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Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic to perform works from Stravinsky and Brahms at Lackawanna College Nov. 14

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Wilkes professor, painter Chad Stanley inspires minds in the academic and artistic communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania

<p>PITTSTON TOWNSHIP &#8212; Maybe your ideal chair is a comfy recliner, ready to receive your tired body at the end of a long day.</p><p>Or maybe you&#8217;d prefer a decorative showpiece &#8212; too pretty, really, to sit on &#8212; like the delicate chair onto which Sue Guzik of the Fly Me Home shop in Pittston attached tiny glass tiles to create a floral mosaic.</p><p>&#8220;I love flowers, and I definitely wanted it to be bright and colorful,&#8221; Guzik said. &#8220;I imagine if someone had it in their home, they&#8217;d have a colorful personality, so they&#8217;d like it, too.&#8221;</p><p>You&#8217;ll have a chance to take home either kind of furniture if you attend &#8220;A Chair Affair&#8221; at the JA Mericle Family Center for Enterprise Education on Oak Street. The event, set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 5, benefits Junior Achievement of NEPA, an organization that prepares young people for life in the real world and gives them a taste of grown-up careers.</p><p>&#8220;One little girl who came here was the &#8216;teller&#8217; in the bank,&#8221; said Junior Achievement program and development manager Suzanne McCabe. &#8220;She loved being the teller so much, she told us she didn&#8217;t want to take her break.&#8221;</p><p>Taking a break, voting in an election, giving eye examinations and serving as mayor or district attorney are all part of the educational day area fifth-graders can spend at the Mericle center. Junior Achievement president Melissa Turlip explained each child applies for three positions and teachers decide who gets to do what.</p><p>Small rooms set up to replicate various businesses include a grocery, city hall, bank, television and radio stations, newspaper office and more.</p><p>Last year, the organization&#8217;s first &#8220;A Chair Affair&#8221; raised about $11,000 to support the educational programs, McCabe said.</p><p>&#8220;I do believe in what Junior Achievement does,&#8221; Guzik, the mosaic artist, said. &#8220;The kids need to be prepared for the real world.&#8221;</p><p>Local businesses Kurlancheek Home Furnishings, La-Z-Boy, The Lamp Factory and Noble Furniture all donated chairs, McCabe said, as did several individuals.</p><p>Among the many chairs to be auctioned on Nov. 5 is a &#8220;mermaid chair&#8221; donated by Chris Bedwick from Bedwick&#8217;s Pharmacy in Wilkes-Barre. Bedwick found the chair, with mermaids painted on its seat, at the shore and enhanced its seacoast theme with a mermaid statue, a bottle of Two Oceans savignon blanc, the novel &#8220;The Mermaid Chair&#8221; by Sue Monk Kidd and gift certificates to Cooper&#8217;s Seafood and Red Lobster.</p><p>Not all the chairs are for adults. Just the right size to help a child reach a sink and wash his or her hands is a little stool donated by Turlip, who included a book about toilet training and, courtesy of Procter &amp; Gamble, a $400 gift certificate for diapers.</p><p>For older children there&#8217;s a &#8220;time-out&#8221; chair which donor K. J. Barrett of Trucksville decorated with teardrops and such sentiments as &#8220;What did I do?&#8221; and &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry.&#8221;</p><p>She&#8217;s made similar ones for nieces and nephews &#8212; not that they ever misbehaved, of course. &#8220;It was more of a fun gift.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A child&#8217;s stool accompanied by a Procter &amp; Gamble gift certificate for $400 is one of several offerings up for auction at &#8216;A Chair Affair.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102715chairaffair13.jpg</photo0><caption0>A child&#8217;s stool accompanied by a Procter &amp; Gamble gift certificate for $400 is one of several offerings up for auction at &#8216;A Chair Affair.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102715chairaffair23.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Suzanne McCabe moves a &#8216;time-out&#8217; chair into a line-up of other colorful chairs that will be part of the &#8216;A Chair Affair&#8217; fund-raiser to benefit Junior Achievement of NEPA. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102715chairaffair23.jpg</photo1><caption1>Suzanne McCabe moves a &#8216;time-out&#8217; chair into a line-up of other colorful chairs that will be part of the &#8216;A Chair Affair&#8217; fund-raiser to benefit Junior Achievement of NEPA. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102715chairaffair33.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sue Guzik of Fly Me Home in Pittston decorated this chair with glass tiles for &#8216;A Chair Affair.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL102715chairaffair33.jpg</photo2><caption2>Sue Guzik of Fly Me Home in Pittston decorated this chair with glass tiles for &#8216;A Chair Affair.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> A Chair Affair</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Benefits Junior Achievement of NEPA</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 5</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> JA Mericle Family Center for Enterprise Education, 1122 Oak St., Pittston Township</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $35</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-602-3600</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘A Chair Affair’ will benefit Junior Achievement of NEPA