The Second Mile has received a $25,000 grant from the R.K. Mellon Family Foundation, said Hank Lesch, director of development and community relations for The Second Mile.

The grant can be used to fund any of The Second Mile's services, such as summer camps, programs for inner-city children, videos on prevention education, foster care family support, and counseling and referral sevices.

The money may also be used for things as basic as buying coats and shoes for children whose families cannot afford them, he said.

The Second Mile was founded by Penn State Football Coordinator Jerry Sandusky and serves more than 90,000 children across Pennsylvania.

"This is a very significant contribution," Lesch said, adding that private donations like Mellon's are essential to The Second Mile's $576,000 annual budget. The Second Mile receives no federal, state or county funding.

"The communities that we serve throughout Pennsylvania are really the ones that fund us," Lesch said.

Lesch said the organization also received a grant from the R.K. Mellon Family Foundation in 1990.