A New York-based charity sent about 30 children to a residential program run by The Second Mile, the charity founded by Jerry Sandusky, NBC News has learned.
The charity is called A Better Chance.
Founded in 1963, A Better Chance places talented minority students in high performing public and private schools around the country.
It is one of Oprah Winfrey's favorites. She's donated over $12 million dollars to it and at one time was A Better Chance national spokesperson.
The charity first sent students to a residence run by The Second Mile in 1988. A spokeperson for A Better Chance said that over the course of nearly 13 years, some 30 students lived under Second Mile's care.
They attended school in the State College area. The practice stopped in 2001. The spokesperson would not specify why the charity stopped sending children to Second Mile in 2001.
The charity said in a statement: "A Better Chance did not participate in the operation or oversight of that Community School Program. We have not had any involvement with the Second Mile Foundation in the past ten years, nor have we received any complaints or inquires from any of our students who attended their Community School Program."
A spokesperson added that the charity hasn't reached out to Pennsylvania authorities because "The information about the past relationship is public knowledge and A Better Chance has had no involvement with the foundation since 2001."
A Better Chance is not the only charity associated with the Sandusky family. Last week, NBC reported that the Sanduskys may have hosted up to six children from the Fresh Air Fund program from the 1970s until the mid 1990s. The Fresh Air Fund connects New York City kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods to families in rural and urban communities.
Unlike A Better Chance, The Fresh Air Fund alerted Pennsylvania authorities when it learned Sandusky may have hosted children from the program.
