Looking to give back this holiday season? Here’s what Centre County nonprofits need
If you’re looking to give back this holiday season, there are many Centre County nonprofits that need help like never before. From canceled fundraisers to the loss of volunteers, local organizations have unique needs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Centre Daily Times recently asked local nonprofits what they need most during the 2020 holiday season. Their answers are below, along with contact information to learn more.
AIDS Resource
129 S. Sparks St., State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Serving the community: We provide case management to people living with HIV in north-central Pennsylvania as well as offer free condoms and HIV and STI testing.
Biggest challenge this year: Due to COVID we had to close our food pantry so we had to deliver food and ready-made meals to our clients across the county.
Top need this holiday season: Food for our clients and PPE for our staff
How else to help: By donating at aidsresource.com
Contact: 814-272-0818
Bethany Christian Services
2147 E. College Ave., State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: Foster care, post adoption services, adoption, counseling, pregnancy counseling
Biggest challenge this year: Finding innovative ways to meet the needs of specialized populations through virtual means, finding creative ways to recruit and fundraise virtually.
Top need this holiday season: Gift card/monetary donations to purchase Christmas gifts for children in our foster care program.
How else to help: Donation of craft supplies: markers, stickers, scrapbooks, cardstock/construction paper, sand art kits, white board markers, craft paint. Donation of individually wrapped snack items, donation of PPE/cleaning supplies.
Contact: jcummings@bethany.org
Centre County Library & Historical Museum
203 N. Allegheny St., Bellefonte, PA 16823
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: We’re a public library system with locations in Bellefonte, Centre Hall and Philipsburg, and a countywide bookmobile. Our libraries are vibrant free community destinations that provide essential services, education and entertainment to all of our neighbors. We strive to promote literacy and lifelong learning, and to give all of our neighbors the opportunity to thrive.
Biggest challenge this year: Our greatest challenges this year have been balancing the needs of our patrons for in-person services while balancing the health and safety of staff, volunteers and other patrons, trying to be proactive instead of reactive in an ever-changing landscape, and projecting income and expenses into next year.
Top need this holiday season: Our top needs this holiday season are four Fogmaster Jr machines for our brick-and-mortar locations, as well as an air purifier for our book cleaning area in our flagship library.
How else to help: Get a library card! It’s your pass to lots of free resources that you can access at home, as well as on-site at the library, and shows that you support our mission. Already have a library card? Let your township or borough officials know how important our services are to you — they will remember your library story when they are considering how much financial support they can give the library in the future.
Contact: Please reach out to Executive Director Denise Sticha at dsticha@centrecountylibrary.org or 814-355-1516, ext. 224
Centre County PAWS
1401 Trout Road, State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: PAWS provides low-cost or no cost spay/neuter vouchers to members in our community for their own pets or stray cats. We also provide pet food through our Pet Pantry for those who need help feeding their animals.
Biggest challenge this year: Modifying all operations and fundraising efforts to adapt to COVID-19 protocols.
Top need this holiday season: Dry and wet cat food especially for our Community Pet Pantry
How else to help: Monetary donations are always welcome or visit our wish list.
Contact: mail@centrecountypaws.org
Centre Crest Inc.
502 E. Howard St., Bellefonte, PA 16823
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: Nonprofit skilled nursing care facility
Biggest challenge this year: The COVID-19 pandemic
Top need this holiday season: Support for our residents and staff by gifts for our residents, appreciation meals for our staff, cards/letters to our residents
How else to help: Whatever they feel is appropriate
Contact: Alissa Janoski 814-355-6777, ext. 4025, or Mae Armstrong 814-548-1162
Centre LifeLink EMS
125 Puddintown Road, State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: Ambulance service, nonemergency transport van, community health and safety training courses
Biggest challenge this year: We’ve experienced record-low call volumes since the onset of the pandemic, which leaves us in a challenging situation. We have to be fully staffed to respond to the surge in COVID-19 patients and day-to-day emergencies, while facing the major financial impact of only being reimbursed for the low number of calls our organization has responded to this year.
Top need this holiday season: Tax-deductible donations, or become a 2021 member — which ensures no out-of-pocket expenses for emergency ambulance service provided by Centre LifeLink. Membership funds raised for 2021 will be used to offset the costs associated with responding to the pandemic.
Contact: Lshurgalla@centrelifelink.com
Centre Safe
140 W. Nittany Ave., State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: We work with survivors of domestic and sexual violence, dating violence and stalking and their children to help them access safety and resources in the community. We also engage the community in prevention work to eliminate domestic and sexual violence.
Biggest challenge this year: Providing the safety and services needed by survivors and their children when we can’t shelter or provide counseling and advocacy on-site.
Top need this holiday season: Financial support (gift cards, donations) to address the basic needs of survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
How else to help: Gas and grocery gift cards; paper plates and plastic utensils; diapers (especially size 6); microwave safe containers; books for adults and children; cleaning supplies; laundry detergent; quarters for laundry facilities; card games; crayons, coloring books, markers.
Contact: Email centresafe@centresafe.org or 814-238-7066 (our business line)
Centre Volunteers in Medicine
2520 Green Tech Drive, State College, PA 16803
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: We are a community health resource center providing free medical care, behavioral health care, dental care, case management and medication assistance to those without health insurance who live and work in Centre County and whose household income is at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. We monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic safety procedures daily and continue to adapt as necessary to keep all our patients, volunteers and staff safe. We have physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, social workers and other licensed clinicians who volunteer their time to provide care to our patients. Additionally, we provide referrals to specialists as necessary and make referrals to other social services. CVIM has recently assumed the responsibilities of the Centre County Breast Cancer Coalition and will continue to provide free mammograms and other screenings and services for individuals living and working in Centre County.
Biggest challenge this year: Our biggest challenge has been continuing to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest burden was obtaining resources, human and monetary, to complete the extra work necessary to keep patients, volunteers and staff safe. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers are considered at-risk during the pandemic and have therefore put their volunteering on hold. This has placed an additional burden on staff. During the health crisis, our primary goal continues to be offering quality services for our patients who rely on us for their health care. To surmount these challenges, we began using telemedicine to assess medical and behavioral health patients and even used it in screening dental emergencies. We began dispensing three months of medications so patients did not need to return every 30 days and delivered medications curbside. Staff worked from home, when possible, and we limited the number of staff in the building at any given time. All staff are required to wear PPE when working in the clinic. We have seen an uptick in new patients calling for services. As people lost their jobs due to the crisis, they often also lost their health insurance. Our behavioral health team has seen an increase in the number of patients calling with concerns regarding depression and anxiety.
Top need this holiday season: In addition to money, we need volunteers, especially nurses, to help fill the void created by volunteers not being able to come to the clinic during the pandemic. Donations are needed now, more than ever as our expenses increase with our increase in patients and increased need for PPE, including sophisticated equipment like our aerosol terminators now required in dental.
How else to help: What can YOU do to help? Please consider donating to CVIM today. We have just kicked off our annual Friends and Family Campaign that runs through Dec. 31! For the last 17 years, Lance and Ellen Shaner have matched $50,000 for individual donations to the Friends and Family campaign because they so strongly believe in what we do. All of the funds raised in this campaign remain in Centre County to provide medical and dental care, case management and medication assistance for CVIM patients.
Contact: We are currently accepting new patients. Please contact us today to schedule an appointment or determine if you are eligible for free medical services. You can contact us by calling at 814-231-4043, emailing us at cvim@cvim.net, or visit us on the web at www.cvim.net. Our address is 2520 Green Tech Drive, Suite D, State College, PA 16803.
Downtown Bellefonte Inc.
127 S. Allegheny St., No. 2, Bellefonte PA, 16823
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: We support economic growth in the downtown Bellefonte community by supporting small businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and driving traffic to our town.
Biggest challenge this year: Our major fundraising events like Bellefonte Under the Lights were canceled. We’ve also pivoted operations to support businesses through providing resources on grant opportunities, by trying new, small-scale events and more.
Top need this holiday season: Donations to support our efforts. The easiest way to help is by becoming a member.
How else to help: By volunteering. Help is always needed to execute great ideas, to spread the mission of Downtown Bellefonte Inc. and more.
Contact: By reaching out to our board president, Ellen Matis, at ellen.m.matis@gmailcom; or by contacting team member Gina Thompson at manager@downtownbellefonteinc.com.
Hands On Therapeutic Riding Program
880 Smith Road, Port Matilda, PA 16870
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: Hands On provides equine assisted therapy to individuals with physical, intellectual, social and emotional needs
Biggest challenge this year: We have had a tremendous decrease in revenue while our expenses have remained the same.
Top need this holiday season: We need hay and senior feed for our loyal therapy horses or monetary donations so we can purchase these.
How else to help: We are an all volunteer program so we are always in need of volunteers to help care for the horses and to assist our riders once the program is able to resume services
Contact: We can be reached on Facebook, email handsontr@comcast.net or 814-692-8637.
House of Care
515 W. Beaver Ave, State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: We provide shelter and support for persons with extremely low or no income. In addition, they have limited, if any family support, and experience physical or mental health challenges that keep them from being able to live on their own.
Biggest challenge this year: Providing shelter and safety for an extremely high risk population and essential staff.
Top need this holiday season: One of our residents came to us from the Out of the Cold homeless shelter with no source of income to apply toward his services. Donations to offset this monthly expense would be greatly appreciated.
How else to help: The House of Care can always use donations of paper products such as paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, copier paper and facial tissues.
Contact: email Houseofcare5@gmail.com or call 814-237-5517
Housing Transitions
217 E. Nittany Ave., State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: We provide shelter and housing services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or a housing related crisis.
Biggest challenge this year: Providing for social distancing and keeping people safe while still maintaining our quality service has been a challenge, although we have found ways to do it. We have sheltered residents who would normally stay in our congregate Centre House homeless shelter in locations off-site, but still maintained case management services, housed a number of individuals and families in permanent housing of their own, and continued to provide service 24/7.
Top need this holiday season: It would be really wonderful to have gift cards to provide our clients and shelter residents. Cards for grocery stores, Walmart, Sheetz, other gas stations, and restaurants with takeout would be most useful. Denominations of $10-$25 each are very helpful.
Other ways to help: If people would like to prepare a meal that can then be distributed to shelter residents staying in hotel rooms, that would be wonderful. They could call our shelter number at 814-237-5508 to see how many meals we would need and when they could be delivered. We also would accept donations of microwaveable foods to distribute to shelter residents. We have an emergency food pantry that is well stocked, but we could use these types of things since the pantry has items that need to be prepared with a stove.
Contact: Call 814-237-5508
Interfaith Human Services
251 Easterly Parkway, Suite 200, State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: Rep payee services: Managing income for those determined to be unable to do so themselves. This program prevents things like homelessness and hunger in an at risk community. Money management education: Counseling to help low income people to evaluate spending and create budgets and other good money management practices. Centre County Fuel Bank: We provide supplemental fuel to those who have exhausted governmental programs. Free furniture and appliances: This service collects donated usable furniture and appliances to gives them free of charge to low income individuals and families.
Biggest challenge this year: Our inability to conduct our yearly fundraisers. We have either had to cancel or delay approximately $55,000 in fundraisers.
Top need this holiday season: Financial support
How else to help: Until Dec 23, we are in need of people to help ring bells at our Wishing Well at Meyer Dairy. We have days available for groups and one-hour slots available for one or two people.
Contact: info@interfaithhumanservices.org
Mid-State Literacy Council Inc.
248 Calder Way, Suite 307, State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: Mid-State Literacy Council serves adults motivated to improve their reading, health literacy, math, computer, English and writing through one-to-one tutoring and small group instruction offered in person when safe, and currently virtually and by phone. Tutors are trained and mentored. Adult students receive customized plans to meet their personal needs and goals. Tutor and student stories are at Literacy in Action: www.mid-stateliteracycouncil.org. Literacy saves lives; literacy builds our community.
Biggest challenge this year: The biggest challenge has been helping people learn to use virtual platforms to safely attend tutoring sessions.
Top need this holiday season: Our top need is financial gifts to support the adult computer, English and reading programs.
How else to help: Volunteer to help with events and projects, or train to tutor helping community members.
Contact: Call 814-238-1809 or email mslc@mid-stateliteracycouncil.org
Nittany Christian School
1221 W. Whitehall Road, State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: Nittany Christian School offers tomorrow’s leaders an outstanding educational experience, fostering excellent character and faith in Christ in a biblically based environment.
Biggest challenge this year: The biggest challenges were fulfilling budget needs, teaching virtual school, navigating COVID regulations, and delaying our spring fundraiser.
Top need this holiday season: The biggest blessing for this season would be for the community to invest monetarily in our school.
How else to help: We can use disposable masks, Clorox wipes and gloves. We also would appreciate monetary donations.
Contact: info@nittanychristian.com
Out of the Cold: Centre County
P.O. Box 784, State College, PA 16804
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Serving the community: Low barrier shelter for adult men and women experiencing homelessness
Biggest challenge this year: The loss of volunteers, while serving a higher than average number of guests.
Top need this holiday season: Gift cards of $20 or less to local cafes or restaurants for guests
How else to help: Visit our website to learn about how to volunteer or get involved.
Contact: Sarah Potter, program manager, at ootccentreco@gmail.com
Park Forest Preschool
1833 Park Forest Ave., State College, PA 16803
Serving the community: The Park Forest Preschool is a tuition-free program for qualifying families. Our mission is to prepare preschool children for kindergarten. The preschool provides a safe and nurturing environment while promoting cognitive, social emotional and physical growth for all the children it serves.
Biggest challenge this year: The biggest challenge this year has been staffing for the daily health screenings outdoors and offering fresh air activities outdoors, when the weather is not good. The weather is getting a little chilly out there, but our families are awesome at making it all work for the health and safety of our school community.
Top need this holiday season: Our top need is to continue to receive our community’s ongoing support! We hope to be able to purchase two outdoor tent canopies to enable consistent outdoor classroom activities during the unpredictable springtime weather.
How else to help: Please tell families in need, we are here and offer an excellent preschool experience for 2-4-year-olds, for income eligible families. In the future, once the COVID threat decreases, please consider volunteering during our school day!
Contact: Please call our Director Sue Hills: 814-231-8492 or send us an email: director@parkforestpreschool.org
Pine Hall Cemetery Association
Mailing address: 3346 Pamela Circle, State College, PA 16801; cemetery address: 1750 W. College Ave., State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: The Pine Hall Cemetery Association is a nonprofit corporation providing cemetery space to the community.
Biggest challenge this year: The cost to maintain the cemetery has been increasing at a higher rate than income from our investment funds.
Top need this holiday season: We are requesting donations to build up our perpetual care fund. A recent fund drive to cemetery lot owners helped us build our perpetual care fund by $10,000.
How else to help: Additional donations are needed to increase our perpetual care fund.
Contact: You can contact the Pine Hall Cemetery Association by emailing Secretary@pinehallcemetery.org or by writing to 3346 Pamela Circle, State College, PA 16801
Rising Hope Therapeutic Riding Center
388 Reese Road; Bellefonte, PA 16823
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Serving the community: We provide recreational and therapeutic riding which develops physical, cognitive, social and emotional well being through equine-assisted activities to all individuals in need. Helping participants to connect to the healing nature of the horse in a peaceful and nurturing environment.
Biggest challenge this year: We have had to cancel large fundraising opportunities and venues which are vital in raising money for our program.
Top need this holiday season: Money would be our top need this holiday season. Over Thanksgiving we had one of our therapy horses colic and he required medical care at Cornell University. He is back home and fine now, but the medical costs exceeded $5,000. That was an unexpected expense that we were not anticipating.
How else to help: We are always looking for volunteers and donations of horse tack. There are many opportunities to volunteer that do not involve horse maintenance. Office duties, facility maintenance, etc.
Contact: email: risinghope.trc@gmail.com; website: risinghopetrc.com; mailing address: 388 Reese Road, Bellefonte, PA 16823
State College Community Land Trust
1315 S. Allen St., No. 306, State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
Serving the community: We sustain the vibrancy of the community by preserving and promoting affordable homeownership opportunities in State College. We help first-time homebuyers purchase homes that are in established neighborhoods near work, schools, entertainment and transit and have helped 72 individuals and families become successful homeowners since 1996.
Biggest challenge this year: More qualified applicants than ever! We know that the stabilizing effects of homeownership are more important than ever as the economic impacts of this pandemic continue to ripple out across our economy. Homeownership is often more affordable than renting in the Centre Region, and we all know after eight months of being at home how having enough living space, with a yard, has been so beneficial. And, whether it is because of interest rates being so low, or because people have apartment fatigue, or that all the time at home has allowed people to complete applications for our first-time homebuyer program, we have almost double the applicants this year as compared to 2019. Being able to purchase and rehab homes for these applicants continues to be our top priority during this time.
Top need this holiday season: More homes and the capital to renovate and sell homes to first-time homebuyers more quickly! Specifically, right now, we are working hard to complete renovations on an amazing College Heights home. Any donations made now would help us replace a broken heating system with a more efficient model, readying the home faster for a new owner and saving the homeowner money over the long run.
How else to help: Let us know if you are selling a home in State College! We are always looking for modest homes located in the borough to add to the land trust as forever homes.
Contact: director@scclandtrust.org or 814-867-0656
State College Food Bank
1321 S. Atherton St., State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: We provide food security, directly or indirectly, to people in Centre County.
Biggest challenge this year: We have been working diligently to keep our staff, volunteers and clients safe so we do not have to miss a distribution. Since COVID started, sourcing food has been a new challenge for us too.
How else to help: It is very helpful when people bring us items off our Current Needs list that can be found on our website scfoodbank.org. Every donation, large or small, helps more than ever this year.
Contact: Phone: 814-234-2310 or Email: info@scfoodbank.org
State College Lions Foundation Inc.
19 Colonnade Way, State College PA 16803
Serving the community: We provide eye exams and eyeglasses for people who cannot afford them, provide scholarships to students in need, provide candy and prizes to the Centre Region Parks and Recreation annual Halloween parade, and we sponsor a seeing eye dog annually for a visually challenged individual.
Biggest challenge this year: Fundraising during COVID-19
Top need this holiday season: Donations to support our causes.
How else to help: We are always welcoming new members. Please contact David Wasson at 814-574-8920 for more information.
Contact: David Wasson 814-574-8920 or melissawasson@comcast.net
State College Meals on Wheels
205 S. Garner St., State College, PA 16801
Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
Serving the community: We provide nutritious meals prepared in-house and bags of groceries to people who are elderly or disabled in the State College Area School District. We also provide wellness check-in calls to our clients to help keep them connected to the community during the pandemic.
Biggest challenge this year: Redesigning and continuously rethinking a decades old, and highly successful, service model.
Top need this holiday season: We are providing bags of groceries and toilet paper to our clients to help them remain in their homes during the pandemic. We have been able to provide these items at no cost throughout 2020 through generous donations from individuals and foundations. We would like to continue to provide them at little to no cost for at least the first half of 2021. Financial support from the community will allow us to continue this program.
How else to help: Donations of toilet paper, sanitizing wipes, printer paper, and large Styrofoam coolers (15” x 13” or larger) would be appreciated. Please call our office to arrange contactless drop-off.
Contact: Call our office at 814-237-8135
Strawberry Fields Inc.
3054 Enterprise Drive, State College, PA 16801
Serving the community: Strawberry Fields provides residential and community-based support services to over 800 Centre County residents with disabilities.
Biggest challenge this year: Access to COVID testing and quick turnaround of results. We have to be very conservative in our responses to possible exposure and quarantine time.
Top need this holiday season: We would love to reach out for supplies for our mental health residential programs: six tabletop art easels, acrylic paint and brushes, one large electric kitchen griddle, one electric frying pan, one electric hand mixer, one toaster, one large pasta pot, four saute pans, four 13x9 baking and casserole pans, two muffin pans and two coffee makers
How else to help: Our community is so kind and generous and we are grateful for everyone’s support!
Contact: Phone: 814-234-6023 or email: sfields@sfionline.org
Youth Service Bureau
325 W. Aaron Drive, State College, PA 16803
Serving the community: YSB connects children, youth and families with people who care about them. We provide a continuum of services across Centre County so that every child we come into contact with has the opportunities they need to reach their true potential.
Biggest challenge this year: We have worked very hard to continue to provide all of our services throughout the pandemic, even when that has meant putting some modifications and extra safety precautions in place. However, when it came to our three major in-person fundraising events, we were not able to gather to hold them.
Top need this holiday season: We have been so grateful for the community response we’ve seen already to help us provide holiday gifts, extra food and additional PPE to our kids and families. Our biggest need right now is for technology, such as printers and ink cartridges, that can be used for families whose children are learning remotely, as well as for staff who are working off-site to maintain physical distancing and ensure continuity of services throughout the pandemic.
How else to help: We are experiencing an especially high need for volunteer mentors within our Big Brothers Big Sisters program. We are currently offering both in-person and virtual-only meeting options. We’d love it if we could match every child on our list with a mentor this holiday season!
Contact: Visit us online at ccysb.com, and complete the Contact Us form. You can also call our main office at 814-237-5731.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 6:00 AM.