Scranton Area Community Foundation Awards Grant to Northeast Regional Cancer Institute The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute recently received a $10,000 grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation. Funds will support the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute Community Based Cancer Screening Navigation Program. The Navigation Program is a cancer screening initiative focused on education, barrier reduction and facilitation of screenings for breast, cervical, colon and lung cancer while connecting or reconnecting all participants to a medical home to ensure ongoing preventative care. This initiative is dependent on a customized software program, an upgrade of which is required to more efficiently manage program work. “NRCI is extremely appreciative of this funding support from the Scranton Area Community Foundation. These upgrades will allow for program growth, increase the number of people screened for cancer, and help save lives through early detection, “said Laura Toole, Executive Vice President at the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute. This funding was awarded as part of the Scranton Area Community Foundation’s Spring Community Needs Grant Cycle.
Johnson College to Host Transfer Day on December 14 Johnson College is holding a Transfer Day on Thursday, December 14, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on its campus in Scranton, PA. The College is encouraging current college students who are interested in changing the direction of their education and ultimately their career path to visit its campus. Students will meet with Enrollment, Financial Aid, Career Services, and Counseling and Disability Services representatives. In addition, staff members from the Registrar’s Office will be on hand for transfer credit analyses and to review potential schedules for the upcoming semester. Students will learn why Johnson College is the leader in hands-on education, how it exposes students to industry from day one, and how its two-year degree programs, focusing on careers in in-demand industries, have the highest return on investment in the short term. To attend Transfer Day at Johnson College, students must register online at Johnson.edu/transfer or contact the College’s enrollment team at enroll@johnson.edu or (570) 702-8856.
Scranton Area Community Foundation Hosts 2023 Annual Community Celebration The Scranton Area Community Foundation will host its 2023 Annual Community Celebration on the evening of Thursday, December 7, at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. The Annual Community Celebration is an opportunity for the Scranton Area Community Foundation, its Board of Governors, its supporters, and the community to celebrate their impact in 2023. Laura Ducceschi, CEO and President of the Scranton Area Community Foundation, and Barbara O’Hara, Esq., Chair of the Scranton Area Community Foundation Board of Governors, will host the event. Posture Interactive will provide production services, including video production, streaming, and designing the stage dressing. At the event, members of the Scranton Area Community Foundation Board of Governors will celebrate the generosity of donors and friends that enabled the Foundation to distribute almost $8 million in grants and scholarships from charitable funds and an additional $2 million from foundations under management, the highest since the Foundation’s inception in 1954. The event will also recognize the contributions of featured community partners and funds who have led the way in making a significant impact in 2023. Featured Community Partners are Scott R. Thorpe, Accountant/Partner, Ostrowski Beckley and Thorpe PC; Chris Bohinski and WBRE-TV; and Jack Nogi, Esq. Featured Funds are the Fendrock Family Fund; Susan Burke Foundation for Colon Cancer; and the Sondra G. and Morey M. Myers Charitable Gift Fund. The 2023 Annual Community Celebration will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, December 7th at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. This event is free to attend and open to all in the community. Refreshments, hors d’oeuvres, and dinner will be served. Please visit SAFDN.org to RSVP for the celebration.
Marywood University Hosting String Project Holiday Gala Concert Marywood University’s String Project will present its Holiday Gala Concert on Thursday, December 7, at 5 p.m. The performance will take place in the Munley Theatre at the Sette LaVerghetta Center for Performing Arts, and the concert is free and open to the public. Approximately 125 students enroll in Marywood’s String Project each year. Marywood is one of several universities across the U.S. participating in the National String Project Consortium (NSPC). The NSPC is dedicated to increasing the number of children playing stringed instruments, and addressing the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S. The Marywood University String Project is grateful for support from: The Laurence Myer Davidow Memorial Fund, The Schwartz Mack Foundation, and The Anne Therese Kenny Flanagan Endowment. For more information about the Marywood University String Project, go to: marywood.edu/community/youth-programs/string-project.
Marywood University to Host Orchestra Benefit Concert Marywood University’s Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance will present an orchestra concert featuring “Romantic Classics” on Friday, December 8, 7:30 p.m., at the Munley Theatre in the Sette LaVerghetta Center. The performance will be conducted by John Masko, Marywood’s new Director of Orchestral Activities. Admission for the benefit concert is $10 for adults and $5 for students/children. Those with a valid Marywood ID and IHM Sisters will be admitted for free. Proceeds from the performance will be used exclusively to support Marywood students’ performances. The orchestra will perform three classics from the romantic period, including: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Bizet’s Second L’Arlésienne Suite, and Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture. The Marywood Orchestra is a student orchestra that also includes some musicians from the greater Scranton community. For more information on Marywood’s Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance, or to view upcoming performances, go marywood.edu/mtd.
The Wright Center and Wayne County Commissioners Collaborate on Hunger-Fighting Initiative The Wayne County commissioners and The Wright Center for Community Health have teamed to expand access in two rural locations to free, nutritious food for individuals and families facing food insecurity and hunger. The county’s Food Pantry Program recently began supplying nonperishable items to two of The Wright Center’s primary and preventive care clinics: Hawley and North Pocono. Clinic employees will hand out the county-provided food boxes – each containing about 25 pounds of shelf-stable items such as soups, pasta, canned vegetables, tuna, and chicken – to patients who disclose on intake forms that they are in need. In addition, the clinics will periodically promote and hold larger-scale distribution events, called pop-up food pantries, during which boxes will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis to patients and members of the broader community. The next pop-up food pantry at the Hawley Practice, 103 Spruce St., is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. Volunteers from The Wright Center will coordinate the event and dole out the boxes. For more information about The Wright Center’s pop-up food pantries, contact Holly Przasnyski, director of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, at przasnyskih@TheWrightCenter.org, or call 570-209-3275. Wayne County residents who utilize The Wright Center for Community Health North Pocono Practice, 260 Daleville Highway, Suite 103, Covington Township, are also eligible to receive county-provided food boxes. “We are so appreciative of commissioners Brian Smith, Jocelyn Cramer, and James Shook for seeing the value in using our Wright Center practices as distribution sites and for generously contributing via the county’s Food Pantry Program to enable us to provide this service to vulnerable individuals and their families,” said Holly Przasnyski, director of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement. The Wright Center’s hunger-fighting initiative in Wayne County supplements the county’s existing Food Pantry Program, sponsored by the county government and coordinated by private citizens. The program distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture items and private food donations each month at five sites. “It is important to use funds wisely and target the need as best we can,” said Commissioner Cramer. “We are grateful that the Wright Center can help identify those that need this assistance and help them. No one with food insecurities can overcome health challenges, financial challenges, and employment challenges. We are grateful to the Wright Center for this extra support.” Through the new arrangement, The Wright Center will be able to offer extra support and convenience to families who are struggling to afford quality foods for their tables, Przasnyski said. She said that food assistance requests from under-resourced individuals, including senior citizens, have risen locally and nationally since May when the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ended. Experts attribute the increased demand for food banks and related charitable programs to the federal government’s rollback of certain pandemic-era health and food benefits, such as emergency allotments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). About one out of every 20 households receiving SNAP benefits experienced food insufficiency after this year’s discontinuation of emergency allotments, according to a study released in August by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Elsewhere, researchers have previously done studies linking food insufficiency with poor health outcomes, identifying it as a potential contributor to chronic conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. These and other health impacts that people experience due to certain social and economic conditions are a prime focus of Przasnyski and others involved with The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, known as PCE. As a subsidiary of the nonprofit health center, PCE strives to help people in Northeast Pennsylvania overcome food insecurity and other non-medical issues that can affect their ability to focus on achieving and maintaining their maximum wellness. Those issues commonly include transportation barriers, lack of access to educational opportunities, homelessness, and poverty. In rural Wayne County, where transportation and other quality-of-life issues require broad-based solutions, county government leaders have for more than a decade been working in collaboration with residents to strengthen the county’s human services safety net and support a prosperous community. They created Wayne Tomorrow!, a planning initiative to guide the county’s development. The commissioners have encouraged The Wright Center’s involvement in Wayne Tomorrow!, welcoming input on task forces that address issues of mutual concern, such as how to assist residents who face transportation hurdles and how to implement solutions to the affordable housing crunch, Przasnyski said. “The Wayne County commissioners are very active in trying to address the needs of the county’s residents, including those who are economically disadvantaged,” said Przasnyski, a Wayne County resident. “Many of the things they are doing align with The Wright Center’s mission, so we are glad to partner with them on initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the population.” For information about The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary and preventive care services and locations, visit TheWrightCenter.org.
Citizens Savings Bank Hosting Holiday Collection Drive Citizens Savings Bank is collecting children’s coats in all sizes (new or gently used) along with new/unwrapped toys for Friends of the Poor in Scranton at all of its Lackawanna County branch locations from now through 12/8/2023. Lackawanna County branch locations include 538 S. State St., Clarks Summit; 156 South Main Ave.; Scranton, 702 Cedar Ave., Scranton; and 137 South Main Ave., Taylor.
The Wright Center Receives Grant from Robert H. Spitz Foundation The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (PCE) was recently awarded an $8,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation to help patients and community members alleviate financial pressures, which can help improve the overall health and well-being of regional communities. The grant will support a food donation program and transportation assistance to and from doctor appointments. Requests for help have increased sharply over the past few years. In 2021, The Wright Center for Community Health received 201 requests for help with food from community members in Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wayne counties. In 2022, those appeals rose to 743. Through May 2023, the organization has received 426 requests for food. The Wright Center received 2,156 requests for transportation help in 2022. Through May 2023, 1,351 community members have asked PCE for assistance. “Food and transportation insecurities make it hard for the patients to address their medical needs,” said Holly Przasnyski, director, The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement. “This grant provides us with the ability to address transportation and food needs for our patients, which allows them the ability to address their medical needs.” The Robert H. Spitz Foundation awards grants to registered nonprofit organizations that support initiatives and programs serving Lackawanna County and Northeast Pennsylvania. Among the foundation’s five priority areas are programs that break the cycle of poverty, veterans’ affairs and veteran-oriented programs, animal welfare, Jewish culture and cemeteries, and environmental projects. To date, the Robert H. Spitz Foundation has provided over $3.7 million in funding to the community. For more information about PCE, call 570-343-2383, Ext. 1444 or visit TheWrightCenter.org/ patient-and-community-engagement.
Tobyhanna Army Depot Equips Frontline Fighters Soldiers in the field have access to the latest Army technology, all thanks to Tobyhanna Army Depot. The organization is now the depot source of repair for the Integrated Air and Missile Battle Command System, or IBCS, a vital “supersystem” that consolidates several air and missile defense command and control functions into a single network. Its open infrastructure allows the integration of various functionalities, enabling Soldiers to consolidate and sort through information more quickly for sound decision-making. The launch of the IBCS represents a transformational strategy for the Army as it moves towards arming Soldiers for the multi-domain battlefield. While the system won’t fully transition to Tobyhanna until 2026, depot personnel are currently providing forward support to units with IBCSs – and recently provided emergency fabrication support to ensure field readiness for Soldiers. Earlier this year, several IBCSs were discovered to be inoperable at Forts Bliss and Cavazos because they lacked simple operational cables. The cables, used to power up environmental control units part of IBCS Engagement Operations Centers, were unavailable on the open market – leaving soldiers and the Integrated Fires Mission Command with few options. Upon hearing about the need for cabling, a specialty of the talented artisans at Tobyhanna, depot personnel jumped at the opportunity to assist. The Systems Integration and Support Directorate’s Preproduction & Development Branch worked closely with design engineers and logisticians to quickly create a prototype of the cable. Once the cable had passed through the necessary approval channels, the cables were produced in just five working days. From the first phone call to project completion, only 60 days passed — a cooperative feat Preproduction & Development Branch Chief Jesse Tutino and his team take great pride in. “We have a cohesive team here at Tobyhanna that allows us to overcome challenges to meet our customers’ requirements. For this project, we developed a strong team with the technical skills to provide one-off, quick turnaround, fabrication services with exceptional quality.” Two members of the quick reaction team were recognized for their efforts by Caleb Nabors, product manager, Integrated Fires Mission Command Hardware during a visit to the depot earlier this fall. Nabors presented Clyde Walts of the Systems Integration and Support Directorate and Matthew Check of the Production Engineering Directorate with ceremonial coins, honoring their outstanding support of the IBCS program. In addition to the emergency cable support, Tobyhanna has entered into a public-private partnership with Northrop Grumman to fabricate additional assemblies for the IBCS system. Joseph Lynn, a logistics management specialist in Tobyhanna’s Strategic Initiatives Office, says the unplanned project will undoubtedly lead to more workload for the depot. “Because we had the opportunity to showcase our responsiveness and capabilities before the mission ‘officially’ started, our partners are already looking to expand our involvement in the effort.” More than 440 IBCS assets will be supported through the lifetime of the sustainment program. Support for the IBCS is a critical part of warfighter readiness, and the mission directly aligns with Tobyhanna’s long-range strategic plan, TOBY2035, which has four focus areas: Investing in Our People, C5ISR Readiness, Shape the Future and Strategic Communications. TOBY2035 aims to posture the depot for success in the coming years as the Department of Defense’s premier worldwide C5ISR readiness provider.
