Mel Curtis has been part of the YMCA for 32 years. He considers himself fortunate to have the strong support of his wife, Shirley, and their three sons, Matthew, Luke, and Mark. Mel’s commitment to service is rooted in his upbringing in a small town, where his parents taught him the importance of giving back.
Mel was originally hired as a Program Director at the Moshannon Valley YMCA and later became the Branch Director when the organization merged with the YMCA of Centre County. He served as both Branch Director and Anti-Hunger Director before stepping away from branch leadership to focus full-time on the rapidly growing Anti-Hunger Programs.
One of the most impactful initiatives under his leadership is the Backpack Program, which serves more than 2,000 school-age children who may otherwise go home to little or no food for the weekend. These students rely heavily on the free meals they receive at school, and when school is not in session, those meals disappear.
Early in the program’s development, Mel and his team spoke with teachers, cafeteria workers, and school staff who described students returning on Mondays tired or distracted, sometimes behaving poorly. In reality, they were struggling with hunger. Mel believes the need is even greater than the numbers show, noting that many children hide their food insecurity out of embarrassment. As he often emphasizes, hunger has no face and has no address, and many working families today are forced into tough decisions.
“Working at the YMCA, I would see children come in who had only eaten what they got at school that day. During this time period, we were only serving a summer lunch program,” Mel said. “My passion became to make sure no child goes without food. We have raised three children, and we now have five grandchildren. The thought of them going without food, and no one reaching out to help is inconceivable to me.”
When Mel first learned of his nomination to the Maroon & Gray Society, he assumed it had been sent to him by mistake. Once he learned the nomination was real, he felt deeply honored. “I know that the success of what we are doing is made possible by the volunteers, the individual schools that we work with, and the food service department. To be selected for the Maroon & Gray Society reinforces that what we are doing is making an impact in the State College Area School District. Thank you.”