Front Row, from left: Robert S. Carl, Jr., Schuylkill County Commissioner; Jim Hepler, Owner, Hepler Family Farm; Jeffrey Box, President & CEO, NEPA Alliance; Mantura Gallagher, Schuylkill County Commissioner holding Hannah Hepler and Representative Tim Seip, 125th Legislative District. Second row, from left: Josh Hepler, Rachel Hepler, Jesse Hepler, Jennifer Hepler, Hepler Family Farm; Dennis Martz, Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer, Community Banks and Champ Holman,  Chief of Staff to Senator James Rhoades. Third row, from left: Terry Stehr, Pennsylvania Farm Services Agency; Tom Pellegrini, Vice President, Enterprise Development, NEPA Alliance; John Wozniak, Business Finance Manager, NEPA Alliance; Katrina Tobash, Office Manager and Linda Fanelli, Financial Service Consultant, Community Banks. 

Officials gathered recently to present a check for $160,000 in Loan Funds to the Hepler Family, Pitman, Schuylkill County for a building and equipment expansion project costing over $400.00. Funding was secured from the First Industries Agricultural Program. 

Hepler Family Farm is an expansion to an existing farm that has been in operation for over 208 years by seven generations of the Hepler Family. The farm is presently owned and operated by Jim Hepler and his two sons, Jesse and Josh. It consists of a dairy along with growing some of the necessary feed for the animals. The Hepler’s use milking machines and sophisticated plumbing systems to harvest and store the milk from cows. This project is designed to increase the size of their milking operation from 75 to 100 milking cows and involves the construction of an additional barn, upgrading of the cows bedding and improving access to the milking parlor.

Jim Hepler stated, "This funding opportunity provided by NEPA Alliance has helped us grow our operation. The staff at NEPA Alliance was a pleasure to work with."

Jeffrey Box, President & CEO of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance acknowledged the strong collaborative partnership among county, regional and state organizations that assisted Hepler Family Farm. He further commended the Schuylkill County Commissioners for their commitment to economic development and for their support of business development assistance programs.

Community Banks was also recognized and thanked for their role in support of family farms and in developing and participating in this financial package.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance offers a variety of financing programs for businesses. For more information, contact NEPA Alliance at 570-655-5581.

Upcoming LTAP Workshop 2007

September 25, 2007-Lackawanna County

Traffic Signs-8:00am-3:00pm

PennDOT District 4-0, Room 223

55 Keystone Industrial Park

Dunmore, PA 18512

Directions: 570-963-4044 or www.dot.state.pa.us/penndot/districts/district4.nsf 

Registration

To register, visit www.ltap.state.pa.us and log on using your username and password.  First time users must first set up an account by clicking on “Create Account.” For technical assistance when registering call: 1-800-FOR-LTAP (1-800-367-5827).

About the LTAP Program

The PennDOT Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) has been serving Pennsylvania’s municipalities with transportation road maintenance and safety training since 1983.  Services available through LTAP include workshop training, on-site technical assistance, updates on the latest technologies and innovations, field demonstrations, library and information materials and newsletters.  These services are available to all municipalities in the state and are provided at little or no cost to the user. All LTAP training workshops are free to all employees of municipalities, counties, government authorities and agencies. Others (consultants, engineers, developers, homeowners associations) interested can register based on classroom availability.

For more information, contact Ryan McGowan, Local Government Specialist at 570-655-5581 or rmcgowan@nepa-alliance.org.