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.”
May 28, 2024 | Community Involvement
With the snip of a ribbon, the Da Vinci Science Center at PPL Pavilion is ready to open the doors to its 67,000-square-foot facility.
The Da Vinci Center had been housed at Cedar Crest College for the last 18-plus years, offering engaging learning opportunities through a series of exhibits. The new location in downtown Allentown offers twice the space, and twice the fun.
“I have been waiting for the moment when I can see kids, families and teachers interacting with the experience,” said Lin Erickson, Executive Director and CEO of the Da Vinci Science Center. “We’ve been working really hard to raise money and design exhibits, and it’s all about the impact and how the community engages with the experiences.”
A walk through the two-story center is a scientific adventure. There are numerous exhibits designed to teach visitors about topics that are relevant to our everyday lives – health, biology and the environment, to name a few – including one of our own.
Situated along the back wall on the first floor, our exhibit features an interactive lesson in how solar energy can power a home. Using light from the ceiling, visitors control a series of mirrors to reflect light on to a number of solar panels. Each panel powers a different room or appliance within the home, simulating how sunlight can charge our lives. Walking along the back wall, children and adults alike can read about the power of electricity, and some of the careers at PPL Electric Utilities that help keep the lights on every day.
“It’s been really fun working with local companies like PPL and tapping into their expertise to develop these exhibits,” Erickson said.
PPL has been a longtime partner with the science center, and we are thrilled to continue this relationship in a new space. We believe supporting a strong foundation in STEM education is critical to the success of today’s students and it helps create the highly skilled workforce of the future. We also believe this learning should be accessible to all.
“We want to encourage access to STEM programs for all students,” said Lissette Santana, senior manager of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. “One of our requests was to make sure that this world-class science center was accessible to the community; we want people who live and work in the area to come and enjoy this space, regardless of income.”
After 18-plus years at its old location, the Da Vinci Science Center is excited for fun and education at PPL Pavilion for generations to come.
“Thanks to PPL’s and many others’ support, we’ve built a science center for our children and grandchildren,” Erickson said. “And it will be right here in the Lehigh Valley; that is so cool.”
May 16, 2024 | Energy Future
We believe in and are charging toward a cleaner energy future. This goal means meeting new demands for connecting renewable energy, electric vehicles and other distributed energy resources to the grid.
It also means supporting our communities that are making the same pledge.
This spring, we were excited to take part in separate events welcoming electric school buses to the Bethlehem Area and Steelton-Highspire school districts. These buses were the first electric buses to be rolled out in their districts, and they are among the first in all of Pennsylvania.
In total, eight buses, two in Bethlehem and six in Steelton-Highspire, are ready for duty. To ensure the project’s success, we met with the districts to review charger locations and power requirements, determined infrastructure upgrades (if any), and ensured available capacity for when the buses arrived. The charging stations have been installed at each of the districts’ bus depots, allowing for convenient charging.
A closer look at the new chargers installed in the Steelton-Highspire School District.
We have not been waiting for this growth; we have been preparing for moments like these. Thanks to our investments in building a strong, flexible and modern grid, we were able to help in these projects without making any reinforcements to the grid.
We expect electric buses and other electric vehicles (EVs) to become even more popular over the next several years, and we’re staying engaged with our customers to help them understand how we can provide the support they need. We’ve created a webpage, pplelectric.com/EV, to help them make informed decisions about electric vehicles.
We believe electric vehicles are a viable, cost-effective and environmentally conscious means of transportation. We applaud the Bethlehem Area and Steelton-Highspire school districts for showing leadership in electrification, and we’re proud to help support electrification in any way we can.
