Oct 25, 2024 | Community Involvement
VIDEO: PPL making fitness accessible to all at the Bloomsburg Area YMCA
Through its grants, the PPL Foundation invests in building communities. There are a number of grant cycles year-round that support different initiatives. Every summer, the foundation awards Powering Equity grants to organizations that specifically work to promote greater equity and inclusion in the neighborhoods we serve.
The Bloomsburg Area YMCA is a recent recipient of a Powering Equity grant. It serves Columbia and Montour counties and is dedicated to youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The YMCA is using the Powering Equity grant to support its growing Adaptive Health and Recreation Program for children with disabilities.
“This adaptive program is meant for kids ages three to 13,” said Collin Benfield, director of programs and membership development at the YMCA. “We try to offer a myriad of different sporting and recreational opportunities for kids that may not otherwise get them in a safe manner and in a manner that helps aid their physical therapy.”
The program kicked off in 2023, and it is currently offering its second cycle of classes. It’s quickly becoming popular in the area, growing from 10 children to 22 in the first year.
“The kids and the families love it,” said Wayne Stump, chief executive officer at the YMCA. “It’s evidenced by just how quickly this program has grown.”
There are two sessions during the year during the spring and fall. The current fall session is held on Wednesday nights, which is becoming the highlight of these kids’ weeks.
“Their feedback is that they want it more often – every day, if they could,” Benfield said. “It feels amazing knowing that we’re providing wellness for all…regardless of ability or disability.”
As the program expands and the numbers grow, the need for funding becomes more important.
“We wouldn’t be able to do it without the funding that we do get. We’re really appreciative of the PPL Foundation and others,” Stump said. “With the amount of costs that families have, this might be a burden if they had to pay for it.”
The YMCA says it looks forward to accepting more kids into the program and continuing to provide accessibility to all.
“To me and the rest of the grants committee, when programs benefit a wide range of diverse groups, that really makes them special,” said Jonah Howe, PPL Electric Utilities’ regional affairs director in the area. “We’re proud to support the Adaptive Health Program at the Bloomsburg YMCA.”
Oct 1, 2024 | Community Involvement
We value more than delivering safe and reliable power to our 1.5 million customers. For over 100 years, we’ve served communities throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania, not just because it’s our job, but because this is our home. It’s where our children go to school. We’re all neighbors.
That’s why we’re proud to support our communities in a number of ways, including volunteerism. Over 460 PPL employees recently took part in the United Way’s annual Day of Caring. Our employees painted, planted, packed, shopped and beautified 20 different organizations across our service area.
It takes a lot of coordination to make this come together. A team captain from PPL was assigned to each of the 20 organizations. The captains worked with the organizations to address their biggest needs and figure out how to provide the most assistance possible with our groups. From there, captains worked with their fellow volunteers to organize supplies and execute safety protocols.
This event is always our favorite. More PPL employees join in to make a positive impact in their communities every year. In fact, our participation has more than doubled over the last two years. In addition to the United Way’s Day of Caring, we follow up our efforts with a Family Day of Caring. This allows for our employees to share in this great work with their loved ones.
We look forward to keeping this momentum going, and we can’t wait to go even bigger in 2025.
In the meantime, we’re excited to continue this commitment to our neighborhoods. We take part in countless volunteer events year-round. In 2023, our employees volunteered over 15,000 hours. That equals more than one full day of volunteering each year for each of our 1,700 employees.
Giving back isn’t something we do because it looks good on paper, it is in the fabric of who we are.
Aug 20, 2024 | Community Involvement
Being part of the communities we serve goes well beyond delivering safe, reliable electricity. Through PPL Foundation’s Empowering Communities grants, we support local programs focused on environmental stewardship and education, economic development and/or workforce development.
Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville is a recent recipient of an Empowering Communities grant. The college used this funding to both buy new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and update older equipment for its students to use in the classroom.
“We teach the students the basics for refrigeration and air conditioning, and we push a lot of hands-on learning,” said Tim Brady, associate professor of the HVAC program at LCCC. “So, we need to maintain equipment that keeps up with the changes and certifications in the industry.”
The new equipment, which includes a refrigeration training unit and hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide manifolds, was introduced and used for the first time this year during LCCC’s summer session. Roughly 50 more students will benefit from these new tools during the fall semester.
“When we initially purchased the equipment in October of 2023, it felt like Christmas came early,” Brady said. “So many aspects of our daily lives depend on these skilled workers.”
From office buildings to hospitals to the air conditioners in our homes, HVAC’s impacts can be found everywhere. Furthermore, the college says that there’s a demand for trade workers nationwide. That need is proven by an increase in professional demand for LCCC’s students.
“I used to get one call at the end of a semester from employers,” Brady said. “Now, I get two or three calls per semester. They used to tell me they were looking for a student, and now they’re asking me how many I can send them.”
Through this Empowering Communities grant, students are learning how to work with equipment they’ll run into while out in the workforce. By the time they leave the program, the students earn 14 different certifications, including certificates for newer and more environmentally friendly refrigerants that are becoming standard in the industry. This learning isn’t just important for the students’ professional development, but LCCC students can use their expertise to make a positive impact in communities throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania.
“Our HVAC students could be working in the hospital that your parents are staying in,” said Dr. Andrea Grannum-Mosley, dean of the School of Workforce at LCCC. “We’re happy that PPL was able to support this. PPL is helping Lehigh Carbon Community College help everyone, and it really warms our heart.”
Jul 31, 2024 | Community Involvement, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion
Delivering safe, reliable electricity is just one of the ways we take part in the communities we serve. Through the PPL Foundation’s Powering Equity grants, we support nonprofit organizations advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, and protecting underrepresented residents.
The Cooperage Project in Honesdale recently received a Powering Equity grant from the PPL Foundation. The Cooperage Project is a not-for-profit that serves its surrounding community through youth, food, and arts and culture programming. The organization is using this funding to support its LGBTQ+ programming offered throughout the month of June and into the fall. The Cooperage Project began hosting Pride events in 2022.
“In Wayne County, there weren’t any visible Pride community events at the time,” said Arrah Fisher, executive director of The Cooperage Project. “The first event we hosted was a smashing success, so when PPL announced its new Powering Equity grant category in 2023, we thought it would be great to apply to fund some of this Pride-related programming.”
Funding from the round of 2024 grants will go toward three different Pride events hosted throughout the month of June, and it will also be used to build off a Cooperage Project event that was funded by 2023’s round of Powering Equity grants, called Community Conversations beyond the LGTBQ+ Culture War.
“We had a panel discussion with community members from several different backgrounds – a school counselor and a local reverend to name a couple,” Fisher said. “We had over 150 people show up to be a part of this conversation and listen. It was incredible.”
Fisher says the hope is not only to educate the broader community, but to provide a safe space.
“When we held our last Pride karaoke event, we had over 100 people show up, and nearly half of them were teenagers,” Fisher said. “They feel safe, affirmed and supported at The Cooperage Project. For us, we like to know that what we’re doing is mattering.”
Fisher also says having an initiative like Powering Equity grants is important to building a deeper sense of understanding.
“As an organization, we don’t see as many opportunities for funding equity-based programming,” she said. “The PPL Foundation supports us in a lot of different ways, and it has made a tremendous impact on our programs and on the people in our community.”
Jun 25, 2024 | Community Involvement
Volunteerism is at the core of our values as a company. We are thankful for our team of 1,700-plus employees who dedicate countless hours every year to giving back to the communities we live in and serve. However, volunteerism can present itself in many different ways.
Just ask the mayor of Picture Rocks, Pennsylvania, Dave Bender.
Bender has been an employee at PPL Electric for the last 40 years and is currently a lineman leader. Beyond his responsibilities at PPL Electric, he is approaching his 28th year as the volunteer mayor of his small borough in Lycoming County.
Aside from finding the time to do both, one can’t help but wonder how he became the mayor in the first place.
“I had attended council meetings and was nominated,” Bender said. “The mayor who was seated at the time had actually fallen ill, so I filled his vacancy.”
Bender served his first two-year term as a result of this situation. He petitioned to serve again at the end of his first term, won again, and continued to run. At times, he has been appointed to his position, or won the borough’s vote as a write-in candidate.
Bender serves in traditional roles as a mayor, like attending council meetings and helping to make decisions for the community, but that’s not what has kept Bender at the helm of Picture Rocks for this long. He says that working through differences and listening to all sides has not only benefited the borough through the years, but it has been his biggest source of pride during his time as mayor.
“Being able to work with our council and come up with solutions has been the most gratifying achievement,” he said. “Without their help and support, the progress we’ve made wouldn’t be possible.
Just as Bender is grateful for his council back home, he’s equally grateful for his crew at PPL Electric. He tells this story to explain his appreciation:
“I put a new roof on my father’s house about 15 or 20 years ago. A former lineworker at the time asked me what I was doing that upcoming weekend, and I told him about the project at my father’s house and that it would probably take the whole weekend to get done, plus a few days into the next week. The lineworker says to me, ‘Do you mind if I help?’ I couldn’t believe it. The next thing I know, the day comes to put the new roof on, and the lineworker shows up with a group of at least 12 of our guys. We got the job done in one afternoon. That says something about our team at PPL Electric.”
It’s the type of generosity shown to somebody who has long been committed to helping others. Volunteering, he says, has never been a question.
“To call yourself a citizen of a municipality or a small borough like Picture Rocks, you have to be involved every chance that you get,” said Bender, whose wife, Melinda, and daughter also volunteer year-round in and around the borough. “That’s the most important thing to remember; to get anything done, you have to be involved.”
After 40 years at PPL Electric, and after a mayoral tenure that has spanned four different decades, one would think Bender’s getting ready to take a step back and prepare for the next phase of his life. He was jokingly asked if he had plans to work and serve as mayor until the year 2100.
“Well, that’s kind of early,” he chuckled.
