Plans for the Weller Health Education Center, the third oldest not-for-profit health education center in the country, began in 1977 when concerned community leaders, including medical practitioners, their families and members of the Junior League of the Lehigh Valley, began researching and planning a teaching facility in which children and adults could enhance their knowledge of the human body and the influences that impact its effectiveness. The Junior League provided the seed money to begin renovations for the Center in 4,000 square feet of leased space on the grounds of a local hospital. A capital fund drive was then launched to complete the renovations and purchase and install specialized teaching aids. The Center was named in honor of Carl and Emily Weller, long-time residents of the Easton, Pennsylvania area, who provided a major gift to the capital campaign.
In 1999, the Weller Health Education Center moved to a new location in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania, which featured a hands-on children's museum as well as four interactive teaching classrooms. However, following the events of September 11, 2001, many schools and organizations who previously traveled to the Weller Center were understandably reluctant to take field trips. In response, the Center began offering many of its high-energy programs "on the road" as small- and large-group assemblies. By 2003, every Weller Center program was available both in the Center and as an outreach assembly. The success of the Weller Center's outreach program continued to grow. As the No Child Left Behind Act left many school districts with limited time and resources for field trips, school districts across our region embraced the Weller Health Education Center's outcomes-based assembly programming which allowed their students to receive all the benefits of a Weller program with the added convenience of not having to travel to the Center's facility. Within five years, nearly 90 percent of the students served by the Weller Health Education Center were through assembly presentations. In 2008, to meet the changing needs of the schools we serve, the Weller Health Education Center ceased offering programs at its Easton facility and became "all outreach all the time," which allows Weller to focus more resources on developing and delivering high-impact health education assemblies.
The Center was the first not-for-profit health promotion, disease prevention education facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. Serving more than 1.4 million children since our inception in 1982, the Weller Center remains the only such center in our 39-county service area and one of just 34 health education centers across the nation.