Centre Gives Fest is back for the second year and will take place during the 12th annual Centre Gives. On May 11 from 5:30-9 p.m. at Talleyrand Park, we will bring the community together to countdown the final hours of Centre Gives. The event will feature music performances by OK Otter and DJ Elbow Knee Knee of Gorinto Productions, food/drink vendors including Pizza Mia, Savory Station, Pelican’s SnoBalls, and SoBar Space, and activities from a variety of Centre County nonprofits.
Our community’s nonprofits make Centre County such an incredible place and supporting their missions is at the core of what we do at Centre Foundation. And Centre Gives Fest is the perfect opportunity to amplify their voices as they share their impact. More than thirty local organizations will be in attendance, offering family-friendly activities that showcase their organization. Learn about each of them below and get excited to join us at Centre Gives Fest!
3 Dots Downtown – Community Engagement Wall
3 Dots Downtown works to inspire a more vibrant community by elevating the humanities, promoting local arts, cultivating innovative experiences, and offering an inclusive public space for civic engagement. For their activity, they want to hear from you. Attendees are encouraged to share ideas, dreams, and inspirations on their Community Engagement Wall.
ACRES Project – From Our Garden to Yours
ACRES works to help neurodivergent and autistic adults build a foundation for a productive, independent life. They will bring locally grown flowers from their organization’s greenhouse to give out to the community, as well as educational materials to share more about the services they offer.
Art Alliance of Central PA – Clay Crafts and Plein Air Painting
The Art Alliance of Central PA promotes visual arts by providing art education, offers opportunities for practicing artists to exhibit and teach, and more. Instructors will be available to teach children how to work with clay and plein air painters will perform a demonstration as they create a unique Centre Gives Fest painting.
Bethany Christian Services
Bethany Christian Services is dedicated to helping families thrive, as they believe every child deserves to be loved, connected, and safe. They are bringing balloon twisters for attendees to enjoy.
Bridge of Hope Centre County – LEGO Community Building
Bridge of Hope Centre County’s mission is to end homelessness through the support of local churches and relationships within the community. Their activity will invite attendees to build a community using LEGOs in order to share how important it is to have a home.
Centre Wildlife Care – Meet the Animal Ambassadors
Centre Wildlife Care is dedicated to caring for injured, sick, and displaced wildlife to release them back into the wild. They will bring wild animals as they educate attendees about natural history and wildlife rehab.
The Community Café at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church – Cookie Decorating
The Community Café at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church serves free meals to community members, as well as additional food for people to take home after their meal. They will provide premade sugar cookies for attendees to decorate them with icing, sprinkles, and more.
Discovery Space & The Rivet – Liquid Nitrogen Brownies
Discovery Space is a science center with interactive exhibits and hands-on programs designed to provide valuable informational science education. They will be bringing back their hit Centre Gives Fest activity where attendees can create their own liquid nitrogen brownies.
Doing Good with Wood – Kazoo Making
Doing Good with Wood provides mentoring in woodworking and teaches young woodworkers how to create something they can be proud of. Their activity will guide attendees through the process of making a wooden kazoo.
Dyslexia Reading Center – Dyslexia Simulation
Dyslexia Reading Center provides multisensory reading and writing instruction to individuals with dyslexia and/or learning differences. They will bring a digital dyslexia simulation and invite attendees to read a paragraph so they can experience what it’s like to have dyslexia.
Easterseals Lance and Ellen Shaner Child Development Center – Creating Inclusion for All
Easterseals Lance and Ellen Shaner Child Development Center aims to empower people with disabilities, families, and communities so they can be full and equal participants in society. Their activity will feature a special mural that attendees of Centre Gives Fest can paint a portion of, showing that everyone can contribute regardless of physical abilities.
Hope’s Dream Rescue and Sanctuary – Trap, Neuter, Return Demonstration
Hope’s Dream Rescue and Sanctuary is an all-volunteer animal rescue that also works to trap, neuter, and return (TNR) cats in the area. They will offer demonstrations on setting live traps for the purposes of TNR and rescue themed coloring pages and word searches for younger guests.
Housing Transitions – Temporary Tattoos
Housing Transitions provides housing programs and supportive services as they assist families and individuals in achieving a more independent lifestyle. They will have temporary tattoos available to attendees.
Jana Marie Foundation – Community Collaborative Project
Jana Marie Foundation, through the power of dialogue and creative expression, sparks conversations, builds connections, and promotes mental well-being among young people and their communities. They will invite attendees to participate in their community collaborative project by using multi-media supplies to craft part of an installation that highlights the power of diversity within the community.
The Jared Box Project – Make a Jared Box
The Jared Box Project’s mission is to entertain and put a smile on the faces of children in the hospital by creating boxes with ‘gifts of play’ for them to enjoy. They will bring supplies so attendees can make their own Jared Box.
Mid-State Literacy – Book Giveaway and Create Your Own Character
Mid-State Literacy brings literacy in all forms to adults in Centre and Clearfield counties. At Centre Gives Fest they will have free books for attendees of all ages to take home and an activity to create your own character by using words and visuals.
Nittany Greyhounds – Your Best Friend’s Health
Nittany Greyhounds is dedicated to raising awareness for retired racing greyhounds and placing them in responsible, loving homes. They will provide tips on how to best take care of your dog, which includes healthy diet recipes, health and first aid information and demos.
Out of the Cold – Building Our Community
Out of the Cold is a low-barrier shelter where guests are provided a hot meal, a cot, warm blankets, and a place to sleep. They also provide basic case management for assistance in acquiring housing. Their activity will focus on building the community with houses that children can create and take home.
Park Forest Preschool – Face Painting
Park Forest Preschool is a tuition-free school for children ages 2-4 that promotes cognitive, social emotional, and physical growth in a diverse and nurturing environment. At Centre Gives Fest they will have face painting for attendees of all ages.
The Quelmar Realm – Learn to RPG: Tabletop Gaming Brings Communities Closer
The Quelmar Realm helps encourage safe spaces for creativity to grow in the form of games, such as tabletop RPGs, and work together to ensure that no one ever feels like they don’t belong. They will host tabletop RPG (TTRPG) sessions led by game masters who will guide attendees through adventures set in the Quelmar Realm.
Rhoneymeade – Tree Giveaway and Exploring Art and Nature
Rhoneymeade is an intimate garden where a blossoming arboretum nurtures a variety of sculptures and provides a place where art and nature meet. As a continuation of their Arbor Day program, they will have trees to give away to attendees and an opportunity to look at and draw nature.
Ridgelines Language Arts – Community Poem
Ridgelines Language Arts provides language arts instruction from poetry to theater to under-heard groups in Central PA. Last year at Centre Gives Fest, Ridgelines created a community poem titled “The First Day.” This year, they will invite attendees to take part in another community poem, which will follow a theme of the seasons.
Rising Hope Therapeutic Riding Center – Meet a Miniature Horse
Rising Hope Therapeutic Riding Center provides recreational and therapeutic riding which develops physical, cognitive, social, and emotional well-being through equine assisted activities. They will bring one of their miniature horses for attendees to meet and interact with, while learning about the positive benefits of equine-assisted therapy.
Skills of Central PA – Building Our Community Portrait
Skills of Central PA strives to help people living behavioral health, intellectual, or developmental challenges by working to overcome adversity, promoting choice, encouraging recovery, and giving support. Their activity will be an opportunity for attendees to contribute to a photo backdrop made out of paper chains.
Sock and Buskin Theatre Company – Theatre Games and Crafts
Sock and Buskin Theatre Company is an all-volunteer community theatre company that seeks to enrich the cultural life of Centre County. They will bring theatre games and crafts such as a costume try-on station, a Shakesperean insults generator, and more.
A Solider’s Hands – Notes From Home
A Solider’s Hands works to send care packages to soldiers who are deployed and serving our country. Their activity will give attendees the chance to write handwritten notes that will be sent in their care packages.
Spotlight PA – News Quiz
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to high-quality investigative and public-service journalism about the Pennsylvania state government and urgent statewide issues. They will have an exclusive Centre County-focused news and trivia quiz that attendees can take and test their knowledge for a chance to win Spotlight PA swag.
State College Friends School – Process Art Community Collage
State College Friends School is an independent Quaker school serving approximately 120 students in Pre-K through 8th grade. Their activity will invite attendees to create small process art pieces as part of a larger community art piece, which will be displayed in their school then featured in an auction to benefit the school’s financial aid program.
State College Area Meals on Wheels – Send a Message to a Neighbor
State College Area Meals on Wheels prepares and delivers meals to homebound members of our community. They will bring materials for attendees to write a message to Meals on Wheels clients, so they can hear from a friendly neighbor.
Taproot Kitchen – Decorate Your Own Spring Themed Mini Cake
Taproot Kitchen is a culinary venture whose main ingredients are people and produce: adults with autism and intellectual disabilities and fresh food gleaned from local farms. They will bring spring-themed cakes for attendees to decorate and an opportunity to share your favorite recipe for Taproot Kitchen’s community cookbook.
Ten Thousand Villages of State College – Games, Puzzles, and Percussion
Ten Thousand Villages creates opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn an income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships. They will provide games and puzzles from their store for attendees to enjoy, as well as percussion instruments for children to play with.
Volunteer Centre County – Make a Banner Together for Arts Fest
Volunteer Centre County provides a free, user-friendly, online portal that enhances community engagement through promoting nonprofits’ needs for volunteer service and donated goods. They will bring supplies for people to contribute to creating a banner for Arts Fest.
Youth Service Bureau – Paper Quilt Squares
Youth Service Bureau helps ensure children, youth, and families have the opportunity to reach their full potential through a variety of programs. Their activity will invite attendees to express what they like about their community on a paper quilt square.
We hope you’ll join us and these amazing nonprofits at the second-annual Centre Gives Fest! If you’re interested, RSVP at our Facebook event here to receive updates about the event.