Clinton County Commissioner’s Proclamations Honor CMHS Student’s Academic Achievements and Address Hunger Issues

By Emily Wright

LOCK HAVEN— The Clinton County Commissioners opened their meeting Thursday with two proclamations: Proclamation No. 12 of 2024: Honoring Sofia Dressler for outstanding academic achievement, and Proclamation No. 13 of 2024: Designating September 2024 as Hunger Action Month in Clinton County.

The commissioners recognized Sofia Dressler, a 2024 graduate of Central Mountain High School, for her academic achievements and community service. Dressler earned over 15 prestigious academic awards upon graduation. She ended her senior year by taking first place in Related Technical Mathematics when she competed at the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, Dressler was selected as the Laurel Festival Representative, having been nominated by her teachers and then chosen after delivering an inspiring speech to the junior class at CMHS titled, “What Would I Do if I Knew I Couldn’t Fail”.

Commissioner Angela Harding read the proclamation, which recounted Dressler’s achievements. “Mrs. Dressler’s accomplishments bring great pride to Keystone Central School District’s Career and Technology program and serve as an inspiration to her fellow students and the broader community,” the proclamation stated in part.

Dressler and her parents, Jared and Amy, were present at the meeting to accept the sealed proclamation. Dressler reports that she will attend the University of Notre Dame, majoring in engineering and possibly math.

“We want to congratulate you, and what you’ve achieved is remarkable,” Commissioner Harding said. “It’s wonderful to have you here with us and we wish you all the luck in the world. Hopefully, someday, you’ll come back to Clinton County and bring the education and experiences that you’ve had with you.”

Next, Commissioner Snyder read Proclamation No. 13 of 2024, which recognizes September 2024 as Hunger Action Month to raise awareness of the issues of hunger in Clinton County. The proclamation included some alarming statistics regarding hunger and food insecurity in Pennsylvania. According to the Feeding America organization, over 1.5 million individuals, one in eight Pennsylvanians, and one in every six children are experiencing food insecurity. In Clinton County, one in seven neighbors and one in six children are food insecure due to increased food costs, which have exceeded 27 percent.

Katie Kerr from the Central PA Food Bank attended the meeting to speak on behalf of Hunger Action Month. She reported that the Central PA Food Bank has distributed over 68.5 million pounds of food in fiscal year 2024 to Pennsylvanians experiencing food insecurity, including over 1.1 million pounds of food in Clinton County alone. Regarding Hunger Action Month, Kerr said, “It’s a time for us to bring awareness to the hunger that our neighbors face across our service territory and across the Commonwealth, so partnering with the commissioners to bring awareness, even in a small way such as a proclamation is really fantastic because it allows us to truly address it.”

Commissioner Harding asked Kerr how individuals in the community who are experiencing food insecurity can get more information about food banks or securing food in general. Kerr shared that those individuals can call the Central PA Food Bank Williamsport office at (570) 321-8023, or they can call the PA-211 number for more robust resources that exist outside of food insecurity. To learn more about the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank-Williamsport Branch, visit the organization online at https://www.centralpafoodbank.org/.

Commissioner Harding noted that Keystone Central School District has received grant funds to provide free breakfast and lunch for all students during the 2024-2025 school year.

Tracy Haas-Ungard, agency services manager for the Williamsport Healthy Hub of the Central PA Food Bank, also attended the meeting and spoke about the State Food Plan. She reports that seven state-funded food pantries in the Clinton County area received funding in the fiscal year 2024-2025, including the Howard Area Food Pantry (located in Beech Creek), Sugar Valley Food Pantry, St. Paul’s Food Pantry in Mill Hall, the New Love Center in Avis, Renovo Area Council of Churches Food Pantry, Renovo and Lock Haven Salvation Army, and the More Than Bread soup kitchen at the Salvation Army in Lock Haven which serves daily meals.

Haas-Ungard reports that from 2023-2024, the Central PA Food Bank distributed over 103,462 pounds of food valued at $199,681.66 to these seven pantries, which served an average of 700 families per month. Additionally, soup kitchen and shelter programs served approximately 545 families per month on average. The food bank also supports additional programs like military shares, fresh express programs, backpack programs, and senior box programs to help address hunger in the community.

“A total of $62,387.45, which includes the fifth payment, was allocated to the Clinton County State Food Purchase Program in fiscal year 2023-2024. The entire grant was allocated to those agencies for food purchase, and that included the share of maintenance fees, direct purchase, and wholesale purchases,” Haas-Ungard said. “Our policy is always to convert everything to food. We do not take an administrative fee or anything like that; we convert everything to food.”

“We are what is considered the ‘silent pandemic’. We are serving in the silent pandemic, meaning we are serving above the peak of the pandemic right now; we have surpassed those numbers,” Hazungard said. “We have individuals struggling, working families, and two-income families who just cannot make ends meet, so we have now surpassed that number that we served in 2021 at the peak of the pandemic, but with little to none of those additional resources that we had during that time. We are more committed than ever to serving our neighbors in need, and we are thankful for the support of the Clinton County Commissioners.”

In other news, the board of commissioners approved an application for a $114,339.77 Act 88 Election Integrity Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Maria Boileau, County Director of Voter Registration and Elections, was present to speak on behalf of the grant, which she says will be used to pay staff members in charge of mail-in ballots, physical security and transparency costs for centralized pre-canvassing, post-election procedures, list maintenance under the election code, the printing of ballots, and for training and payment for poll workers on election day. She added that this funding also provides for secure preparation, transportation, storage, and management of voting apparatus tabulation equipment, as well as required polling place materials.

The next bi-weekly meeting of the Clinton County Commissioners will take place on Monday, August 19, at 9:00 a.m. All meetings are held in person at the Piper Building in the 2nd-floor conference room and are also live-streamed on the “Clinton County Government” Facebook page.