Giving Back

Penns Valley Youth Center

Our Mission at the Penns Valley Youth Center is to provide 6th through 12th graders in our community with hope, worth and friendship.
We provide a fun and safe environment in order to encourage healthy habits and promote wise choices.
Teenage years are a crazy time. Do you remember when you were in high school? Increased after-school workload, increased commitment required from athletics, highly competitive collegiate entrance requirements all add to the mounting pressure facing high school and junior high students. Teenagers from every walk of life need a third place – a place outside of the home and the school – where they can relax, have fun, meet friends, and be themselves.

In addition, students who are bullied or come from broken homes suffer tremendously and struggle low with self worth, self confidence and the inability to have healthy relationships with their peers and adults.

We are fighting to change this. By providing a safe and fun environment, a place where the teenagers are valued and respected, we want to change these stats:

• Approximately 160,000 children a day stay home from school because they are afraid of being bullied. 86% of students said, “other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them” causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools. [US Dept of Education]
• 43% of US children live without their father. [US Department of Census]
• 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. [Center for Disease Control]
• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average. [National Principals Association Report]
• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]

WildLife for Everyone Endowment Foundation

Mission: The mission of Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation is to provide private support for wildlife habitat enhancements, wildlife scientific research, wildlife education, land preservation, youth programs, youth education and the creation of a wildlife education and research center.
About: Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation was established to ensure that future generations can enjoy Pennsylvania’s extensive natural beauty and rich wildlife heritage. It is the only foundation dedicated to all Pennsylvania birds and mamals and the ecosystem in which they reside. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the foundation can raise, receive, acquire and distribute funds and other property. Wild Life For Everyone Endowment Foundation works to aid wildlife where need is the greatest and where private support will make a difference, It aims to play a leading role in protecting and creating habitat. As of 2015, Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation has raised more than $2 million for projects throughout the Commonwealth.

Nittany Christian School

40 years of History

Early in 1975 a group of dedicated individuals began meeting with a vision for establishing a Christian school in State College, Pennsylvania. Their goal was to establish a school that would “provide a high quality education which would integrate the students’ learning experiences with scriptural principles.”

After diligent work through spring and summer, Alliance Christian School opened that fall in the basement of the State College Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. Preschool and kindergarten classes were offered and twenty-six students attended. The following year first grade was added and an additional grade was added each of the next years until sixth grade opened in 1980 and the school enrollment was more than 120 students.

The school continued to grow. In 1978, with the help of skilled volunteer labor provided by church members and school parents, the school moved to the church’s newly completed educational building. The church’s location on Norma Street was particularly advantageous for the school as it bordered a city park that was enthusiastically put to use for recess and physical education classes.

As the school grew, the name was changed to Mt Nittany Christian School in 1987 to better reflect its broad community make-up. Over the years, the school has typically served families from twenty-five to thirty area churches each year and it continues to be the desire of the school to support churches and families throughout the Centre Region.

2000 was an exciting year for the school. The long-anticipated new campus for the church and school was completed and that summer both the church and school relocated to their current spacious location on Whitehall Road. At the same time, the school shortened its name to Nittany Christian School (or NCS as it is commonly known by students and parents) and reorganized the structure of its grades. The elementary school became kindergarten through fifth grade and a new middle school was created, beginning with sixth grade and then adding seventh and eighth grades in the following years.

In 2010 a milestone was reached when the school, with the blessing of the Alliance Church, became a separate non-profit organization and was granted individual 501(c)3 status. It is the desire of the school and church alike that this new standing will increase our ability to be a truly community-based Christian school.

Camp Kanesatake

Camp Kanesatake and Financial Abundance believe that every child can benefit from spending a week at camp. Many children come to Camp K through sponsorships that are offered through the camp’s financial assistance. We are proud to support Camp K and to help make camp possible for children whose families can’t afford to foot the whole bill for their child or children to attend. Camp Kanesatake’s programs continue to grow in the amount of children’s lives and families that are touched.

History: Three county Sunday school association presidents were having lunch at the Pennsylvania State Sunday school Convention in Altoona in 1921. They expressed a common need for summer camping for their young people. The corporation was called the Mid-State Sunday school Training Camp. The name “Kanesatake” was officially taken later at the State Sunday School Convention in Williamsport, October 12, 1923. The name means “Camp on a Hill”.

Camping in the first summer consisted of three camps, a Girls’ Camp, a Boys’ Camp, and an Adult Training School.

Rev. Bonsall, “Bonnie:, was the director of the youth camps from the beginning in 1923 and until 1942. The inspiration of his leadership created the program of the Four-fold-life. This program consists of the development of social, mental, religious, and physical commitments and abilities. This ministered to thousands of young people; the Camp grew and the facility was expanded to accommodate over 250 participants.

It was then in April of 1989 that the Camp Kanesatake Board of Directors, having come to a decision to release the vision of the Camp to a younger organization, turned the property and the operation of the Camp over to the Central Pennsylvania Christian Institute, Inc. of State College.

Utilizing the outdoor camping environment, CPCI has organized five camping programs since 1989. Geared for families, children, youth, and specialized needs, these programs have grown and now minister to over 600 people annually. The facility also continues to be used by several local ministries that bring the annual total number of camp users to over 1000. It is upon this base and success of the past that CPCI hopes to build upon for the future ministry of Camp Kanesatake.