FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jessica Henry, Event Coordinator

717-257-4442, ext. 229 | jhenry@bethesdamission.org

Bethesda Mission is a Greater Harrisburg Area Foundation UPstream Grantee!

Harrisburg, PA – Bethesda Mission is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $6,000 UPstream grant from the Greater Harrisburg Foundation, a regional foundation of the Foundation for Enhancing Communities, for work taking place in 2019. The Greater Harrisburg Foundation UPstream grant opportunity seeks to improve our area communities by supporting existing or new “upstream” systems, interventions, programs, or projects that attempt to create positive social change by addressing a problem at its source rather than managing its “downstream” symptoms.

Through this opportunity, grant funds will work to support Bethesda Mission’s Community Center programming. This outreach has been at work for almost 30 years in the northern section of Allison Hill, Harrisburg, mentoring, nurturing and supporting children, teens, and families.

Approximately 75 youth enroll in programming each year between the ages of 7 and 17, with many returning year after year. The goal is to build healthy, supportive relationships with those kids in order to help them achieve in school, develop socially-mature behaviors, build a foundation of faith, stay out of the criminal justice system, and inspire hope for the future. Bethesda Mission is uniquely positioned to do this given their experience working with the downstream effects of instability, educational challenges, poverty, and poor decision-making skills. The Community Center goes “upstream” to prevent the youth of today from becoming shelter guests tomorrow.

“The $2.8M expansion of the Youth Center into a Community Center,” stated Scott Dunwoody, executive director, “will reach 2 to 3 times the kids and adults now served. Borrowing from our 110 year-old firehouse, the campaign is entitled, “Fireproof a Life”, and that is what these funds will be used for, to help these at risk children and teens and adults with programs to acquire the tools and skills needed to cope with challenges and succeed in life.”

About Bethesda Mission: Bethesda Mission has been meeting the needs of hurting and homeless people in Harrisburg, PA for over 104 years. Providing shelter and recovery counseling for an average of 110 men and 25 women in two facilities, as well as after-school and summer programs for local children and teens, the Mission served nearly 130,000 meals and assisted over 5,000 separate individuals just last year! View more of our recent statistics here.

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