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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Cetronia Ambulance Corps presents award to student State scholastic chess champion raises funds to help local organizations

By SUSAN BRYANT

sbryant@tnonline.com

Cetronia Ambulance Corps awarded its first-ever Health On Wheels™ Citizen Award Nov. 23 to Springhouse Middle School student Anish Pallod, 13.

According to Cetronia Ambulance Corps Director of marketing and Public Relations Kim Blichar, Pallod is a three-time, Pennsylvania chess champion.

His passion for the game and his community-minded spirit led him to host his second annual chess camp over the summer, Blichar said.

His goal is to teach other kids how to play the game.

Last year, his proceeds went to the Allentown Rescue Mission.

With his first year selling out, Pallod decided to add a second session of camp for 2021.

According to Stefanie Appel, with the Allentown Rescue Mission, the virtual camp took place July 19-23 and was open to students in grades two through nine.

“Pallod taught two sessions per day, beginner and intermediate,” she said. “The goal of the online camp was to teach kids the fundamentals of chess while having fun and supporting the local community.”

Blichar said in addition to the Allentown Rescue Mission receiving the proceeds from year two, Pallod chose Cetronia Ambulance Corps as the other designee after he saw the crews in action when his father became ill and needed emergency ambulance service.

“From the moment I got the voicemail from Anish, I knew he was a special kid. He spoke well beyond his years and was extremely passionate about wanting to teach the world how to play chess,” Blichar said. “I worked with Anish to develop a payment portal and from there we were on our way to overselling the camp by jointly promoting it.”

Cetronia’s portion of the proceeds totaled $420, Blichar stated.

“It is impressive that someone of Anish’s age is willing to go above and beyond to make a difference in our community,” said Robert F. Mateff Sr., chief executive officer of Cetronia Ambulance Corps. “We are very proud of what he did for not only our organization, but the Allentown Rescue Mission, as well. We are honored to provide him with this new award.”

Pallod resides in Upper Macungie Township with his parents.

He is an active teenager involved in basketball, cycling, math and science fairs, and can rapidly solve a Rubik’s cube.

More information about his camp can be found at pallodanish.wixsite.com/chessduringcovid19.

PRESS PHOTO COURTESY ALLENTOWN RESCUE MISSION Anish Pallod of Upper Macungie Township teaches other kids around his age how to play chess during his second annual online chess camp which took place over the summer. Proceeds from the camp benefited the Allentown Rescue Mission and Cetronia Ambulance Corps.
PRESS PHOTO COURTESY CETRONIA AMBULANCE CORPS Anish Pallod is presented the first-ever Cetronia Ambulance Corps Health On Wheels™ Citizen Award Nov. 23 from Robert F. Mateff Sr., chief executive officer of Cetronia Ambulance Corps.