By Mareska Chettiar, Co-T/E Life Editor
For the past two years, the Niness family has gathered in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania to host a large golf outing and picnic. The Mark G. Niness Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to giving out two scholarships at Conestoga’s Senior Awards Ceremony, one to a student participating in performing arts and one to a student in athletics. Nominated students receive the Layover Award. The foundation was created in memory of community member Mark Niness, who passed away in a sudden cardiac event in January 2022.
“Growing up, my dad just wanted the best for everybody,” Mark Niness’ son and 2018 Conestoga alumnus Jackson Niness said. “He treated every kid on the field (or) on the stage as his own, and he cheered for them just as much. With the community, he always had a smile on his face, always the loudest guy in the room. But when he spoke, people listened.”
The Niness Foundation hosted its third golf outing and picnic on Sept. 13 at Twin Ponds Golf Course in memory of Mark Niness, who played golf as his main sport. People played in a scramble tournament, with each member of a four-person team hitting the ball, choosing the best stroke, then hitting the ball from that location until the team with the lowest score won. “There were over 200 people that ended up showing up this year,” Jackson Niness said. “We’re really just bringing awareness to what ultimately happened with my dad. That’s a big goal for us, but (it’s) a huge event and always a great time.”
The foundation hosts multiple raffles, which raise money for the scholarships and pay the expenses of the event. All raffles were available online for people to participate in, even if they could not make it to the outing. The foundation also accepts year-round donations.
“We do a 50-50 raffle and a jackpot hole, so if the ball enters the green, then you can enter into this 50-50,” Mark Niness’ daughter and 2016 Conestoga alumna Madison Niness said. “This year, for the first time, we included a post-golf event, which was a cornhole long toss, which also raised money.”
Since many members of the Niness family participated in theater and sports in Conestoga, the foundation prioritizes students participating in those activities. The foundation lets Conestoga counselors and coaches who determine scholarship winners through the Layover Test, a test of character used by employers to determine whether they would spend a layover at an airport with the person they are interviewing.
“Anybody can submit an application and make themselves look good on paper, but we wanted (the nomination) to come from people who interacted with (the student) every single day,” Mark Niness’ daughter and 2020 Conestoga alumna Kennedy Niness said. “We worked with the faculty at Conestoga and determined that it would be best for somebody in the theater department and coaches to nominate a (person) that they felt was deserving of this award.”
In the future, the Niness Foundation hopes to give out larger scholarships, host first aid workshops and donate automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to the community.
“We are really looking into heart health awareness. That was how Mark passed away,” Madison Niness said. “We were told that the only way that he may have been saved after the cardiac event was if an AED had been used on him immediately. We know that there are AEDs in the community, but they’re few and far between, so our hope is in expanding with heart health awareness.”
Mareska Chettiar can be reached at [email protected].
