Anyone around Elizabethtown? (Lancaster, Harrisburg, Ephrata: to rent, health insurance, day care)

[kris6523]

Desperetaly looking for a friend in this area...

My husband and I are moving to the area, no jobs lines up and very little savings. He is originally from Long Island, I am a Ft. Lauderdale, Fl girl forever. Although I love the outdoors, its hard to take my kid out to play here. I would like for him to experience the changing of leaves and sledding in the backyard, its a whole different way of life I imagine.
I have to say I am scared and stressed about this move, but concidering his son (9 yrs) lives there its hard for me to say no. We have a 5 year old starting K this year, so we are moving quickly, school starts in 2 months. By the way this is a rush decission to move, because of drama with his ex..

I do not know the area, except I heard its a big college town. Our visits we usually go to the Pocono's or Hershey area but he wants to be in the Elizabethtown or Mount Joy? (How far is that).

I am a cash manager for a large insurance company, but with relocating and no family of my own in town, I feel I need to be home after school for my son..

Any advice how to find a job, a place to rent, are there after school programs if I work (I may go stir crazy if I don't),meet friendly people, shop! etc. Please tell me I won't go out of mind with boredom!

[teachbeach]

E-town is a small college town. Private school, serious students. Elizabethtown and Mt. Joy are about 20 minutes apart and each would be about 30 minutes to Hershey. The Poconos a little further away.

Each school district will most likely have an after school program or be able to guide you to a program offered by a day care or Y facility. Finding a job may be a little more difficult, but you are within easy commuting distance of Hershey, Lancaster, Ephrata and the east side of Harrisburg. You might want to consider applying to school districts; many hire people with accounting skills to work in their accounts receiving/bookkeeping areas. At least then you would be on schedule similar to your child, and could possibly negotiate for a position that is only 9 months. If you work as a classroom aide, you might be able to get health insurance (although your salary might be super low~again you would be on the same schedule with regard to days off, snow days and vacations). There are loads of school districts in the northern Lancaster County area, as well as a several private schools, tech. schools and 4 year colleges, hospitals and other industries.

Renting a 2 BR apt. or small home should not be a problem either. Expect to pay anywhere from $700-1000 per month for a decent place with 2 bedrooms.

If you are affiliated with a church, you might find them to be a source of meeting friends. If you are able to be involved in your son's classroom you'll meet other mothers through his friends. There are tons of places to shop; Lancaster has a string of outlet malls and so does Hershey. There are several chains of grocery stores, a big mall and just about every other type of restaurant or chain store you could need.

Good Luck!

[Rtom45]

Also, do a search on this forum, keyword Elizabethtown. The topic has been dicussed many times and you'll come up with lots of good information. If you're coming into the area without work, you should expect to have to commute for a job. E-town is halfway between Harrisburg and Lancaster so both options are open there. My wife and I just recently sold the family home in E-town, so we're really familiar with the area. If you need more information, let me know.

[kris6523]

Thanks for the advice. I did go on line to try and find out how to apply to work at the school, but could not find anything there was a site called etown schools the search engine brought up but it didn't work. If you know of a site or how I would do this I'd appreciate it.

[teachbeach]

etownschools.org~First tab has employment opportunities in it's pull down menu.