MURRYSVILLE, PA — The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) of Western Pennsylvania is rolling out a new scholarship program to encourage students and people desiring to make a career change to get training in the HVACR field.

According to Bob Boyle, vice president of the ACCA chapter and president of Phillips Heating, the program is designed to attract students into the industry as well as get them to remain in the western Pennsylvania area. “We’re always looking for competent, qualified, trained technicians,” he said.

Boyle noted that it took a while for the chapter to be able to set up a 501c(3) corporation in order to solicit contributions that would be tax deductible. Almost $5,000 has been raised so far, including about $3,000 in start-up costs to cover accounting, legal, and IRS fees.

Two scholarships for $500 each will be awarded in January 2003. As more funds are raised, said Boyle, “We will increase the number of scholarships and the dollar amount.”

Publication date: 12/09/2002