SUNBURY—The Geisinger Child Advocacy Center held a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new location in Sunbury on Wednesday. The new facility at 218 Chestnut Street is a three-story, 6,900-square foot building that quadruples the space of their previous location in Northumberland.
Program Manager, Melissa Wagner says this space provides families with a private relaxing space, saying, “ when families come in we have a very large waiting area for them to get settled when they get here. We have so much additional space, with separate waiting rooms for separate services, separate therapy rooms. So depending on what service they are coming for we kind of route people in the appropriate direction so that their privacy is respected.”
The new facility was gifted to the center by Penn and Stan Seiple of Mid State Realty, the Seiple family foundation and the Degenstein Foundation, Wagner says, “ They heard that we were in need of space and they had this building that certainly offered a lot of space. So they donated the building and we got additional donations to pay for some renovation costs.”
Additional donations came from the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation and the Children’s Miracle Network. The Child Advocacy Center was opened in 2004 to help victims of child abuse. Today the center sees over 500 children per year and serves the surrounding eight counties. (Sarah Benek )
