Will Kiefer
An Interview with Bench Mark Program Founder and Executive director Will Kiefer
In a rather nondescript building on the corner of Prince and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, there are miracles happening. No, I’m not talking about the Catholic Church across the street — though I’m absolutely sure they are happening there, as well. No, in this little building with a black sign reading “Bench Mark,” you will find a dedicated team of twenty professionals, headed by a very unassuming and genuinely nice guy — Will Kiefer — and approximately two hundred and twenty (not all at once!) teenagers working their way back to health and, as Will says, “Connection and a way to fill your life with things that are good.”
Bench Mark Program was founded by Will in January 2014. He works with a supportive and helpful board of “bosses.”
“I need them,” Will says. “I was an F&M premed student. I was going to help the world by becoming a doctor. I never took a business course. I still haven’t.”
In college, he heard one of his professors say: “A doctor works on a single car, but studying public health, you work on the entire traffic system.”
Will envisioned a system that would catch kids when and where other systems had failed them. And he wanted that system and its programs to stay in place for the long haul. Will shares that he meets Bench Mark’s teenagers in the detention centers, as well as parole and probation offices, and he works with judges and social workers to bring the students into their programs. Bench Mark’s programs are designed to offer a mentor working one-on-one for four hours each week day. There is also an open gym, as well as job ready, resume building, cooking, and life skills classes.
Last year, Will initiated a new program working with the School District of Lancaster, building a program through which, rather than sending students who are in out-of-school suspension home, those students will attend Bench Mark education programs. Students who have been charged with truancy also attend Bench Mark’s programs.
Will runs an on-site program for Conestoga Valley High School, as well. “The district pays us $5,000 per school year to come in and mentor, train, and work with those students,” Will shares. “And we spend $15,000 for the year, but our investors see the value and success of our work. We teach kids to work hard, pay taxes, and no longer see dealing drugs as the only viable choice.”
Bench Mark has set a goal to expand their offerings to serve young women, as well. They have opened a second-floor workout area and dance studio for women-only.
They also see themselves creating a boutique, alternative education program and an initiative to connect with students who are in the emergency room after being shot or stabbed. This initiative in partnership with Lancaster General Hospital catches students when they are most likely to be willing to work towards a different reality. Ultimately, Will would like to see Bench Mark be able to host students in-house. They have big plans — and all with the goal of doing exactly what he set out to do a decade ago — “Stay in a student’s life until they don’t need us and do it by never giving up on them,” he says. “If they work out of the system, but need to come back, they have a place to realign to a healthy state.”
Bench Mark participates annually in the Gifts that Give Hope Alternative Gift Fair. “Most times, people wonder where their donated money goes,” Will says. “We offer a specific service or goal — maybe an emergency kit or tutoring after school with college students — but with those specific purchases, people could come and visit Bench Mark and see their money at work. There is complete transparency.”
As if that isn’t a good enough explanation, he then shares, “The GTGH Fair makes it possible for me to be in a room with hundreds of people in Lancaster County who are doing incredible things to improve our lives.”
For more information on Bench Mark Program, visit benchmarkprogram.org.
By Marian Pontz
