Take action to help those in Happy Valley who need it most

In an era of eroding empathy and cooperation, the Leadership Centre County Class of 2019 had an opportunity one chilly December day to be reminded just how valuable and necessary these commodities are to the Centre County community.

Fortunately, we are blessed to have a community network of compassionate individuals and organizations with incredible dedication to serving our fellow humans with vast amounts of empathy and cooperation. The health and human services program day was this opportunity and was excellently arranged by a hard-working committee of professionals from that field.

Centre County is blessed to be home to more than 90 human service agencies, many of which are members of the Centre County Council for Human Services (CCCHS). This Council promotes communication and relationships among human service agencies and the community.

The class spent much of the day participating in exercises to humanize the human services; to connect to the experience on a personal level. This helps narrow the broadly defined objectives of health and human service organizations. There was great emphasis on the fragility of circumstances that lead to the need for these services.

These conditions span every demographic in the county, but they do particularly affect the most vulnerable members of our society. Empathy and compassion know no bounds of tribes or demographics.

An especially enlightening activity involved role-playing of sorts. The class members broke into groups and each received a scenario, or vignette, to consider. The mission was to seek help from the compassionate representatives of 37 local human service organizations that took time out of their busy day to enrich the class.

This exercise illustrated the vast network that these organizations form, and how well they cooperatively work together. Instead of competing against one another, there is a remarkable amount of inter-agency cooperation to ensure that no needs fall through the cracks.

Other highlights of the action-packed day included briefings from community leaders, thoughtful group discussions, and a visit to a local soup kitchen for lunch. It is easy to forget in a place like Happy Valley that there are those in the region who struggle in many essential aspects of life.

Having grown up elsewhere, I can attest there is a very Utopian nature to a college town on the surface. Even with a vast network of compassionate agencies we can do better.

Going forth as community leaders and shapers of the future we play an important role not only to remember this on a cursory level, but to take the lesson to heart. We are tasked to not merely feel and express empathy, but to take action as well. Getting our hands dirty, volunteering our time and gifts, and working together to make this community a better place.

Joe Minich is the Supervisory Auditor, Maher Duessel CPAs, and member of the Leadership Centre County Class of 2019. For more information about Leadership Centre County go to www.leadershipcentrecounty.org.