Child Advocacy Center planning move to Sunbury through building gift donation

NORTHUMBERLAND, PA -- Thanks to a gift by Penn and Stan Seiple of Mid State Realty, the Seiple Family Foundation, and the Degenstein Foundation, all from Sunbury, the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) of the Central Susquehanna Valley, a division of Geisinger Health System’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital, is planning to move from its current location at 173 Point Township Drive, Northumberland, to a building at 218 Chestnut St., Sunbury. The move to the three-story, 6,900-square foot building will more than quadruple the space of the CAC and provide for an expansion of its programming and is tentatively planned by the end of the calendar year.

The CAC was established to embrace victims of child abuse and provides young victims with interviews by trained forensic interviewers, as well as medical examinations, crisis intervention counseling and ongoing case tracking. The current Northumberland location is 1,665 square feet and is leased from Boone-Kessler Associates.

“We are thankful to Penn and Stan Seiple, the Seiple Family Foundation, and the Degenstein Foundation for this generous gift that provides for an expansion of such vital services to the children and families of this region,” said David T. Feinberg, M.D., MBA, president and CEO, Geisinger Health System. “This opportunity is beneficial because the CAC has outgrown its current location, and a larger facility will enable us to continue providing a child-friendly place where victims can be examined and interviewed.”

The new Sunbury location will have two interview rooms, an exam room, two therapy rooms, a conference/training room, and will offer more privacy to families that will be coming to the center.

“We hope to utilize the conference room for cross-discipline trainings for police, child protective services and mental health providers, as well as have support groups for non-offending family members,” said Melissa DeBaro, coordinator at the Child Advocacy Center. “This space will allow us to provide additional services to child victims and their families while still maintaining the utmost privacy and comfort to them.”

The CAC currently conducts 500 interviews with potential child abuse victims annually.

The Degenstein Foundation was created through the generosity of the late Charles B. Degenstein to improve the quality of life and to provide financial support to organizations with clear statements of purpose, well-defined programs and competent leadership. Special consideration is given to unique, innovative, and creative projects that benefit children, promote education, improve health care, encourage business, culture, conservation of nature resources, and protection of the environment. 

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 126 care sites — including 10 hospital campuses — and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $15 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.