LHU Students Secure Grant to Help Local Children

12/5/2012

Local children enduring extreme hardships will have the opportunity to achieve their once-unobtainable dreams as a result of the recent work of two Lock Haven University students.

As part of their Recreation Management class, Amy Jugan and Briana Schaefer wrote a grant on behalf of Favors Forward Partners to Promise Initiative in Cogan Station. Bill Kieser of Sanders Funeral Home in Williamsport endorsed the project with a letter of support for the grant. Jugan and Schaefer received the $750 grant award from the York Children’s Foundation on Wednesday at Sanders Funeral Home.

“Seeing as this was the first time we have written a grant, it was a challenge for us but a great learning opportunity,” Schaefer said.

The funding will make it possible for struggling children to take educational lessons, obtain a musical instrument or participate in another activity that will give them a renewed sense of hope for the future, said Pamela Wollet, Partners to Promise Project Director. Volunteers share their time and talents with children who are experiencing life-changing hardships, such as a death in the family, divorce or poverty.

“We are very pleased with our success and extremely happy we could help support these less fortunate children with a brighter future,” Jugan said.

Recreation Management Professor Leonard Long said students are often more passionate and produce a higher caliber of work when they are collaborating with a “real” agency for the class project. Both students credited Long’s Finance and Acquisition class with giving them the skills they needed for the successful grant application. Wollet’s input also made the grant possible, they said.

“It’s a win-win for everyone, and we are pleased to provide this service to the various non-profit agencies in Clinton and Lycoming Counties,” Long said.