Scholarships awarded

Scholarships awarded

YOUNGSTOWN

Belmont Pines Hospital recently awarded two Liberty High School graduates $1,000 scholarships each to pursue a degree in higher education.

The scholarships were done in the name of the Liberty Fire and Police Departments.

On behalf of the police department, Chief Richard Tisone presented Rachel Toth her scholarship, while Chief Michael Durkin presented the fire department scholarship to Kara Nichols. The recipients were selected according to criteria designated by Liberty High School.

“We are proud to work in conjunction with the fire and police departments to award these deserving students and give them the added resources they need to continue their education at the next level,” said George Perry, chief executive officer at Belmont Pines Hospital.

Seeking volunteers

The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers to help with its Road to Recovery Program in Trumbull and Mahoning counties who want to help people who have cancer, who have a good driving record, insurance and a dependable vehicle, and able to donate a couple of hours per week or month.

Road to Recovery is a free program that provides cancer patients a ride to treatment and a ride back home after treatment. Volunteer drivers in Trumbull and Mahoning counties are needed in order to accommodate the many requests for a ride.

“There are a number of reasons why people don’t drive to their treatment,” said Barb Barsch, volunteer coordinator of the program for the society. “The main reason is because they are unsure of how they will feel after treatment. They don’t want to risk driving since the side effects vary with each patient.”

Other reasons patients lack transportation is because there are no friends or family available. Often, treatment schedules for patients are scheduled for several days and/or several weeks. Even if there are people who are willing they may be unable to take voluntary time off, or may have exhausted all of their allotted time, Barsch said.

To learn how to become a Road to Recovery driver, call Deborah Moore at the American Cancer Society toll-free at 888-227-6446, ext. 2104.

BackPack support

YOUNGSTOWN

The Kennedy Family Foundation, component fund of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, has awarded Second Harvest Food Bank $12,400 to support the BackPack Program and distribute food to hungry individuals and families.

The Kennedy Family Foundation provided $10,000 to support the BackPack Program at Campbell Elementary School and $2,400 in response to a community partnership with WYSU-FM. Through this partnership, the foundation contributed $2 to Second Harvest Food Bank for every pledge made to WYSU during their spring fund drive.

The BackPack Program provides food to children for the weekends. At Campbell Elementary School, 150 students receive a bag full of nutritious child-friendly food each week.

Produce season

YOUNGSTOWN

Recently, members of the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown bagged plums at Second Harvest Food Bank, 2805 Salt Springs Road, to be distributed to hungry people in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

To kick off the summer produce season, the food bank received nearly 40,000 pounds of plums from a grower in California to be distributed through a network of 153 hunger-relief organizations provided food by Second Harvest in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

The food bank will continue to receive and distribute fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the summer months.

Last year, the food bank distributed 2.3 million pounds of produce throughout the community.