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Dance students entertain at kielbasa festival

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<p>JENKINS TWP. &#8212; Liz Murray said she was nervous Wednesday when talking to two groups of employees at Benco Dental.</p><p>&#8220;I never expected to be a public speaker,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But some things happened in my life and I felt it would be good to share.&#8221;</p><p>Murray, known for being the &#8220;Homeless to Harvard&#8221; girl, shared a lot with the Benco people. To hear her amazing story is an opportunity to learn about the human condition.</p><p>Murray was in town to speak on behalf of the United Way of Wyoming Valley&#8217;s &#8220;Poverty to Possibility&#8221; movement that hopes to develop long-term solutions to reduce childhood poverty in the region.</p><p>Murray, now 34, grew up in a drug-infested house. Both her parents were addicted to drugs. They cashed their monthly welfare checks, bought a little bit of food and spent the rest on drugs.</p><p>This went on for years, Murray said. She and her sister knew no other life. They knew all too well what it was like to be hungry &#8212; to never know when your next meal would come.</p><p>At age 15, Liz Murray was homeless. She slept on couches in friends&#8217; houses, or outside in parks. She quit school. She wore rags. She hardly ever had time for personal hygiene.</p><p>But all the while, Murray said there was this voice in the back of her head that kept telling her to go back to school, get her education and make something of her life.</p><p>Murray told her incredible story that ultimately led to a New York Times story, an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC-TV&#8217;s &#8220;20/20,&#8221; and a Lifetime TV movie and a book &#8212; &#8220;Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard&#8221; &#8212; of the entire ordeal.</p><p><strong>Beating adversity</strong></p><p>Adversity, Murray said, is a human issue. She struggled to find a way to reconnect with that vitality we all had when we were kids.</p><p>&#8220;That feeling of wanting to be here,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Murray said she has been called a &#8220;boot-strapper,&#8221; but she said she would never have made it back to living a meaningful life if it weren&#8217;t for many people along the way.</p><p>Murray did get back to high school. She received a scholarship to Harvard and she is now in graduate school at Columbia University.</p><p>Those places are far from her early life in the Bronx. Far from the gangs, the drugs and the violence that she lived amid during her formative years when she was most impressionable. Her parents and neighbors waited for those welfare checks to buy their drugs.</p><p>&#8220;I thought it was normal,&#8221; she said.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t until she got to Harvard that she learned about families with parents with jobs who set alarm clocks to get up to get to those jobs on time.</p><p>Welfare checks run out quickly when buying drugs. Kids are left without meals, without nice clothes, without much hope. Murray and her sister endured, often finding cherry flavored Chapstick and toothpaste as acceptable meals.</p><p>&#8220;And nobody was cleaning the house back then,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Murray said her parents were sick.</p><p><strong>No resentment</strong></p><p>She said she knew they loved her. She said she has met a lot of psychologists and psychiatrists over the years who all have opinions. Most find it perplexing to hear Murray talk about the love of her parents and the lack of resentment she has.</p><p>&#8220;I tell them they can research and read all they want, but nothing can ever replace the experience,&#8221; she said. &#8220;People can&#8217;t give you what they don&#8217;t have.&#8221;</p><p>Murray said her parents sold their television for heroin, but they never sold the books taken from the public library &#8212; books that Murray treasured.</p><p>Her mom, Jean, and her dad, Peter, both died of AIDS.</p><p>It was her mother&#8217;s death that motivated Murray to try to make something of her life. She said she stopped putting off things til &#8220;later,&#8221; and she set out to accomplish her goals.</p><p>Murray had just turned 16 when her mom died. She was buried the day after Christmas. She said her mother was so much more than a story at a podium or a chapter in her book.</p><p>&#8220;My mother was radiant,&#8221; Murray said. &#8220;She loved her children. When she died, I realized you can die with your dreams still inside you.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Sought sobriety</strong></p><p>Her mother always said that one day she would get sober and play with her grandchildren. Murray decided to change her own life.</p><p>She found an accepting high school. She won a scholarship to Harvard. She graduated with a degree in psychology. She got married and had children. She has written a book and she has become an inspiration to millions.</p><p>Like she said, she is one person who does what she can to help others. She challenges everyone she meets to do the same.</p><p>&#8220;Tag, you&#8217;re it,&#8221; she says.</p><p>Murray looked at me and said she was sure that if she had the time to listen, she could learn a lot from hearing my story.</p><p>I smiled and thanked her, knowing she was right.</p><p>We all have stories. We all can connect. We all can help and be helped.</p><p>Liz Murray showed the world how one person can change and how one person can inspire.</p><p>The rest is up to us.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Liz Murray was featured speaker at the event held at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Convention Center --------------Fred Adams|for Times Leader 9-3-15</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_liz_murray2_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Liz Murray was featured speaker at the event held at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Convention Center --------------Fred Adams|for Times Leader 9-3-15</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_poverty1_faa2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Liz Murray </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_poverty1_faa2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Liz Murray </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Columnshot-1-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Columnshot-1-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

In Focus: Speaker brings her story of overcoming adversity to Wyoming Valley