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Possession charges filed after officers approach illegally-parked car on Logan Street in Wilkes-Barre

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Night at the Races at Dallas Lions Club

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212;Sifting through cardboard cut-outs the size and shape of nickels, quarters and half-dollars, 9-year-old Wilson Colon sat at a table working arithmetic problems about adding and subtracting money.</p><p>Next to him, Natalyah Scott, also 9, filled in missing numbers on a multiplication table. &#8220;The 10s are the easiest,&#8221; she said, noting she&#8217;d completed that row first.</p><p>Across the room at the McGlynn Learning Center, 7-year-old Ben Reese tapped his pencil against a math work sheet and puzzled over which number was bigger: 57 or 52. Hmm.</p><p>The youngster didn&#8217;t know the answer off-hand, but volunteer tutor Sister Betty Graynor showed him a &#8220;number line&#8221; that looked like a ruler with the numbers 1 through 20 printed on it.</p><p>Suggesting he look for the 7 and the 2, Sister Betty reminded Ben he&#8217;d find a smaller number &#8220;down the ladder&#8221; and a greater number &#8220;up the ladder.&#8221;</p><p>Welcome to a Wednesday afternoon at the McGlynn Learning Center, located in the center of the Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority&#8217;s Boulevard Townhomes, a low-income housing project. Some 150 young people come here, or to a similar center at the Mineral Springs Village, after school to complete their homework.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re great kids. I enjoy them,&#8221; said Betty Griesmer, of Dallas, a volunteer tutor/mentor for more than 25 years. &#8220;They respond so beautifully to the gift of love, as we all do.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They are wonderful,&#8221; confirmed tutor Mary Anne Fedrick, of Laflin, retired from her position as dean of the school of education at Marywood University in Scranton. &#8220;They are challenged and they&#8217;re challenging us.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always had an easy time in school, so if I can help somebody who&#8217;s having a harder time, I&#8217;m happy,&#8221; said tutor Andrew Lacina, 17, a junior at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>While she&#8217;s grateful for the 18 adult and 10 student volunteers she has, center director Sister Eleace King is eager to swell their ranks.</p><p>&#8220;We need more mentors to help with homework,&#8221; she said last week, explaining homework can &#8220;bridge the gap between a difficult childhood and a productive adulthood.&#8221;</p><p>If tutoring is not something you feel called to do, she added, there are other ways to help. &#8220;I need volunteers to serve as greeters,&#8221; she said, explaining greeters would watch over children waiting for their brothers and sisters and &#8220;make sure they&#8217;re safe.&#8221;</p><p>Volunteer also are needed to pick up snacks at the CEO facility in Pittston and deliver them to the McGlynn Center&#8217;s two locations, Sister Eleace said.</p><p>Another way to help the McGlynn Center is to attend a fund-raiser reception planned for 6 to 9 p.m. April 7 at Genetti&#8217;s. (Contact Sister Eleace at 570-824-8891 for reservations.) The event will honor Gene Brady, executive director of the Commission on Economic Opportunity, and guest speaker will be Aubrielle Cunningham, an eighth-grade student who participates in McGlynn Learning Center programs.</p><p>A second fund-raiser will be a golf tournament, planned for July 9 at Edgewood in the Pines. Proceeds of the tournament will support field trips for the children.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Children&#8217;s librarian Elaine Rash from the Osterhout Free Library visits the McGlynn Learning Center to read stories and work on a project with children from the Boulevard Townhomes in Wilkes-Barre. The children visit with her when their homework is done. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Children&#8217;s librarian Elaine Rash from the Osterhout Free Library visits the McGlynn Learning Center to read stories and work on a project with children from the Boulevard Townhomes in Wilkes-Barre. The children visit with her when their homework is done. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter03.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Volunteer tutor Sister Betty Graynor and 7-year-old Kendall Zagorski share a laugh while Kendall starts her homework. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter03.jpg</photo1><caption1>Volunteer tutor Sister Betty Graynor and 7-year-old Kendall Zagorski share a laugh while Kendall starts her homework. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter04.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Children head into the McGlynn Learning Center at the Boulevard Townhomes in Wilkes-Barre. About 150 children are registered in the afterschool program at the Boulevard Townhomes and Mineral Springs Village, and about 100 attend on any given day. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter04.jpg</photo2><caption2>Children head into the McGlynn Learning Center at the Boulevard Townhomes in Wilkes-Barre. About 150 children are registered in the afterschool program at the Boulevard Townhomes and Mineral Springs Village, and about 100 attend on any given day. </caption2><photoCredit2>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter05.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sister Betty Graynor and 7-year-old Ben Reese talk about which numbers are greater or less than, as the boy works on his arithmetic homework. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter05.jpg</photo3><caption3>Sister Betty Graynor and 7-year-old Ben Reese talk about which numbers are greater or less than, as the boy works on his arithmetic homework. </caption3><photoCredit3>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Long-time volunteer tutor Betty Griesmer, of Dallas, works with Wilson Colon, 9, on math problems. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_mcglynncenter02.jpg</photo4><caption4>Long-time volunteer tutor Betty Griesmer, of Dallas, works with Wilson Colon, 9, on math problems. </caption4><photoCredit4>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit4></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>HOW YOU CAN HELP &#8230;</strong></p><p>You can help the McGlynn Center is to attend a fund-raiser reception planned for 6 to 9 p.m. April 7 at Genetti&#8217;s. (Contact Sister Eleace at 570-824-8891 for reservations.) The event will honor Gene Brady, executive director of the Commission on Economic Opportunity, and guest speaker will be Aubrielle Cunningham, an eighth-grade student who participates in McGlynn Learning Center programs.</p><p>A second fund-raiser will be a golf tournament, planned for July 9 at Edgewood in the Pines. Proceeds of the tournament will support field trips for the children.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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McGlynn Learning Center needs more volunteer tutors, will benefit from fund-raisers