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Our Opinion: Older foster children don’t outgrow desire for ‘forever’ family

Letter to the Editor: End senseless use of street sweepers and put savings toward Wilkes-Barre road repair

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Kristin Pitarra never expected to be singled out in a room filled with &#8220;helpers and heroes.&#8221;</p><p>That&#8217;s how Bill Jones, president/CEO of the United Way of Wyoming Valley, described the crowd gathered at the Westmoreland Club to celebrate another successful fund raising campaign for the agency.</p><p>Pitarra was honored as Employee Campaign Coordinator of the Year.</p><p>Campaign co-chairs Don and Becky Brominski announced the campaign raised $3,592,956 &#8212; one percent higher than last year.</p><p>But the focus was on Pitarra and her fellow employee campaign coordinators. Jones said 13 new campaigns were added this year, bringing the number of workplace campaigns to 208.</p><p>The money raised will significantly aid the United Way&#8217;s transformed mission of &#8220;Poverty to Possibility&#8221; which helped 14,994 Wyoming Valley children served by 27 programs in 19 nonprofit agencies.</p><p>Using a quote from Fred Rogers, who hosted &#8220;Mister Rogers&#8217; Neighborhood&#8221; for years on public television, Jones said, &#8220;Anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me.&#8221;</p><p>He noted there has been a rapid increase in childhood poverty over the past 15 years in the Wyoming Valley.</p><p>&#8220;It is scary, but you are our helpers, and you are our heroes, and we are thankful,&#8221; Jones said.</p><p>Helpers like Pitarra and her co-workers at Wilkes University where Pitarra is human resources director raised $18,000 &#8212; the second highest amount in the last 10 years at Wilkes. By using creative fundraising events like a cupcake truck, Wilkes increased employee donors by one-third.</p><p>&#8220;We try to correlate the mission of helping children with Wilkes being an educational institution,&#8221; Pitarra said.</p><p>Jones said the United Way has transitioned from being a fundraising organization to one seeking to make an impact and changing community conditions.</p><p>&#8220;We no longer measure our success, or are defined, by a fundraising thermometer,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Yet, money, as important as it is, is simply a tool to get a job done. It is not the finished product. It is a means to an end and, for us, that end is the end of childhood poverty in the community we all call home.&#8221;</p><p>Of the 27 programs funded under the Poverty to Possibility initiative, Jones said 11 are new and 16 are &#8220;evidenced-based programs,&#8221; meaning there is research, science and data behind them.</p><p>&#8220;Most involve a two generational approach &#8212; helping children by helping families,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;We believe when families do well, their children will do better.&#8221;</p><p>Jones said communities with a higher graduation rate do better than those with more dropouts and they do better in terms of crime and safety issues, poverty and social service needs.</p><p>He said a report from the PA Partnership for Children shows of the 18 school districts, charter schools and cyber schools required to test and report third grade reading levels in Luzerne County in 2014, only two are meeting the state&#8217;s proficiency targets.</p><p>&#8220;This, and what it implies for our future, should get our attention,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Jones said as long as there are children in the community who are hungry, who may be homeless, who may not feel safe from violence, who are not realizing their academic potential or who face uncertain futures, there is work to do.</p><p>&#8220;Childhood poverty in the Wyoming Valley isn&#8217;t a United Way problem; it is a community problem that together we can solve,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The real success of this year&#8217;s campaign is that the movement is building.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Carl Witkowski, chairman of the board at United Way of Wyoming Valley, offers his personal thank you to campaign volunteers at a luncheon at the Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre Friday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_United-Way-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Carl Witkowski, chairman of the board at United Way of Wyoming Valley, offers his personal thank you to campaign volunteers at a luncheon at the Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre Friday afternoon. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_United-Way-2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kristin Pitarra, of Wilkes University, listens to remarks at the United Way of Wyoming Valley&#8217;s thank you luncheon Friday prior to receiving the Employee Campaign Coordinator of the Year Award. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_United-Way-2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kristin Pitarra, of Wilkes University, listens to remarks at the United Way of Wyoming Valley&#8217;s thank you luncheon Friday prior to receiving the Employee Campaign Coordinator of the Year Award. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Kristin Pitarra named Employee Campaign Coordinator of the Year</subheadMeta></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>

United Way of Wyoming Valley honors its ‘helpers and heroes’ at luncheon at Westmoreland Club