We wanted to take a moment to let you know how thankful we are to have volunteers, partners, friends, and community members like you. We wish you and your family nothing but the best this Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season! Read on to learn about low cost heating assistance, the turnout of the Partnership's 2019 Annual Meeting, check in with our youth leaders, and bid farewell to a long time staffer.
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Board President Jim Weaver Passes the Torch as the Partnership Celebrates 26 Years
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This month marked 26 years of community health intiatives at the Tioga County Partnership for Community Health. The annual meeting at St. Paul's Episcopal Church community hall was short, sweet, and full of positive forward thinking that will surely take the Partnership far into the future. Led one last time by beloved outgoing Board President Jim Weaver (pictured receiving a gift from Executive Director, Sue Sticklin), discussion surrounded sustainability, social connections, keeping focus, and how better to engage the community in Partnership efforts. Although the long anticipated annual meeting poverty simulation activity was postponed, the Board of Directors showed up in full force, completed elections for the next three years, and recognized outstanding members and volunteers.
Congratulations to:
Board Chair/ President: Dr. Lisa Feil
Vice Chair/ Vice President: Kristin Hamilton
Members At large: Deb Meacham, Anne Loudenslager, and Wendy Swingle.
2019 Board Member of Distinction: Kristin Hamilton.
2019 Distinguished Volunteers: Kimberlie Gridley and Susan Gage.
Recipients of the 2019 Ronald J. Butler Community Health Service Award: Peter Keller, Ph.D and J. Dennis Murray, Ph.D.
Join us in thanking and congratulating all for their dedication and community spirit!!
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Cold weather is here! LIHEAP, which stands for the
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
, helps families living on low incomes pay their heating bills in the form of a cash grant. Crisis grants also are available for households in immediate danger of being without heat.
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Safe Kids Tioga Coalition and Penn DOT hold Safe Teen Driver events in each Tioga County School District
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The Tioga County Partnership’s Safe Kids Coalition with major partner Penn DOT, held three Safe Teen Driving events at each of the three school districts in Tioga County. Cowanesque Valley High School, Wellsboro Area High School, and North-Penn Mansfield High School hosted the 2019 Safe Teen Driver events.
Teens were able to attend “Survival 101” presentations by PA State Police Trooper Angela Bieber and Wellsboro Police Dept.’s Officer Mitch Christman. They talked about the importance of seat belt use, the dangers of impaired driving, and the laws and dangers of texting while driving. Afterwards, teens visited safe driving education stations set up around the perimeter of the all-purpose rooms. Here, virtual driving simulators let teens choose to experience “distracted” or “impaired” virtual driving. To make it as real as possible, the “distracted” setting on the simulator included voices of teen passengers who asked the driver to complete tasks while driving, such as texting or calling home. The Fatal Vision goggles stations exposed teens to the dangerous disorientation of alcohol and marijuana impairment. While wearing the goggles, teens were asked to try simple tasks such as counting out change, or walking a line, similar to a roadside sobriety test. Another station included an awareness game- the “Wheel of Misfortune,” which included safe driving trivia questions. The final station asked each teen to take the “Park the Phone: Stop the Texts, Stop the Wrecks” pledge. Teens became eligible to enter a drawing for one of three Amazon gift cards if they could prove their participation in each station by collecting all station facilitators’ signatures.
Safe Kids Coalition members and community organizations who helped plan and volunteered at these events included Kim Smith, Mike Deihl, and Charlie Metcalf of Penn DOT/the Highway Safety Network, Geisinger Trauma Care, Officer Mitch Christman of Wellsboro Police Dept., Pennsylvania State Trooper Angela Beiber, First Citizens Community Bank, State Farm's Tony Dgien and Stacee Harer, Amerihealth Caritas Northeast's Melissa Farenish, Phil Snyder's Driver Education, UPMC Susquehanna's Injury Prevention Coordinator Annalisa Negrea, the Wellsboro SADD Club, and the Tioga County Dept. of Human Services, along with the Tioga County Partnership for Community Health staff. Generous funding was provided by Shell Appalachia for these community safety events. Thank you to all!
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Checking in with Youth Leadership 2.0
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Madisen Cody, Curtis Craig, Aiden Fletcher, Evan Hoover, Jordan Judlin, Ayiana Mase, Zachary Singer, Skylar Smith, Nolan Smith, Seraina Weatherford, Adriannah Wilson, and Bethany Zuchowski are well on their way in the Youth Leadership 2.0 program. In September they met at Mansfield University's Kelchner Fitness Center and Manser Hall with MU hosts, Amy DeLozier and Veronica Nowak. They learned how to define leadership and about the importance of practical skills such as a good handshake.
See them working on their YLP 2.0 handshake here.
In October, they spent time at the Tioga Roller Rink and Grange with host and local historian, Debora Enderle Clark and guest speaker, North Penn Comprehensive Health Service's Anne Loudenslager. They learned about the importance of communication, and teamwork in an activity where one person had to be blindfolded while navigating through a course under the direction of a teammate. They also learned the importance of outcomes and evaluating their projects. This group will meet for the third session of the Youth Leadership program this month. Soon they will be forming teams and working on selected community service projects. Stay tuned for more from this group of energetic youth leaders!
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~A note from media and outreach consultant, Stacy Kelley:
Dear Partnership Friends,
In 2008 I began working with the Partnership as a Program Coordinator/ Workgroups and Events Facilitator under the direction of Mrs. Deb Adkins. As time marched on the Partnership worked through a lot of challenges and transitions and became a stronger organization as a result. For the past 5 years, I've served as a media and outreach consultant to help people learn about the Partnership; a powerhouse organization and Tioga County's best kept secret! The network of individuals in this organization can move mountains and I am proud to have been a part of it! At this time, i
t is bittersweet for me to announce that I will be leaving to set out on a new journey to become a full time artist starting at the beginning of the new year.
For many years
I've created paintings and drawings in the background. I now have the opportunity to make it a larger part of my everyday. Please feel free to reach me at
skelley@tiogapartnership.org
until the end of the year. Beyond that time, I will be welcoming new followers on Instagram at stacy_kelley_fine_art. I'd love if you wanted to follow along!
It has been my distinct pleasure to work with you all for the past 11 years!
I wish you all the best in continuing the good work of the Partnership. Because of you Tioga County is a healthy place to live, work, and play. :-)
Sincerely,
~Stacy L. Kelley
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