As part of its centennial year celebration, APR Supply Co. has announced its intent to show appreciation beyond the company's norm to the communities in which it conducts business, by donating both time and financial support. 

Recently, APR Supply Co., and the Weaver Family, were instrumental in an initiative of the Manheim Township School District through the EITC program with the Manheim Township Educational Foundation — an outdoor observatory with a retractable roof that will facilitate observational astronomy, named the SkyLab.

The observatory will educate more than 6,000 students in sciences, foster interest in STEM subjects such as math, physics, astrophysics, and engineering, and will be available to the community for regularly scheduled 'star watches.' As the SkyLab is incorporated into district curriculum, Kindergarten through 8th grade students will benefit from hands-on observational astronomy directly related to the content discussed during planetarium visits. Students in physics and astronomy classes, STEM Independent Study, and Astronomy Club will be taught to run visual observations and host star watches for the community at large, building their technological knowledge and leadership skills.

“We have never before had an opportunity to place students in a real-world outdoor research laboratory on campus that had the potential to allow for real scientific work to be conducted from start to finish," said Jenny Germann, executive director of the Manheim Township Education Foundation. "In this observatory, students quite literally have the universe at their fingertips. The ability to have such experiences in grades K-12 is unparalleled at the local or state level and very few examples exist nationally that rival this level of commitment to STEM learning. We were thrilled that the Weaver Family and APR Supply Co. was willing to invest in the education of our youth so generously.”

APR Supply Co. strives to honor the local communities in which we live and work. Founded in 1922 as Lebanon Plumbing Supply, APR Supply Co. is now guided by third generation owner, President and CEO Scott Weaver. Since its inception, APR Supply Co. has grown from a single location to 38 branches and 9 Oasis Kitchen and Bath Showrooms throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Their headquarters remains in Lebanon County, and most recently moved to Joel Drive where their main distribution center boasts over 350,000 square feet of storage.