Our History 
The Center for Champions of PA, incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization in 1998, was co-founded by Denise Wendle and Bonnie Lonski to address the many needs of the Harrisburg inner-city community. We originally started with the low income project housing areas that are located near our original location at 941 S. 13th St. We first met in the Life Center Ministries International Church building. Life Center and another local church, Christ Community Church of Camp Hill, were instrumental in our start. However, we are not a church or a program of any one church. We are a nonprofit faith-based organization. We desire to be an avenue where many churches and groups can partner with us to reach out to the hurting in the city.
God showed us that there was a need for a more consistent approach to helping inner city families than the once a week Sunday School approach or Vacation Bible School. We first visited a motivational speaker, minister and former pro-basketball player named Wayne Robinson, who had a youth after-school program in North Carolina. He gave us encouragement and allowed us to use a name similar to his program: Center for Champions. Ours is officially Center for Champions of PA.
We are not franchised. However, Wayne Robinson is on our Advisory Board. We started with an after school program for children in elementary school. We met twice a week and had began with about 17 kids. We had experienced God's love and we wanted a practical way of giving it away.
Eric Brenize, about the same time, in 1998, was reaching out to inner-city youth through his volunteer
work with a program called Sports Integrity started by Charlie Fortney and David Marshall. Eric was also touching the children's lives as the youth pastor with New Creation Community Church. He started volunteering at Center for Champions and joined as part time staff in 1999. Eric was with us until 2005 when he and his family moved to Illinois.
In the fall of 2000 we needed a different place in the inner city to meet. Rev. Tom Springman of Steven Memorial United Methodist Church and the church members allowed us to use many rooms in the building located at 
13th and Vernon St. in South Allison Hill, a very needy area of the city. This contribution made it possible for us to expand and serve many more children, youth, and parents. In the fall of 2003 Eric Brenize became the full time Director of the Center. This spring in 2007 we will continue serving the community as we serve over 50 children and teens in the after-school program four days a week along with many other youth in our creative arts and basketball programs.
We are still located on 13th and Vernon in the Allison Hill area of Harrisburg; though the church is now called the Stevens Emmanuel United Methodist Church, a Spanish-speaking congregation headed by Pastor Edgardo Rivera. We also share the building with several other churches and ministries. We are excited to see how God will continue to use us and these ministries around us to change the city for Christ.