The Penn Manor Education Foundation (PMEF) has played a huge role in the lives of students in the local community for decades. In the organization's own words, PMEF's mission is "to enhance and enrich the educational experiences and lives of Penn Manor School District's students, families and staff." It accomplishes this primarily through scholarships and venture grants. Making these efforts possible is a group of deeply rooted locals who want to make a difference.

One such local is Frank Geist, whose family has been in Penn Manor for three generations. Frank's mother, Leona, graduated from Manor-Millersville High School, the predecessor to Penn Manor High School, in 1942. Frank graduated from Penn Manor High School in 1963, and although his wife, Joyce, is a York County native, she worked in the Penn Manor School District as an elementary school teacher and librarian. Frank and Joyce had three children who graduated from Penn Manor in the 1990s.

After his retirement in 2000, Frank began looking for nonprofits with missions that he could relate to and discovered PMEF. He served as the president of the foundation for several years and was on Penn Manor's school board. "When the foundation needed to put its fundraising hat on and ask for money, you hardly even needed to ask families to contribute," Frank said. "You only had to remind them of Penn Manor's stories and how many good things happen for students here."

PMEF assisted with dozens of projects while Frank was president, but he recalled one that stood out among the others. "A group of special needs students required additional emotional support, but there wasn't much room in the budget," Frank said. "A counselor wrote a request to the foundation about what a dog could do for the group, so we helped raise the funds." The school employed an emotional support dog named Dudley and saw such significant results that the counselor returned to attend one of PMEF's board meetings, bringing Dudley and a student he had helped. The student had been struggling with her shyness and reading out loud in class but declared to the board that Dudley loved it when she read to him.

"(PMEF) was lucky enough to have an extraordinary faculty and dedicated team of teachers," Frank said. "So many of them had ideas for what to do with students beyond the budget." The foundation grew into a role similar to a booster club but for academics, granting teachers the extra resources they needed to take students on field trips and provide enriching experiences.

Early in its history, PMEF operated on a low budget. Frank and the foundation decided to reach out to the community and tell the story of PMEF's successes so far, and they dubbed donors the Founding Friends. After only two years, the foundation raised $1 million, and today its endowed funds are over $2 million. "If someone comes up with a good idea at Penn Manor, the community is going to get the funds," Frank said. "I'm humbled by it. PMEF has been a blessing to the Penn Manor community."

For more information or to make a donation, visit https://pennmanoredfoundation.org/.