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Helping kids in need: John and JeanAnne Camp Challenge Scholarship Fund
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Pictured with their family, John Jr. and Cathy Pelusi (middle), have made donations to the D&E Counseling Center's Children's Circle of Friends Foundation to establish the John and JeanAnne Camp Challenge Scholarship Fund.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
When John H. Pelusi Sr. attended a youth camp as a teenager during the Great Depression, he probably had no way of realizing the experience also would ignite his lifelong desire to give back to the community.
“Both of their lives have been about helping others. We have had some good fortune in our lives and [also] want to give back to others,” Pelusi’s son, John Pelusi Jr., said recently.
The younger Pelusi was referring to donations he and his wife, Cathy, have made to the D&E Counseling Center’s Children’s Circle of Friends Foundation to establish the John and JeanAnne Camp Challenge Scholarship Fund.
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The John and JeanAnne Camp Challenge Scholarship Fund was established to honor the late John Pelusi and his wife, JeanAnne.
The fund is to serve as a memorial to his father, John Sr., a longtime educator and a Chaney High School coach who died last June at age 90, and to honor his mother, JeanAnne, who recently moved to Pittsburgh to be closer to family.
Pelusi, a former D&E director, noted that the scholarships would go toward helping children with behavioral, emotional and other challenges attend the counseling center’s Summer Camp Challenge program, which was known as the Fresh Air Camp when his father had taken part. The 10-week camp that gets underway in early June is to offer therapeutic recreation as well as structured and intensive programs for youngsters who are experiencing difficulties at home and in school, he explained.
A 2012 donation made it possible to dedicate a room at Camp Challenge in his parents’ name, Pelusi continued.
“Camp Challenge serves almost 90 kids a year and has been around for about 30 years. About 90 percent of them are from families at or near the poverty level,” noted Gregory Cvetkovic, Circle of Friends Foundation’s president.
The camp also is geared toward helping the youngsters age 7 to 12 bridge a major gap during the summer when they’re usually not in school, he said.
“John and Cathy have been great friends and supporters over the last 20 years of the Circle of Friends Foundation and its work to assist children with emotional disabilities,” Cvetkovic added.
“This scholarship in John’s parents’ name will help continue that work over the summer months when these children are out of school, and many times when their problems escalate.”
Pelusi said that his parents often were guarded about the contributions they made, and that he and his wife are very happy to honor their legacy and continue in their footsteps.
“We have made a series of donations to the D&E Center and the Circle of Friends Foundation in my parents’ names over the years to honor them for what they have done for our family as well as what they have done in the Youngstown community. It has been especially gratifying to make these gifts to the Circle of Friends Foundation to support its mission in serving the underserved children in the Mahoning Valley,” he added.