster’s Spanish American Center enjoyed a roller-skating outing in May thanks to a local nonprofit whose mission is to provide activities for youth.
Just Understand My Potential (J.U.M.P.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization funded by a grant managed through Fitchburg-based United Way of North Central Massachusetts. J.U.M.P. Executive Director Bill Spacciapoli said since the COVID-19 pandemic they have been partnered almost exclusively with the Spanish American Center to engage young people in endeavors that include hiking, indoor rock climbing and ice skating.
“A team of people from the United Way, our youth channel partner, the Spanish American Center, and J.U.M.P. staff all work diligently to ensure this disadvantaged population have these opportunities for fun and personal growth,” said Spacciapoli, adding that their main focus “continues to be getting youth outdoors for hiking and backpacking.”
Spacciapoli grew up in Leominster and has lived in Harvard with his wife and their two now-grown children since 1997. His mother was a kindergarten teacher at two Leominster schools including Fall Brook Elementary School and his father owned an injection molding company.
“In essence, I was certainly advantaged. College was never even a question,” said Spacciapoli, who graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute after his parents wrote a check to pay for his education.
He disclosed that as an adult he had a need, instilled by his parents, to give back to the community. He formed J.U.M.P. in 2005 and two years later it was incorporated as a nonprofit organization.
“J.U.M.P. had a lot of success because we had leadership everywhere and whenever I turned around, one of my teammates was sticking out their hand to help — the board, the volunteers and the donors,” he said.
Spacciapoli went on to say that “the heyday of our organization” was when they had Donata Martin and a young man named Jon Blodgett channeling youth to the program, with Blodgett co-leading many of the hikes into New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
“We had a great run and continue to work with Donata Martin when she moved to the Spanish American Center,” Spacciapoli said. “We followed her there because she was, and is, an important part of our team.”
He emphasized that “it is people and not organizations that made our success” and said credit also goes to the United Way of North Central Massachusetts and the United Way of Central Massachusetts “as they administered the funding for the program,” which enables them to serve youth in Leominster, Fitchburg and Gardner.
“I can’t say enough about how supportive they are,” Spacciapoli expressed.
Last summer they brought a group of youngsters on a trip to Mount Cardigan, which is located in the lakes region of New Hampshire. They stayed in bunk rooms at the Appalachian Mountain Club-run Cardigan Lodge, where they had dinner on Friday evening and breakfast on Saturday morning before a six-mile hike. They were sent off with packed lunches, returned to the lodge for dinner and stayed over again Saturday night, and then headed home on Sunday.
Spacciapoli shared that while the pandemic “crushed operations,” it also gave them time to focus their efforts.
“The upside is we now have expanded the age groups we work with and improved the quality of programming, and we have a great board of directors,” Spacciapoli said. “We are just now resuming operations and will be getting kids outside again starting later this month.”
He is committed to ensuring the mission of J.U.M.P. “is reinvigorated and continues,” and announced that beginning in 2027 they will be dissolving the nonprofit and officially transferring the lion’s share of the grant funding to the Boys & Girls Club of Fitchburg and Leominster while remaining connected to the Spanish American Center.
“The past 20 years of J.U.M.P. has altered the lives of many youth, some in spectacular ways, and the community has benefitted from that,” Spacciapoli said. “I have had the joy of witnessing this firsthand and the opportunity for our team to assist in furthering and growing opportunities for local disadvantaged youth is something we have to pursue. The future is bright.”
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