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Our Opinion: Lighthouse Resource Center a bright spot for Sherman Hills community

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of The Bridge to host ‘Game Night’

<p>PLAINS TWP. &#8212; Erica Michaliga struggles when she thinks a child &#8212; any child &#8212; might wake up on Christmas morning with no presents under the tree.</p><p>So she did something to ensure that doesn&#8217;t happen.</p><p>With the help of some 450 of her Mohegan Sun Pocono co-workers, or &#8220;team members&#8221; as they are known, Erica spearheaded a project that saw 1,700 Christmas gifts purchased to be distributed to area children in need.</p><p>The gifts will go to children who otherwise might not have any gifts come Christmas day.</p><p>Player development executive at Mohegan Sun Pocono and a resident of Plains Township, Erica helped a group of fellow team members Friday load the gifts into waiting trucks that will deliver them to Luzerne County Head Start and Maternal and Family Health Services for distribution. The project was run in conjunction with the United Way of Wyoming Valley, the agency that identified the families.</p><p>As a result of this enormous effort, the gifts will be under the Christmas trees of 400-plus families in time for the big day.</p><p>I asked Erica how she came up with the idea.</p><p>&#8220;I just couldn&#8217;t think of a child waking up on Christmas morning without any presents to open,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Erica and her fellow Mohegan Sun employees did all the work. They each received the name of a child to shop for, spending about $25 per child. They did the shopping, the wrapping &#8212; some held wrapping parties until late at night &#8212; and they did the spending.</p><p>Mike Bean, the big boss at the casino complex, shopped at Target, pushing a red cart around the store and buying for six kids.</p><p>Do the math to calculate the significance of this project and its impact. At $25 per gift, for 1,700 gifts &#8212; the answer is roughly $42,500.</p><p>That&#8217;s a lot of gifts for a lot of kids. The first year of this project &#8212; of Erica&#8217;s idea &#8212; will have a huge impact on a lot of kids and families, making their Christmases much merrier.</p><p>&#8220;It will mean there will be gifts under their trees this year,&#8221; said Becky Brey, of Head Start. &#8220;This will help families who struggle all year, but even more so around the holidays.&#8221;</p><p>Ann Jones, program manager at Nurse Family Partnership, part of Maternal Health, said the project was &#8220;amazing&#8221; and will help a lot of people.</p><p>&#8220;Just to do something so good for so many is truly amazing,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;This will make a huge difference in a lot of people&#8217;s Christmases.&#8221;</p><p>Bean couldn&#8217;t be more proud of his fellow &#8220;team members&#8221; and referred to himself as &#8221; just one of many participants.&#8221;</p><p>Jennifer Deemer ,of the United Way, said most of the children receiving gifts will be 3 years old and younger.</p><p>&#8220;These people did this on their own time and with their own money,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Erica said the end result exceeded her expectations. She and Jenelle Osborne, of the human resources department, worked together on the project.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t say enough about our employees,&#8221; Osborne said. &#8220;This was an overwhelming response. They are always willing to support others in the community who need help.&#8221;</p><p>The 1,700 packages, all neatly wrapped and ready to be opened on Christmas morning, were loaded into two trucks to be taken to the participating agencies for distribution.</p><p>There were no signs telling anybody what was happening. As people walked in and out of the casino, none knew what was going on around the corner in the convention center.</p><p>This was a project between the team members at Mohegan Sun Pocono and children in need, none of whom will ever meet.</p><p>The gift buyers will know they did their part to help others. The recipients will thank Santa for stopping by.</p><p>There will be much more than gifts distributed to those 400 families.</p><p>Each family, each child, will receive much more than a wrapped present. They will also receive the gift of caring and compassion from a community that cares.</p><p>The spirit of Christmas is alive and well.</p><p>Thanks to Erica and her idea. She did her part. And her co-workers did theirs.</p><p>Let&#8217;s hope for more projects like this.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121215AdoptAFamily1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Employees of Mohegan Sun Pocono casino pack a box truck with several hundred Christmas gifts the employees bought and wrapped. The 1,700 gifts will be distributed to familes from Luzerne County Head Start and Luzerne County Maternal and Family Health Services. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121215AdoptAFamily1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Employees of Mohegan Sun Pocono casino pack a box truck with several hundred Christmas gifts the employees bought and wrapped. The 1,700 gifts will be distributed to familes from Luzerne County Head Start and Luzerne County Maternal and Family Health Services. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></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>

Mohegan Sun Pocono team members dig deep to help children in need enjoy Christmas