Charity set for final programs
PITTSBURGH — The charity that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky founded is set to begin what may be its last series of youth programs, as officials wait for a court to approve a formal transfer to another nonprofit.
Second Mile CEO David Woodle said Friday that about 200 children are enrolled for a program that’s scheduled to begin July 15 in State College.
Prosecutors allege Sandusky, who was found guilty Friday of 45 counts of child sex abuse, used the charity to locate victims, but some former Second Mile campers testified in his defense during his trial. Woodle declined to comment on the trial.
Woodle said it could take months for a court to rule on a request filed in May to transfer many programs to Arrow Child & Family Ministries, a $36 million charity that operates in Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California and Honduras.
The legal petition to transfer programs to Arrow is essentially the findings of an internal investigation into the charity’s future conducted by attorney Lynne Abraham, Woodle said. Abraham had previously served as Philadelphia’s district attorney.
Meanwhile, Arrow said it hopes to hire all of the Second Mile’s current employees, but will move them to new offices in the area.
Arrow plans to take over five Second Mile programs.
