Lancaster Connects

Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation, located in Millersville is the only facility in Lancaster County that specializes in the rehabilitation of squirrels, cottontails, and juvenile groundhogs. They offer the little guys, the underdogs, a second chance. They also provide fun, exciting educational programs to groups and schools. Acorn Acres brings the wildlife experience to you! Their ambassador ani...

Patrick C. Morrison trained in college to become a social studies teacher but found his true calling working in museums. He has currently spent more than 26 years at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, where he has developed interactive tours, exhibits, workshops, the summer day camp, community outreach, sensory hours and on-site virtual programming. He also has instructed school-age children and...

Making Magical Vacations Travel is local in the Lancaster County Area. She is a Manheim native and Class of "88 Graduate of Manheim Central, with clients spanning the globe from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Puerto Rico. Monica Forte, owner, has been in the travel industry for 33 years with being directly contracted and awarded designations with MAJOR travel suppliers. Monica and her 25 MAGICAL Speciali...

Gardner's Mattress & More is celebrating 32 years of serving Lancaster County!

The average person spends roughly 20,440 hours a year sleeping. For over 20 years, Jim Gardner of Gardner’s Bedrooms helped his customers choose their personal sleep surface, ensuring each one of those 20,440 hours are spent in maximum comfort and support. Despite Jim’s passion for improving others’ sleep, he made the difficult decision to retire and turn his business over to Ben McClure. Jim has...

Paragon Behavioral Health Services started in December of 2017 as a small, women-owned behavioral health company with co-owners, Kryn McClain and Paulina Colonna as the sole providers. Paragon is defined as a person or thing regarded as a perfect example of a particular quality. If one thing was clear when they discussed how they named their business, it was that they were striving to build someth...

Chris Russell is the Founder and CEO of Fitness 4 Focus. After college Chris returned to Central Pennsylvania where he began to work for a local agency as a Therapeutic Staff Support (TSS) from 2003-2012. His primary role as a TSS was to provide intervention strategies in order to assist students in developing daily living, social and cultural skills. In 2005, while playing catch during recess wit...

Melody Sanders is the CEO & President of the Board for The Pet Pantry which was founded on three core services – to fix, feed, and rescue animals in need. Lindsay High is the Development Director for Pet Pantry of Lancaster County. Through this role she is able to build lasting connections within the community in order to influence measurable and positive change in the lives of homeless, negle...

Jenn Rummel is the Executive Director of Greystone Manor Therapeutic Riding Center. She has her Master’s in Public Administration from Capella University and has been helping nonprofits raise money since 2008. Steph Fleck is the Program Director for Greystone Manor Therapeutic Riding Center. She has dual degrees in Equine and Equestrian Studies and Equine Facilitated Therapeutics from Wilson Colle...

The Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development serves more than 4,000 children every year. They provide outpatient and in-home pediatric therapy services including occupational, physical, and speech-language therapy for children from birth to age 21, and in 2020 they added behavioral health services. Over their 85-year history, doctors across central Pennsylvania have referred thousands of childre...

Tim Keller, C.E.O of H.K. Keller and Donna Giovingo, realtor for Berkshire Hathaway HS Homesale Reality will share an upcoming benefit event that is put together by the LCAR (Lancaster County Associations of Realtors) on September 20th, 2022. This will be its 34th Annual Event. The event is to support the Transitional Living Center, a project of TenFold in Lancaster. With 80 years of collective ex...

Lancaster Homegirl, Christina Diehl, Realtor and experienced Real Estate Investor, is passionate about helping young women get their financial lives started off on the right foot. When the pandemic began in 2020, Christina, like many Realtors, found her business sidelined. Unable to go out on showings or complete transactions, she was more grateful than ever for the passive income stream she had b...

Edward Harris has served as President & CEO of Discover Lancaster – the county’s official destination marketing organization – since June 2020. Ed came to Lancaster from the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB), where he had led their creative team since 2014 as Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining VFTCB, he held brand management roles at the Converse line of Nike, eBay, Un...

JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Their strength lies in their exclusive focus and singular influence on the worldwide effort to end T1D. JDRF works every day to change the reality of this disease for millions of people—and to prevent anyone else from ever knowing it—by funding research; advocating for government support of research and new therapies;...

Ross Stockdale is a Lancaster county native and graduate of Warwick High School and Elizabethtown College. Ross has spent the last decade in the digital marketing industry and since 2019 has transitioned into the private equity industry. Ross is a co-founder of Perpetual Equity Group, a Lancaster based private equity firm seeking to preserve, enrich and grow their investors, assets, and community....

ECHOS purpose is to empower families and­­­ individuals experiencing housing instability and insufficient income in the Northwest Region of Lancaster County. Their mission is to mobilize communities to provide services that prevent and alleviate poverty and empower stability in our neighbors. Brie started her leadership at ECHOS as the Executive Director in March 2021. She began her professional e...

Join Ben and Jeff as they share updates about their recent Gardner’s Give Back initiative, their 7 Step Promise, and their upcoming Memorial Day Savings Event! They’ll also discuss the  Lancaster Newspaper Readers Choice Award voting where they’re going for a 13th straight win for “Favorite Mattress Store” category.  Ben and Jeff were also featured on WGAL News where they discuss why it’s importan...

In this episode, we will be joining with Dawn Tluczek who is the Donor & Church Liaison & Event Manager for Bethany Christian Services, along with Charlotte Guerin who is the Refugee Resettlement Site Supervisor. This will focus on the Ukraine crisis as they discuss how Bethany will provide support for refugees and their needs.  Bethany Christian Services is a global nonprofit that support...

At A Week Away, we coordinate and finance respite weeks for families who are battling a life-threatening illness, with the goal of providing them the hope they need to continue their fight. When you get away, you get to feel normal. — Caleb Walker, Founder Caleb was Lynn Walker’s son. He passed away in December of 2014 knowing that he had successfully established his foundation with the help of ve...

Jon, Chad, and Ralph, best friends since high school, started ModernEYES Optical 15 years ago as a kiosk at Park City Mall selling stylish eyewear. They grew the business in many creative ways including allowing their customers to host home eyewear parties, partnering with local school districts to increase business and being able to help kids in need of eye exams and glasses but can't afford them...

Diana Vuolo is the Founder/Executive Director of SWAN4kids. She received a full-tuition scholarship to study violin with world-renowned teacher Dorothy DeLay at The Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (PCPA). She earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Violin Performance and was a masterclass performer for Miss DeLay at PCPA and the Aspen Music Festival.  Her performance career began with a chamb...

You won’t want to miss this very special episode of Lancaster Connects, Join Ben & Jeff as they discuss how Gardner’s Mattress & More will be giving everyone an opportunity to make more of an impact to the Lancaster Community. This includes the new roll out of their Gardner’s Gives back initiative: Round Up, Help Out. A great way for both you and Gardner’s Mattress and More can work togeth...

Steve is the owner/Chief People Builder of the Goble Group, a talent and leadership development organization serving businesses, non-profits, and teams in Central PA and surrounding areas. He is passionate about helping people grow and solve problems. As an author, a Founding Partner of the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team, a Certified Coach, and a Certified Human Behavior Consultant, Steve was a...

In 2014, Kapp and Linda Brown took a big step to follow their dream. They entered in to the world of entrepreneurship. Kapp’s desire to serve others and continue learning and growing led him to partner with The Master’s Touch (Glendale Arizona). TMT was one of the largest non-franchise training companies in the world. They personally set up over 1500 people in business for themselves all over the...