State College Businesses Support Military Student Fund

The Downtown State College Improvement District on Tuesday presented Penn State with a check to support the Military Student Fund, the culmination of an initiative that began with Military Appreciation Week in 2016.

The Military Student Fund provides scholarships and support to military-affiliated Penn State students in financial need.

Last fall, DID partnered with the university for Military Appreciation Week, holding a Military Appreciation-themed version of the monthly First Friday celebration in downtown State College. Businesses donated a portion of their sales to the Military Student Fund and Tuesday presented a check for $8,500.

DID Executive Director George Arnold said 60 downtown businesses participated. 

“We thought that would be the perfect piece to pick up and run with,” he said, according to a release.

The Military Student Fund was established in 2014 and has awarded $36,000 to 19 students. Penn State President Eric Barron said that the university has one of the nation’s oldest and largest ROTC programs and that the school is a leading Department of Defense researcher.

“We are proud of all those efforts and of Penn Staters who have served the country with honor and distinction in the military,” Barron said. “We are also proud of the strong town-gown relationship that allows us to celebrate our shared values, which is exactly what it is we’re doing today. We are not just neighbors, we are partners, and we’re doing all we can together to enhance the Centre Region through teaching, research and service.”

The fund provides a minimum of four scholarships a year and helps cover costs for active-duty military, veterans and ROTC members. Col. Eugene McFeely, Penn State’s senior director for Veterans Affairs and Services, said some examples of beneficiaries of the fund are ROTC cadets who are struggling financially and veterans who have used up their GI Bill benefits.

“We did all this through the kindness of people such as those who make up the downtown businesses in the State College borough,” McFeely said. “We could not have done this alone.”