Cooney Logging participates in charity parade at Penn State
ST. MARYS- Cooney Logging of St. Marys recently took part in a charity parade by the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences in State College.
The charity parade is a state-wide effort led by the PA Forest Products Association and the PA Forest Association.
The parade benefited the Log-A-Load for Kids Pennsylvania Campaign. The campaign is a state-wide campaign in which members of the forest products industry contribute to local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals to provide medical care to kids in need, regardless of their families’ ability to pay.
The funds generated from the parade go towards the respective hospital’s pediatric clinics for diagnostic equipment and assists in paying the hospital bills of uninsured children or treatments not covered by conventional insurance.
Since 2021, the campaign has raised over $50,000 in support of Log-A-Load for kids and the Children’s Miracle Network.
Dick Cooney of Cooney Logging commented on the logging community coming together for this charity event.
“It was an excellent event,” Cooney said. “It was a good showing for everybody involved.”
Cooney has been involved in the logging industry for nearly five decades and also has been the owner of Dave’s Saw Shop for 38 years.
The Log-A-Load Pennsylvania Campaign raised $28,000, and $13,000 of those fundraising dollars came from the truck parade.
The logging community puts forth a nationwide effort to support the Children’s Miracle Network, and it began in the Keystone State in the 1980s when the Pennsylvania Forest Industry Association held a golf outing to benefit this cause.
Another organization that has an influential impact on the logging community is the Allegheny Hardwoods Utilization Group (AHUG).
Recently, AHUG held their annual dinner at the Red Fern in Kersey with over 100 members of the logging industry in attendance, as well as local and regional legislators
Executive Director of AHUG, Amy Shields, traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the Federal Fly-In that was held June 12 through June 14.
Shields was one of many that had the chance to advocate for the entire timber industry in regards to forest issues, the federal farm bill, along with business-friendly tax incentives.