For weeks, Shannon Gingrich wondered whether she was doing enough.
During one of her first social work internships, the Elizabethtown College student visited a hospice patient. They talked. They played Boggle. Gingrich enjoyed the visits, but she kept wishing she could do something bigger.
Then the patient’s health began to decline. A family member reached out to tell Gingrich the visits would end and shared something she had not expected: Every time the patient woke up, she asked about “the girl who plays games with her.”
The message changed how Gingrich saw the experience.
“Small things can have a huge impact on someone,” she said. “You don’t always have to solve a huge problem to make a difference.”
That lesson is shaping the way Gingrich approaches social work. It also reflects the impact donors can have when they choose to invest in a student.
Support That Creates Opportunity
Gingrich, a Lebanon County native and senior at Elizabethtown College, has received over $22,000 in scholarship support through The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC). Her awards came from the Mary Grace Shearer MSW Scholarship for the Advancement of Social Work, the Family & Children’s Services of Lebanon County Fund, and the Abby Hornung Memorial Scholarship Fund.
For Gingrich, that support has meant more than help with a tuition bill. It has given her time to focus on her education and prepare for a career centered on helping others.
Social work requires extensive field experience and many of those hours are unpaid. Gingrich has worked while attending college, but scholarship support has eased the pressure of balancing work, classes and field experience.
“That scholarship money has really just lifted a weight off of me,” she said. “I don’t have to have that stress on me.”
The additional flexibility has allowed her to become more involved on campus. She is part of the Social Work Student Association and serves on the Social Work Student Advisory Board that connects students with faculty, recent graduates and social work professionals. Without scholarship support, Gingrich said she would have spent much of that time working instead.
Those experiences are helping her build relationships with classmates and develop a network she can rely on as she begins her career.
Seeing the Need Close to Home
Her fieldwork is also connecting her education back to Lebanon County.
During an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital, Gingrich saw patients facing challenges that can be easy to miss from outside the health care system. Some had nowhere to go after leaving the hospital. Others struggled to afford their medical bills.
“I’ve seen the need and I can’t ignore it now,” she said.
Today, she is completing a 600-hour internship at WellSpan Philhaven, where she is working as a behavioral health technician in inpatient mental health treatment. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Master of Social Work, or MSW, with the goal of becoming a licensed clinical social worker. She hopes to build a career in medical social work, potentially in a hospital, hospice or another health care setting.
Her path to social work began in high school, when she shadowed a family friend who worked as a hospice social worker. Gingrich watched how simply sitting with patients and families, listening and showing compassion could matter during some of the hardest moments of their lives.
She recognized something familiar in that work.
“I’ve always been the helper,” Gingrich said.
An Investment That Continues
For Gingrich, receiving support from donors connected to the place where she grew up makes the scholarships even more meaningful.
“Growing up in Lebanon County, it feels really special to know local donors want to help me,” she said. “I hope I can give back and show them how their generosity can make a difference beyond my education.”
That is the impact she most wants donors to understand. Their generosity does not end with a tuition payment or even with graduation. The education, experience and connections they are helping make possible will follow Gingrich into her career and shape the way she serves others.
“Through supporting me, they’re also supporting the community,” Gingrich said.
In many ways, that work has already started.
Through her internships, volunteer service and education, Gingrich is putting donor generosity into action. The scholarships have given her more room to prepare for a career serving others. In turn, Lebanon County is gaining a future social worker who has seen her neighbors’ needs and wants to help meet them.
For Shannon Gingrich, scholarship support opened opportunities. Because donors chose to invest in her, that impact can continue through every person she serves.
Help Create the Next Opportunity
Donors can help more students pursue their education and prepare to make a difference in the places they call home. Whether you want to support an existing scholarship or explore creating a scholarship fund that reflects what matters to you, TFEC can help you find the right path.
Contact the TFEC Philanthropy Team at philanthropy@tfec.org or 717-236-5040 to start the conversation.
