As Executive Director of the Stackpole-Hall Foundation, Jennifer Dippold is very familiar with CAPSEA and its Executive Director, Billie Jo Weyant, as well as all of the valuable work they do to serve Elk County. When asked about her perception of CAPSEA’s impact and influence on the community of Elk County, Jennifer said she believes that CAPSEA “is a vital safety net service for our community that has proven essential to victims of domestic abuse and other crimes”. 

Four times a year, the trustees of the Stackpole-Hall Foundation sort through a sea of grant applications from worthwhile causes, picking out those that stand above the rest. Since 1984, CAPSEA has proven to be one of those causes that consistently sets itself apart. Over the last 30+ years, the Stackpole-Hall Foundation estimates they have supported CAPSEA with over $200,000, with Jennifer noting the fact that CAPSEA is always very modest with what they ask for. So when one considers that they are not a revenue-generating organization, a clear picture is painted of CAPSEA’s integrity and strong desire to serve the people of Elk County above all else. 

To Jennifer, how vital CAPSEA is to the citizens of Elk County can’t be overstated. As a veteran of the human services industry, she knows the immense value of strong, confidential, compassionate work in the field; work that she says CAPSEA provides in spades. According to her, “CAPSEA is one of the only organizations of its kind serving Elk County. They offer a strong model for their domestic violence shelters, compassionate and comprehensive victim support services, and a reputation for absolute confidentiality”. Jennifer says to see why organizations like CAPSEA are essential to communities, one only needs to look to the American justice system: she claims that, “judges in many cases involving domestic violence have cited how important the kinds of services CAPSEA provides are to victims”. 

Jennifer’s time knowing Billie Jo Weyant and seeing her in action has undoubtedly shaped her perspective of CAPSEA. She and Billie Jo worked together in the human services industry for 22 years prior to Jennifer coming aboard at the Stackpole-Hall Foundation, a tenure during which “Billie Jo was a great mentor whose advice I greatly valued… she had a penchant for great levels of compassion“. 

The Stackpole-Hall Foundation has been giving back to Elk County since 1951, prioritizing initiatives that focus on educational, human service, and community development needs. Coming up on their 70th anniversary in 2021, the Stackpole-Hall Foundation has a reputation for, as Jennifer puts it, being “silent givers”. Generally uninterested in publicity and altogether avoidant of things like check presentations, they have quietly and selflessly put about $42,000,000 back into the Elk County community over the last seven decades.