Wednesday, November 11, 2020
In my 35 years of heading up the Centre County Youth Service Bureau (YSB), I had so many opportunities to see Bruce Knox's deep love and abiding support for struggling kids and families. Not only was he the Founder of YSB, he was a leader in helping communities across Pennsylvania establish similar grass-roots organizations to help kids in their own communities. With the support of the State College Chapter of AAUW, Bruce was the lead participant in the filming of "One Community's Response," a video focused on Bruce's belief that "We Don't Have Problem Kids, We Have Kids With Problems." Bruce took this 1972 video across Pennsylvania, helping many communities identify what they could do to offer volunteer support within the juvenile justice systems of their own counties, to make a difference in the lives of young people. In Centre County, Bruce worked hand-in-hand with much beloved President Judge R. Paul Campbell and the Centre County Probation Department and the first YSB Director William Keough, to develop youth programs aimed at early intervention, to prevent youth involvement in the criminal justice system. One such program is the YSB's amazing 52 year-old Big Brother/Big Sister Program. For its first 5 years (1968 to 1972) the YSB was a totally volunteer organization, administered under the careful, creative and loving hands of Bruce Knox. Bruce remained Board Chair of the YSB until 1978. To honor his total dediction to the lives of young people, the Youth Service Bureau established the Bruce E. Knox Community Service Award to acknowledge the many outstanding contributions that young people make in their communities. The choice to honor Bruce in this way was based on his long-time belief that more public attention should be focused on the many accomplishments of young people. Since 1978, the YSB has presented the Bruce Knox Community Service Award every year to one youth from each of the County's five school districts. In the 42 years since the award was etablished, hundreds of Centre County young people have been publicly honored because of Bruce Knox's belief in honoring and acknowedging their many community accomplishments. Sue Knox, their children and grandchildren have much to be proud of in looking back to the many accomplishments of Bruce Knox in Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Norma Keller
