Second Mile Foundation
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| Founded | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jerry Sandusky |
| Dissolved | 2016 |
| Type | Youth organization charity |
| Location | |
| Website | thesecondmile.org |
The Second Mile was a nonprofit organization for underprivileged youth, providing help for at-risk children and support for their parents in Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Jerry Sandusky, a then Penn State assistant college football coach. The charity said its youth programs serve as many as 100,000 children annually.The organization has since ceased operations after Sandusky was charged and found guilty of child sex abuse.
U.S. President George H. W. Bush praised the group as a "shining example" of charity work in a 1990 letter, one of that president's much-promoted "Thousand points of light" encouragements to volunteer community organizations. Citing Sandusky's work with The Second Mile charity to provide care for foster children, then U.S. Senator Rick Santorum honored Sandusky with an Angels in Adoption award in 2002. As of 2011, Ex-Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil and then head coach Andy Reid, former Eagles owner R.R.M. Carpenter, III, Matt Millen from ESPN, actor Mark Wahlberg, golfer Arnold Palmer, and football players Jack Ham and Franco Harris, among others, served on the Honorary Board of Second Mile though questions were raised about how closely if at all the listed members were involved. Cal Ripken Jr. among others was reported to have been only marginally involved or not at all involved and Ripken asked for his name to be removed; and the list was removed from the organization's website.
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Wikipedia