Smucker Hosts Lancaster Non-Profit Leader in Washington for Testimony

Lancaster, PA – Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) recently hosted Lancaster non-profit leader and constituent Will Kiefer in Washington, DC to offer testimony during a meeting of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare. Kiefer is the founder and executive director of the Bench Mark Program, a fitness-based mentorship program assisting under-served youth in Lancaster, many of whom have had experience in foster care or the juvenile justice system.

Rep. Smucker invited Kiefer to testify at a hearing of the Ways & Means Committee Work and Welfare Subcommittee titled: “Pathways to Independence: Supporting Youth Aging Out of Foster Care.”

In introducing Kiefer before he offered testimony, Rep. Smucker said: “It is a true honor to welcome my constituent Will Kiefer, my friend, and his [adopted] son Kenny here today to share their family’s story and their work, working with at-risk youth in my district in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”

Click here to read Kiefer’s written testimony and here for video of his testimony to the subcommittee members.

Click here to watch Rep. Smucker’s questions during the hearing.

During his time of questioning, Smucker asked Kenny Kiefer, Will’s adopted son, for his feedback on the Bench Mark Program that he experienced firsthand.

“With your permission (Mr. Will Kiefer) …I know Kenny has been through Bench Mark and many of its different programs. I’d love to hear, what was that experience like for you?”

Kenny Kiefer replied: “As was mentioned earlier, I was first at Bench Mark when I was 14…I was glad I went there when I was 14 because Will became my mentor. I left for a little while. At 16, I came back on probation and during that time as mentioned, I lost my father, my mother, and my brother. And then Will offered to take me in because I had nowhere else to go. And ever since then, of course he adopted me and became my father, and I’ve appreciated it so much. Because the common theme here has been support and guidance. And that’s what all foster children need is support and guidance, which parents are supposed to offer. And Bench Mark offered that for me countless times.”

Rep. Smucker asked Kiefer about additional feedback on the program and the impact it is making on the community.

“The only other thing I’ll add is that we generally throw programs to kids knowing that they are wonderful resources, but if those programs don’t connect to each other, I think we’re doing a disservice to the kids who are in them. Because we are setting them up for these short-term engagements that are very positive, but then systematically don’t offer a long-term. So again, from the minute that a kid is housed in our local Lancaster County Intervention Center for a delinquency issue, or a dependency issue they can get a Bench Mark mentor. And we’ll just begin by showing up at court, seeing them weekly and in the detention center, and walking them the whole way through. If it’s delinquency the whole way through their time of probation, if it’s dependency too,” said Will Kiefer of Bench Mark.

Rep. Smucker continued by asking Will Kiefer how the Bench Mark Program is helping young adults find jobs.

Kiefer responded: “we found interestingly… that peer mentorship, offering a job to a young person who succeeds in our program to serve as a peer mentor is wonderful to give back. But it also builds their résumé a huge way, and then we bring community members in who work in businesses in the community, they see these individuals, they get to know them. They look at the résumé and say ‘Jeez, you’ve worked at Bench Mark for two years. I’d love to talk to you about working here at my business.’ We’ve seen that to be a very, very effective, step-by-step, through our program, through working on our program, to getting a job elsewhere.”

Rep. Smucker visited Bench Mark in September 2023 to learn more about their programs.