Boy Asks for Donation to Participate in Cultural Exchange

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to note that Connor Jackson did not request a specific donation amount from the Borough of Hellertown. An earlier published version of the story also indicated that Connor is a seventh grade student (he is in sixth grade). We apologize for any confusion these errors may have caused.

A local middle school student hopes to be a Grade A representative for Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township when he travels to Europe this summer as part of the "People to People" student ambassador program.

, a sixth-grader at , plans to visit England and France from June 27 to July 14, Hellertown mayor Richard Fluck told Borough Council April 2.

Highlights of the trip will include meeting a member of British Parliament and visiting the beaches at Normandy, France, where Allied troops landed on D-Day in 1944.

To help fund his journey, Jackson recently requested a donation from the borough, but council members were not ready to approve his request April 2.

Councilman Richard Staffieri expressed concern that approving the request might open the borough up "to any other people asking for donations."

And councilwoman Gail Nolf said a lack of clear-cut criteria for making donations on behalf of the borough gave her pause.

"What are the criteria?" she asked. "Does it open the floodgates?"

"Those are my thoughts," she said, before adding that she plans to make a personal donation toward Jackson's trip abroad.

In response to a question from Staffieri about whether there is money included in the borough's annual budget for donations, borough manager Cathy Kichline said there is $2,000 allocated.

Fluck told council members that he recently spoke to Jackson on the phone, and said he was impressed with his intelligence and politeness. He believes he will be an excellent representative for Saucon Valley youth, he added.

Council vice president John Bate said he is inclined to approve a $100 donation toward the young man's trip, but requested that Jackson speak before council and tell them more about his plans to participate in the program.

Nolf agreed with that idea.

"The young man needs to earn it," she said. "Let him come and earn it. That'll be a good experience to him."

Approving the donation was tabled, pending Jackson's pre-scheduled appearance at the next Hellertown Borough Council meeting, which will be held Monday, April 16 at 7pm.