Sandusky charity to transfer programs

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

A judge has ruled that the Pennsylvania charity for troubled youths started by convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky can transfer $200,000 and other small assets to a Texas ministry, which will assume operations of some programs.

Arrow Child & Family Ministries of Houston said in a release Tuesday that it will assume operations May 1 of some The Second Mile programs.

The court ruling filed on Monday allows The Second Mile to send donor and program databases to Arrow, which will also get some office equipment and two vans.

Mark Tennant, Arrow’s founder and CEO, said that they are “mindful of the victims of Jerry Sandusky” but he also thanked The Second Mile staff for their work preserving “meaningful programs.”

Tennant invited past supporters of The Second Mile to join Arrow “as we work together to improve the lives of at-risk children.”

The Second Mile, a State College-based charity, concluded last May that it could not continue operating after the Sandusky scandal. The charity asked a court for permission to transfer programs and millions of dollars in assets to Arrow, but the plan stalled amid opposition from victims’ attorneys, who have filed lawsuits seeking the assets.

Judge William Morgan’s ruling noted that $200,000 is less than 5 percent of The Second Mile assets and that no objections were filed to the small transfer.

Morgan wrote that the small transfer will “permit programs to continue that are of immense benefit to children and their families.”

Arrow spokeswoman Faye Eson wrote in an email that the Second Mile Leadership Institute, normally held in April, is now scheduled to be held this fall. “The Friend mentoring program and Friend Fitness program activities will begin in September as usual, and the Summer Challenge Camp activities are planned to continue in the summer of 2014,” Eson added.

Sandusky, Penn State’s longtime defensive coordinator, started The Second Mile in 1977. He was convicted in June of 45 counts of sexual abuse of 10 boys and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. He has maintained his innocence.

The charity had been one of the largest providers of youth social services in Pennsylvania until Sandusky’s arrest.