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Lady of Hope holds holiday breakfast for CCD and parish children

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Dana Street Elementary School students support SPCA

<p>It&#8217;s one of those few and far between stories that chokes you with emotion.</p><p>It took Brittany Ann Bullock 21 years to truly belong somewhere, to be part of a family. Now she no longer has to worry that if she &#8220;died tomorrow, it really wouldn&#8217;t matter to anyone.&#8221; She said that. At such a young age, her only worry should be finding a job or meeting Mr. Right.</p><p>Instead, this lovely young woman actually worried about dying and no one being there to mourn her. How many 70- and 80-year-olds in nursing homes wonder about that very thing &#8212; the things we take for granted.</p><p>Brittany looked radiant surrounded by her new family in photos which made the front pages of local newspapers.</p><p>After spending her life in various foster homes since she was 9 years old, Brittany was adopted Wednesday by Michael and Lorine Ogurkis, an incredibly inspiring local couple. Brittany had lived with them for three years. She is now Brittany Ann Ogurkis. Along with a new name, she has a new identity &#8212; she&#8217;s someone&#8217;s daughter.</p><p>Brittany was overcome with emotion when Luzerne County Judge Jennifer Rogers made her adoption official at a special ceremony in Rogers&#8217; courtroom. Such proceedings are generally private, but Brittany and her parents waived that right to let everyone share this deeply personal moment and to see firsthand that rescuing someone from a life with no roots is a two-sided reward.</p><p>In a beautiful gesture, Judge Rogers shared a poem, which said in part, &#8220;For us to have each other is like a dream come true! No, I didn&#8217;t give you the gift of life. Life gave me the gift of you.&#8221; Pass the tissues, please.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m still in disbelief, honestly,&#8221; Brittany said. &#8220;I&#8217;m sad that it had to take me this long to get here, but I&#8217;m happy that it&#8217;s finally here and it happened.&#8221; How many times have we heard some things are just worth waiting for? After all this 21-year-old has gone through through, topping this will be difficult.</p><p>Brittany met the woman who would become her mother at Luzerne County Community College where she was studying to be a paralegal. Brittany and her professor, attorney Lorine Ogurkis, didn&#8217;t know it then, but their lives were about to change in a monumental way.</p><p>Ogurkis had noticed the &#8220;shy and withdrawn&#8221; girl who sat in the back of her classroom. During one class, the professor told her students about the little boy, Michael, whom she and her husband were adopting. Obviously sensing her professor was a kind, compassionate woman in whom she could confide, Brittany later approached her and opened up about her anxieties about being adrift and alone, including dying alone. She told Ogurkis her last foster family told her once she turned 18, &#8220;it was time for her to move on.&#8221;</p><p>What a thing to tell a kid.</p><p>Brittany and little Michael became the inspiration for Lorine and her friend state Rep. Tarah Toohil to found the nonprofit Brandon&#8217;s Forever Home in Hazleton. Run by volunteers, the home on North Church Street in Hazleton provides clothes, toys, books and other essentials to children in the foster home system. Its purpose is to raise awareness to the plight of these children. The women hope to expand the program to Lackawanna County.</p><p>&#8220;I am so proud and so honored to be her mother,&#8221; Lorine Ogurkis said of Brittany. &#8220;She&#8217;s so beautiful, inside and out.&#8221; She told Judge Rogers Brittany is &#8220;a daddy&#8217;s girl.&#8221;</p><p>And what did Daddy say? &#8220;She thinks she&#8217;s the lucky one, but it&#8217;s all of us who are lucky,&#8221; Michael Ogurkis said.</p><p>Society is among the lucky ones because of couples like the Ogurkises who welcome into their homes those in desperate need and who try to encourage others to do the same. Society owes a great debt to all adoptive parents who rescue those who, for whatever reason, have been abandoned by their biological mothers and fathers.</p><p>&#8220;Everyone deserves someone, just having someone to lean on, someone who&#8217;ll listen, someone to rely on,&#8221; Brittany Ogurkis said.</p><p>It was amazing witnessing someone so overwhelmed to be given one of life&#8217;s basic needs &#8212; a family to have and to hold forever.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Betty Roccograndi </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Roccograndi-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Betty Roccograndi </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Betty Roccograndi, a Wyoming Valley resident, is an award-winning journalist and a freelance columnist. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Times Leader.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Zeroing In: Brittany Ann Ogurkis has a new name and a new identity