Helping others in need — that’s what heroes tend to do. That definition embodies the spirit of this year’s Happy Valley Heroes, who come from diverse backgrounds and make impacts large and small on the community.
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On one Tuesday evening each month, a classroom on the Penn State campus is transformed into a command center for the Dear Hero program. Desks and ledges are filled with items ready for students to pack up and send to US troops serving overseas.
The program started in 2010 when Paul Brandenburg, now the group’s president, was a freshman at Penn State. Brandenburg had just finished a tour of duty with the Marines in Afghanistan and wanted to do something to re-create the care packages he had received from his girlfriend, Jesse, while there. The group quickly turned into an official club at Penn State and now has about 300 members on its roster, Brandenburg says.
“A lot of our members are veterans, and we have a lot of ROTC students that come out and support us,” he says. “We also have a lot of members who have family in the military or friends in the military and want to show support.”
Alyssa Gilley, a sophomore majoring in nursing, is one of those students. Her parents are retired Marines, and she moved around several times during her childhood. She joined the Dear Hero group last year and quickly rose to a leadership role as the veteran support chair.
“My entire family is in the military and I did something like this back in high school,” she says. “I love to be the person to help put a smile on someone’s face and help make a difference in people’s lives.”
Ed Bonfiglio, a junior majoring in kinesiology, uses his experience as a Navy veteran to stuff his care packages with things he knows soldiers will covet — clean socks, toothpaste, and energy drinks.
“I was in Iraq and Afghanistan and we didn’t get things like this,” he says. “You can’t always get this stuff on base, depending on where you are stationed, so it’s important for us to send as much as we can.”
Care packages sent to troops typically include snacks, toiletries, and other items that can vary based on time of year. October’s care packages included Halloween candy, and packages last spring included letters written by local elementary school students. This fall, the group partnered with the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State to collect items for care packages.
Recommendations for care-package recipients come from club members, who often choose to send packages to active-duty friends and family, or from sites such as anysoldier.com, which allows service members to sign up to receive donations. Brandenburg says the group is sometimes surprised by whom they find online
“In the past, we have kind of unknowingly sent packages to [Penn State] alumni,” he says. “One guy, we sent him eight packages, and three months later we got a letter back saying he was an alum and how happy he was to see a care package from his fellow Penn Staters.”
In addition to sending care packages, the Dear Hero program visits the James E. Van Zandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Altoona to interact with those in rehabilitation. The group also holds a veterans appreciation dinner in honor of Veterans Day in November.
For more information on the Dear Hero program, visit sites.psu.edu/dearheroprogram.
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Every morning at 6 a.m., a group of women meet on the Penn State campus. On the surface, they meet to run a few miles before work, family, and other obligations set in. Beyond the running, though, is a friendship and camaraderie that keeps the Creamery Ladies coming out bright and early day after day.
Creamery Ladies leader Morgan Wasikonis started the group a few years ago as a way to get back into running after having children. She knew there was an active running community in the Centre Region, but it wasn’t until she attended the annual Boalsburg Memorial Day race that everything clicked into place.
“After I had my third child, I was having a hard time getting back into running again,” she says. “I had committed myself to running for a month straight. I started at the Creamery with a friend and we said, ‘We’ll be here every day, we’ll tell other women, and they’ll come about six in the morning, too.’ “
Wasikonis started running when she was 12, and ran her first marathon in 1999. Not long after, she became a registered Team in Training trainer. Team in Training is a network of coaches around the country who prepare people for half marathons, marathons, and other races while raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Wasikonis has an education background and saw coaching as a natural extension of the teaching she had already done. She holds a teaching certification, but found coaching people one-on-one to be a better fit for her than teaching in the classroom.
“I’ve always been passionate about educating — but more of a hands-on practical use kind of thing,” she says.
She says the main obstacles she faces with her training clients are injuries and an attitude some have that they’ll never be able to complete a race such as a half or full marathon. She creates a training plan unique to each person, and assures them that they can complete their goal distance by taking things one mile at a time.
She applies the same level of care to the Creamery Ladies group. Dana Mitra, one of the group’s members, recalls a time when Wasikonis asked each runner what their “super power” was. She then put that information on baby running shoes with wings and gave a shoe to each runner as a reminder of their positive traits.
“What makes Morgan stand out is her commitment to building community among others, and her ability to welcome people to feel like they belong,” Mitra says. “She also knows how to make people feel celebrated and special.”
The Creamery Ladies meet each morning at the Borland Building, the former location of the Penn State Creamery. Their group has about 100 members, with 20 to 30 showing up to run on any given day.
Wasikonis is currently taking a break from running due to medical issues, but hopes to be back out there soon running alongside the other ladies. “Even if someone can’t run, they are there to support them in whatever way they can,” she says “It’s a great group of women who do such great things in our community.”
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Athletes spend their entire lives training for that big game, but as Penn State hockey player David Glen found out, sometimes missing that game is worth the sacrifice.
Earlier this year, after participating in Be the Match in support of Kim Roper, mother of Penn State lacrosse player Drew Roper, Glen, a forward and assistant captain of the Nittany Lions hockey team, was found to be a match for someone in need of a bone-marrow transplant.
He says everyone on the team was tested in November 2012 as part of the match program, and he didn’t think much of it at the time. He was not a match for Kim Roper, but remained in the Be the Match database and was found to be a match for someone else in late 2013.
“We have a great relationship with the lacrosse team, and the whole team thought we would sign up,” he says. “It’s a one-in-a-million thing … you go in not expecting much, and I was lucky enough to be get picked.”
The news of the transplant caught head coach Guy Gadowsky off guard as much as it did Glen.
“He asked to talk with me, and I had no idea what it was about,” Gadowsky says. “He came in and told me that he was a [bone- marrow] match for someone and, if he went through with [donating], he would be missing a few games. … He didn’t think twice about it, and neither did I. We are very proud of the way he has handled the situation.”
Once selected, Glen traveled to the Geisinger-Bloomsburg Hospital January 24 for the donation process, which involved a series of five injections. The final one involved being hooked up to the extraction machine for about six hours, a process he describes as “draining.”
He says it took him a few weeks to get back to 100 percent following the procedure.
“I felt really run down and was in a lot of pain,” he says. ” ‘Bone pain’ is the term they use. It’s kind of a very uncomfortable pain that goes through legs and back.”
The procedure fell at the same time as the team’s games against Boston College and Ohio State — some of the biggest contests of the season. Glen knew going into the donation that there was no way he would be ready to play.
The donation process was anonymous, so Glen doesn’t know who received his bone marrow. Despite that, he says the decision to donate and miss the games was an easy one for him to make.
“I didn’t want to miss the games. You want to be there for your teammates and try to help every game,” he says. “But something like this is not something that comes along very often. It was really a no-brainer for me.”
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As a retired United Methodist clergy member, Ruth Donahue saw the position of executive director for Interfaith Human Services as a way to combine her religious and secular experiences — and to make a difference in the lives of Centre County residents.
“One of the things that drew me to this organization is that there are people from a broad background and various belief systems working together to better the community. That’s something I have always been interested in,” she says.
Now in its 45th year, Interfaith Human Services is composed of representatives from 30 church congregations across Centre County. It provides housing and fuel assistance to low-income residents or those who have been displaced from their homes after a disaster.
While Donahue spearheads these efforts, she is quick to point out that her volunteers are the ones who really deserve all of the credit.
Renea Nichols, of State College, nominated Donahue to be a “Happy Valley Hero” because of her tireless devotion to the organization and its mission.
“As the organization celebrates its 45th year serving the county, it continues to make an impact because Ruth is such a tireless champion, working to ensure that some day everyone will have a safe place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, affordable health care, reliable transportation, friends to support and encourage, and the realization that they lack for nothing,” Nichols says.
Despite the group’s small size, Donahue says they are able to react quickly when a disaster strikes the area. To date, Interfaith Human Services has received more than $70,000 in contributions toward assisting victims of the Hotel Do Dee and Waupelani Heights apartment-complex fires in 2012. They were quickly able to pull together events such as a Zumbathon and clothing-donation drive.
You may see members of Interfaith Human Services standing outside of the Corner Room or Meyer Dairy this holiday season for its Wishing Well Campaign, one of the group’s largest fundraisers. They also are busy collecting fuel for a fuel bank that provides heating assistance to low-income households.
“This organization is just an exciting group of people who are humble. They aren’t looking for huge attention to their name,” Donahue says. “What they’re looking for are solutions to issues facing their neighbors in the community.”
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