Each year, members of the Parkesburg Area Business Association (PABA) award a $1,000 scholarship to an Octorara Area School District student planning to study business, as well as $1,000 to a student from the Parkesburg POINT youth center.
This year's winners are Nathan Morales of Gap, a senior at Octorara Junior-Senior High School, who will attend college to study business management and finance, and Rachel George of Parkesburg, a student from The POINT, who has been accepted at Messiah University to pursue a nursing degree.
In a typical year, the scholarships would be awarded at a banquet. However, because of the pandemic, the banquets in 2020 and 2021 were both canceled. The last PABA banquet was held in 2019 at Gateway Church.
"(For the Octorara scholarship), we go to Karen Letts, the guidance counselor at Octorara (Junior-Senior High School), and she sends us the applications," explained PABA president Allan Fellman. "We look them over and we have a committee, and we pick a winner that we feel is the most deserving." The POINT applications are forwarded to PABA by Dwayne Walton, executive director. In 2020, only the POINT scholarship was awarded because Octorara schools were shut down during the application process.
Fellman attended an Octorara Area School District School Board meeting to present a certificate and the scholarship to Nathan, who was selected for the honor for displaying the "exemplary trait of dedication and hard work during his time at the Octorara Business Academy."
Fellman and PABA treasurer Gina Rodkey traveled to The POINT to present the certificate and scholarship to Rachel.
PABA works to promote area businesses and the community of Parkesburg. "We have 125 members now, and it's really growing," said Fellman. Members host community cleanup days and charity events and offer networking opportunities.
PABA also publishes a directory of local businesses, which is available at local stores, including the Parkesburg Walmart. There is also an online directory at http://www.paba-pa.org. The directory, which is free of charge to pick up, contains information about more than 100 businesses. In addition to Parkesburg businesses, other listings in the directory are from Cochranville, Gap and Coatesville.
PABA meetings are held at different members' businesses each month. Past meetings have been held at Rocco and Anna's Ristorante Italiano in Parkesburg, the Lazy Egg in Compass and the Coatesville Moose Lodge. "We try to have meetings at different locations to help them with their businesses," Fellman noted. "If a business is struggling, we will have a meeting there and (attendees) will tell other people about it."
PABA members pay a fee to join the organization. Members are posted in the online directory, and they receive free lunch or dinner during the monthly meetings. Membership fees are used to pay for the scholarships, the meals, a holiday party and maintaining the website.
For more information about PABA, including meeting locations, email parkesburgpaba@gmail.com, visit the previously mentioned website or search for "Parkesburg Area Business Association" on Facebook.
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