Centre Gives Fest is back for the third year and will take place during the 13th annual Centre Gives. On Thursday, May 9, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Brass 16823, we will bring the community together to countdown the final hours of Centre Gives! To RSVP for the FREE event visit our Facebook Event Page Please share the event page and invite your friends!
The event will bring the community together with music provided by DJ Elbow Knee Knee of Gorinto Productions, great local food vendors such as Savory Station, Brazilian Munchies, and Bees Knees, fun activities from various Centre County nonprofits, and fantastic prizes!
Our community’s nonprofits are the heart of Centre County, and your support is what keeps them thriving. At Centre Foundation, we are committed to amplifying their voices and sharing their impact. Centre Gives Fest is a powerful platform where over thirty local organizations will be present, offering family-friendly activities that showcase their unique missions. Get ready to be inspired and join us at the 2024 Centre Gives Fest!
Below is a list of the fun activities each nonprofit will offer at the event!
ACRES Project – From Our Garden to Yours
From their garden to yours, the ACRES project is offering vegetable plants to community members. Additionally, visitors to their booth can enjoy two small crafts: creating wildflower seed bombs and making chia pets!
Art Alliance of Central PA – Community Art
The Art Alliance of Central PA promotes visual arts by providing art education, offering opportunities for practicing artists to exhibit and teach, and more. They have 3 large canvases to paint with the community. They will provide brushes, paint, water, and stamps. These pieces will be featured in the Art Alliance on Pike St and their December exhibit at Kish Bank, Gratitude.
CenClear – Sand art
Their mission is to provide quality mental health services to those in need it. They will provide pictures of different animals/scenes. Children will peel each section and then put the colored sand on that sticky part until the picture is completed.
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank – Fun with the Food Bank!
They will bring Crunch, their Food Bank mascot, and have a photo booth set up for free photo opportunities with the community, as well as complimentary face painting for youth. Informational cards will be on their table about the mission and service of Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.
Centre Wildlife Care Wild About Animals display
A professional educator will attend with a display with live educational ambassadors rehabilitated at CWC but not releasable. It will be an interactive display to educate the public about wild animals, natural history, and wildlife rehabilitation at CWC. No one is allowed to touch the animals, but people can see them up close and ask questions.
Centre County Library & Historical Museum – Library Show and Tell
Their organization will set up a trifold on a table showcasing different items patrons can borrow or use from our locations. The physical items will be presented to interact with at the table, and the internet resources will be accessible via a laptop at the event. They will utilize a mobile hotspot to provide internet connectivity. Some specific items that they will showcase are ukuleles, playaway audiobooks, digital magnifiers, 3D doodle pens, and historical objects/documents. When viewers are done exploring the library resources, they will be prompted to write down a resource on a post-it note they learned they can use/borrow via the library. The post-it note will be added to a section of the trifold board.
They will also bring the library and Centre Gives-branded props so viewers can take pictures of themselves interacting with their table.
Centre County Youth Service Bureau- YSB Photo Booth
YSB is planning to create a photo booth. They will have a new step and repeat banner with their logo to use as a backdrop. Props will be available, especially those related to bees. Other props will include a picture frame, Halloween costumes, hats, and scarves. The kids could dress up as doctors, nurses, police, construction workers, and more!
Centre Region Down Syndrome Society – Balloon pop board game
Balloon pop – a board with hooks and balloons attached. Players throw beanbags to pop the balloons.
Centre Volunteers in Medicine -Toss for Health
“Toss for Health” is an engaging and interactive activity designed to connect event participants with Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM) through the classic game of cornhole. As part of Centre Gives Fest, this activity offers a unique opportunity for individuals to have fun while learning about CVIM’s mission and impact on the community.
As participants engage in friendly competition, they’ll also have the chance to interact with representatives from CVIM, who will be on hand to share information about the organization’s free medical and dental care services for the uninsured and underserved individuals in Centre County and learn about upcoming events. They’ll learn about the vital role CVIM plays in providing healthcare access to those in need and the various ways they can support the organization’s efforts.
Dyslexia Reading Center – Experience Dyslexia
Experience Dyslexia through simulation exercises, learn how dyslexia can be remediated, and hear from adults with dyslexia who have successfully navigated education and careers.
Fred H. Carlin Community Vision Foundation – Color Vision Art Station
Children can create artwork related to eye care. They will supply colored pencils, markers, stickers, etc., and templates of eyes or glasses they could decorate. They will also have a board with vision trivia and items to hand out.
Hope’s Dream Rescue and Sanctuary – TNR education
They will have live traps available to demonstrate safe trapping techniques, guidance for TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), and general information about their rescue services. They will also have coloring pages and word searches available for children.
Housing Transitions – Wooden Tangram set to build our logo and other shapes
In their Tangram sets, these brightly colored shapes can be arranged to create thousands of different designs. In much the same way, Housing Transitions helps so many people build better lives. Come play and build with Housing Transitions!
Jana Marie Foundation – Stronger Together
Jana Marie Foundation will host a collaborative art piece that encourages participants to act and work together to create an environment full of acceptance, appreciation, and understanding for all.
Logan Fire Company No. 1 – Touch a Truck & Fire Prevention
They will bring a piece of fire apparatus and fire prevention materials.
Nittany Beagle Rescue – We Are … Nittany Beagle Rescue!
Nittany Beagle Rescue (NBR) will have 2 or 3 Nittany Beagle Rescue dogs there for people to pet. They will have Nittany Beagle Rescue stickers on the table as a giveaway. They will have a card game with images of Beagle Rescue dogs and prizes (for having a match), that would include balloons with a photo of an NBR dog & Nittany Beagle Rescue printed on them, & pens with Nittany Beagle Rescue printed on them and posters.
Nittany Greyhounds – Greyhound Meet and Greet
During their Greyhound Meet & Greet, people can pet and interact with retired racing greyhounds and ask questions about this unusual breed. People are fascinated to learn that greyhounds can achieve their top racing speed (up to 45 mph) in three strides yet can be very happy sleeping most of the day on their owner’s couch. Greyhounds are considered to be universal blood donors for all breeds of dogs. After their racing careers, some greyhounds become therapy dogs. After adoption, they transition well to living in homes and make good apartment dogs because they are quiet and not high-energy. We’ll offer educational handouts about safety for all dog breeds and adopting retired racers from Nittany Greyhounds.
Out of the Cold – Friendship Bracelets and Building Houses
They will have various beads (house beads) for people to make friendship bracelets. Also, they will have house kits for kids to put together. They are little bank houses with OOTC logo.
Park Forest Preschool – Facepainting
They will provide a sense of whimsy for all ages using nontoxic face paints.
Ridgelines Language Arts – Community Poem Project
The Ridgelines team delights in engaging the public in their yearly Community Poem project. Their activity involves inviting festivalgoers to contribute a line to a collaborative poem in response to a prompt. Folks who contribute get a colorful sticker reading: “I made a Creative Contribution.” Their 2024 Community Poem will be shared publicly in the form of a beautifully designed broadside posted around Centre County in early 2025.
Rising Hope Therapeutic Riding Center – Minis on the Move & Info/Craft Table
The information table will include equine-related craft activities, and they will bring 2 miniature horses for visitors to interact with. Their “Minis on the Move” spread knowledge, therapeutic opportunities, joy, and love into the community!
Ronald McDonald House of Danville, Inc. – Cutouts and Cards for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Danville
Having a sick or injured child stay in the hospital is a parent’s worst nightmare. For some, it can take weeks or months to return home. — Thanks to the generosity of our community, the Ronald McDonald House of Danville helps to ease the physical, emotional, and financial burdens these parents often face by providing comfort and support when they need it most. Participants can visit the table (both adults and children) to make a card or create a paper cutout decorated with words of encouragement. They will take these cutouts and cards back to the House and proudly display them for the families to see. Just a little something to put a smile on their face and let them know that there are people out there who care and they are not alone in their struggles.
Skills of Central, PA – Mental Health-Themed Selfie Station
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month (May), they will build a backdrop of colored swatches for a selfie station. Each color added to the backdrop by attendees will represent a different relationship to mental health. Attendees can add their color to the backdrop and then use their large collection of photo props (funky hats, huge sunglasses, inflatable musical instruments) to take selfies at our vendor space.
Spotlight PA – Paper Airplanes & the Black Box
Public records are vital to Spotlight PA’s State College regional bureau’s investigative and accountability journalism. They include government meeting minutes, financial documents, internal communications, etc. Their journalists regularly request documents through Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law. It can take time to receive them, though. Sometimes, state agencies deny requests to release documents that the public has a right to see, which can force an appeals process through the Office of Open Records and even court battles.
Inspired by the installation “Clear Black Box” at Philly Story Fest, created by Back Pocket Media, their activity will involve making paper airplanes and trying to throw them into a “black box.”
The activity illustrates how difficult it can be to obtain government records that are crucial to holding elected officials and public institutions accountable.
The Print Factory – Storytelling, book cover design, and hourly visits to the storefront (130 S. Allegheny)
The Print Factory, located in Bellefonte, will host a number of hands-on activities (such as “design your own book cover”), storytelling on the half-hour, and conversation. We will also have a board member available on Allegheny Street to show interested visitors the Print Factory’s location-in-progress; people will be able to sign up for tours before and during the festival.
United Nations Association of Central Pennsylvania – Flags of the Nations in Centre County
They will display mini flags of 75 countries and ask participants to identify the country they are from and, for U.S. citizens, what countries their ancestors came from. We will group those and hope to have a diverse display by evening’s end! We have stickers, pens, etc., for those who participate. We can also ask folks how many flags they can identify. It will be fun, engaging, and educational.
Volunteer Centre County – Cornhole toss
They will have beanie babies and other toys to toss into cornhole boards. Those who get it in the hole keep the toy they tossed.
VanDance Inc. & Central PA Theatre & Dance Fest – Jazzy Social Dance Party!
Come dance! All ages, all abilities! No Experience Needed. Join the dance teacher and learn dances such as Swing Dance, the Tranky Doo, other Vintage Jazz dances, and classic 60s dances including The Madison! From the Jazz Age learn The Charleston, The Maxixe, and the Bear! And roam the Dance Floor in a Regency Style Dance as if you were a member of the cast of Bridgerton or a character from a Jane Austen novel.
Come learn one of the dances—or all—or somewhere in between! Then, visit their table for a craft activity and learn about the dance and theatre activities for all ages year-round in downtown State College.
Friends of Bellefonte Little House – Build your own Little House
Color, cut, and glue together your very own Bellefonte Little House
Performing Arts School of Central PA Make your own tutu with Nittany Ballet
They will have supplies for children to make their own “”tutus”” with the help of board members and dancers from PASCP. They’ll also have some props and dancers in costume on hand if participants wish to do photos when they’re done. They’ll may also provide some items for a “”petting zoo”” around what they do. (pointe shoes, tiaras, rosin, instruments, and other items that people can handle and learn about)”
Easterseals Western and Central Pennsylvania—Chalk It Up for Inclusion! Rolls of blackboard chalk paper and sidewalk chalk will be available for families to write and color pictures/phrases of inclusion. All children of all abilities will work and play together at the CDC.
Bridge of Hope Centre County – Building a Beautiful Neighborhood
They will set up a Lego table and invite community members to build and create a beautiful neighborhood. The neighborhood can include homes, businesses, foliage, and parks.
The Flutopia Initiative – Musical Words Come to Life!
As one of the missions of The Flutopia Initiative is supporting music education, they will have a variety of flutes, orchestral and world flutes, of different sizes and materials on display. Community members will be invited to draw a specific flute name out of a jar (which teaches the term for the flute about to be demonstrated). One of the teachers will improvise a melody of what that term suggests to a performer (teaching the musical term). If the community members want to participate, a third jar could house instructions for keeping the pulse by clapping, snapping fingers, stomping, or dancing. This is appropriate for any age!
Juniata Valley Council—Boys Scouts of America—Scout-Related Activities
Simple Scout-related activities that can be done at a table. Let’s Go Fishing games, Animal Track stamps, Knot Tying, Fire/S’more decorations, etc.
Centre Safe – Wheel of Empowerment
We will have some tabling materials, some coloring sheets for kids that stop by, and a wheel that people of all ages can spin to win a prize by answering questions about healthy relationships and friendships, community resources, and promoting respect and safety
Centre Foundation – Information table
A spin-the-wheel table will allow each event participant to win a prize. The table will also include information about Centre Foundation and Centre Gives.
