Local briefs
Applications taken Applications for Christmas assistance will be taken at the Salvation Army, 32 W. Fayette St., Uniontown, Oct. 21, 22, 28 and 29 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m. and Nov. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m. Applicants must live in ZIP codes 15401, 15456, 15465 and 15472. Applicants must bring proof of address and a Social Security card for every member of the household.
Debate scheduled
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus will hold a political debate Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Maggie Hardy Magerko Auditorium of the new Community Center. The debate will feature speakers from the Republican, Democratic and Green parties and is open to the public. The event is sponsored by the Penn State Fayette Honors Program, in coordination with the campus Student Government Association. For more information, call 724-430-4199.
Grant received
An area AmeriCorps branch that serves a nine-county region, including Fayette and Westmoreland, has received a $1,029,199 grant from the Corporation for National & Community Service.
The Pennsylvania Mountain Service Corps, which operates from offices in Ebensburg, Cambria County, will use the grant to pay 78 full-time and 10 part-time workers who provide services to organizations in Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset and Westmoreland counties.
“The success of PMSC is exactly what I envisioned when I called a community meeting 10 years ago to propose submitting a grant that would allow our rural region to support a branch of AmeriCorps,” U.S. Rep. John Murtha said, noting that the funding is “vital to the existence” of many area grassroots organizations.
With 88 members, PMSC is one of the largest full-time AmeriCorps programs in Pennsylvania. It is a tri-state award winner for work on childhood lead poisoning, and received the Governor’s Excellence Award for Environmental Education.
The grant is administered through PennSERVE, the Governor’s Commission of Citizen Service.