Church dinner fundraiser boosts Penns Valley YMCA

SPRING MILLS — A ham loaf dinner was served at New Hope Lutheran Church on March 25 as a fundraiser for the Penns Valley YMCA.

Church member Sharon Horner noticed that several YMCA staffers also attend the New Hope church, which has been serving community dinners on the second Saturday of nearly every month, except during the summer, for several years. She proposed the idea of holding a fundraising dinner for the YMCA, and church members approved.

The dinner was well attended by the community.

“We were to start (serving) at 4:30, but people were lining up at 4 o’clock, so we started early,” said YMCA marketing and communications director Mary DeArmitt. She estimated the dinner served 150 to 200 people.

DeArmitt said much of the food for the meal was donated by YMCA board members. Church members prepared and served the meal to hungry patrons, aided by YMCA staff members from all around Centre County.

Brochures describing YMCA programs and coupons for a free week of YMCA membership were handed out to dinner attendees.

“We wanted to get our face in the community,” said DeArmitt.

The Penns Valley YMCA, which opened in January 2016, is located at 115 W. Streamside Place in Spring Mills, in the former Gettig Engineering building. The facility features a large room filled with state-of-the-art exercise equipment, including treadmills, bikes and weight machines. Flat-screen televisions, equipped with earphone jacks for exercise equipment users, hang from the ceiling. Several large rooms are available for yoga, martial arts, strength training and other classes.

The facility contains an indoor playground area, called Child Watch, where members’ children can enjoy staff-supervised play while their parents exercise. This area may also be rented out for kids’ birthday parties and similar events.

DeArmitt noted that the YMCA has a summer day camp for children, as well as a flag football program. It also offers a weekend backpack feeding program, which assures that needy children have adequate food during time away from school.

Business hours for the facility are 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.