THE ISSUE: It’s Friday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for area neighborhoods. Others are local stories of achievement, ingenuity, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light as we face critical issues in Pennsylvania and traumatic developments in our nation and world. All of this uplifting news deserves a brighter spotlight.
We begin this week with applause and gratitude for Duane Hagelgans.
Hagelgans serves as the emergency management coordinator for Millersville and Manor Township. He’s also the fire commissioner for Blue Rock Fire Rescue and is a professor of emergency management at Millersville University.
He has been awarded the Blanket of Honor, Millersville University announced in a news release Tuesday.
Blankets of Honor began honoring veterans in early 2020 as a project of Marietta American Legion Post 466, and it later became a standalone nonprofit.
In addition to veterans, it awards Blankets of Honor to first responders, caregivers of veterans, Gold Star family members and members of groups that support veterans. The organization is funded by community donations.
In a 2021 LNP | LancasterOnline article about the nonprofit, one member said the blanket ceremony aims to show veterans, in particular, that they are “truly not forgotten.”
It’s a wonderful gesture, and it’s an honor that has given occasion to many emotional ceremonies throughout the region since 2020.
Hagelgans was the first firefighter to be honored.
“I am honored and humbled to be selected for this award,” Hagelgans stated in the Millersville news release. “It was totally unexpected. To be chosen to be part of such a small and elite group is truly an honor.”
Hagelgans first became a volunteer firefighter at age 15. He retired as a chief officer with the Lancaster City Bureau of Fire in 2011 and became a full-time faculty member at Millersville in 2012.
He continues to focus on local emergency response issues. Earlier this year, he spoke with LNP | LancasterOnline about the necessity of railroad companies sharing real-time information with emergency responders during rail disasters involving hazardous materials, when time is of the essence.
Hagelgans is also “researching better methods to teach emergency preparedness to school-age children and methods for better leadership in the emergency services,” the Millersville news release stated.
Truly, Hagelgans’ career has been one of outstanding service to Lancaster County in the crucial sector of emergency response.
In other good things:
— For the second year in a row, the Solanco School District visual arts department has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association “for its commitment to visual arts education with the endorsement of Outstanding Visual Arts Community,” the school district noted on its website this week.
Factors considered by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association include the extent to which arts programs are rigorous, inclusive, highly accessible and highly visible. The curriculum, district funding level of the visual arts and use of district websites and social media are all part of the equation.
“Solanco visual arts graduates thrive in careers in the arts as art directors in (Fortune) Global 500 companies, designers in the fashion/art/design industries, curators and educators in prestigious museums, architects, fine artists, and K-12 visual arts educators,” Candace Rakers, chair of the Solanco visual arts department, stated in the news release. “The entire Solanco community can be exceptionally proud of the rich, enduring history of Solanco’s distinguished achievements in the visual arts.”
Our congratulations go out to Solanco and all of its visual arts educators on their continued excellence.
— We hope you read the letters of thanks that were published in the Thanksgiving Day edition of LNP | LancasterOnline.
The letters were full of the kinds of good things that inspire and invigorate us.
There was gratitude for the work done to stock and fund food banks for the upcoming winter. For the work by a local foundation to help veterans who are suffering from trauma. For a local bank’s customer appreciation picnic. For the professional and compassionate care given by the county’s health care workers. For those who bring joyous musical performances to the county. And for strangers who assist others in their most vulnerable moments.
Each letter represented a small and wonderful glimpse into the best of Lancaster County.
We’ll publish another collection of letters of thanks around Christmas. We’d love to read your stories.
Letters can be submitted by email ([email protected]); fax (717-399-6507); or mail (Letters, c/o LNP | LancasterOnline, P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster, PA 17608-1328). Letters must include an address and telephone number for verification and are limited to 250 words.