In December 2013 the Philadelphia School District, facing difficult budget challenges, cut off funding for all after-school programs including Project SPARC. At the time it appeared the nation's first high school space program would come to end after more than 50 years. Word soon spread about SPARC's cancelation and the alumni responded to help save the program. A GoFundMe site was started and social media was used to engage SPARC alumni and friends. $13,000 was raised within the first month and almost $20,000 altogether. These funds enabled the SPARC students to carry out a May 2014 project to establish a permanent habitat on the moon. The funding also helped provide some long needed upgrades to SPARC's infrastructure.