Burns: $13,000 state grant helps nonprofit that feeds hundreds
St. Vincent DePaul’s Food for Families Inc. ceiling repair swiftly funded
Rep. Frank Burns April 12, 2024 | 1:22 PM
EBENSBURG, April 12 – The thing St. Vincent DePaul grantwriter Georgia Lehman remembers most is the swiftness with which state Rep. Frank Burns was able to fulfill her request for state financial help.
Lehman needed $13,000 to replace beams and support posts to secure a sagging second floor ceiling in the building where the Food for Families Inc./Johnstown Family Kitchen prepares and serves a daily hot lunchtime meal, feeding 150 to 200 people.
“If our ceiling fell down, that would be a devastating blow, because we wouldn’t have anywhere to keep our food supplies,” Lehman said. “I sent Frank an email on his state website on Nov. 20…I reached out to Frank and said, ‘Is there anything we can do here?’
“That was it, until Frank called me and said, ‘I think you’re going to get a DCED grant.’ By the 29th of February, (we were told that) we’re getting our money. I was like, ‘Wow – that’s timely!’”
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“I sent Frank an email on his state website on Nov. 20 … By the 29th of February, (we were told that) we’re getting our money. I was like, ‘Wow – that’s timely!’” – Georgia Lehman, St. Vincent DePaul grantwriter.
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Burns, D-Cambria, said the funding fell into place more quickly than usual, but his response was standard: Offering to do all that he could to help.
“St. Vincent DePaul contacted my office because they needed financial assistance to repair a structural beam in the ceiling to secure the roof,” Burns said. “I reached out to offer my assistance. Then I did all that I could. We couldn’t risk losing a vital program that feeds so many people per day.”
Lehman said the work includes demolishing one row of ceiling tiles, replacing a major support beam and attaching three steel support posts.
She credits the success to the helpful response from Burns and his staff of, “What are you looking for and we’ll see if it fits into any of the programs that the government has.”