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Full lineup announced for fourth annual Susquehanna Breakdown Music Festival at Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton

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New Veterans Center at Wilkes University will allow student veterans to support each other

<p>EXETER &#8212; Sixteen-year-old Kayla McDonough isn&#8217;t Byron Dissinger&#8217;s big sister.</p><p>But just as Zoe, from the Baby Blues comic strip, would be horrified if Hammie licked a spoon and continued to use it to spread frosting, Kayla wanted to make sure the nearest grown-ups knew about her 9-year-old companion&#8217;s culinary infraction.</p><p>&#8220;That one&#8217;s got to be <em>his</em> cupcake,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The grown-ups agreed. The cupcake would be his alone, and no harm would be done.</p><p>The little incident was the kind of thing that happens whenever kids get together to work on a project.</p><p>In this case, Kayla, from Carbondale, and Byron, from the Back Mountain, were among a dozen members of the InSight Kids Club of NEPA who spent a recent Saturday afternoon together preparing party food.</p><p>Sponsored by the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in partnership with the Hazleton-based Community Services for Sight, the Insight Kids Club gives youngsters who are blind or vision impaired a chance to get together for recreation, education and, perhaps most important, socializing.</p><p>&#8220;It helps her know she&#8217;s not alone,&#8221; said Maria Ramos of Ashley, who brought her 10-year-old daughter, Kristina, to the event.</p><p>Though Kristina can be so shy she&#8217;ll cover her face with her hands when a stranger asks her name, she interacted with other children as they cut up kiwi and pineapple for fruit kebabs, cracked eggs and took turns stirring cupcake batter.</p><p>Other youngsters spoke easily about their activities outside of school, among them 16-year-old Cassie Thomas of Pittston, who has a part-time job as a file clerk and 9-year-old Byron, who is looking forward to playing piano at Carnegie Hall.</p><p>If you ask, some of the kids will describe the way they see, explaining how glaucoma destroyed their peripheral vision or how they have vision in only one eye.</p><p>While their parents attended a support group meeting at the Association for the Blind on Wyoming Avenue, the children baked St. Patrick&#8217;s Day cupcakes and decorated them with shamrock sprinkles, cut tortillas into the shape of shamrocks and baked them; mixed lime sherbet with soda for a green punch and skewered a colorful assortment of fruit, from red raspberries to purple grapes, that looked like a leprechaun&#8217;s rainbow.</p><p>Vision rehabilitation therapist Karen Fleisher guided them through the tasks, offering tips on cracking eggs, measuring ingredients and pouring punch. She gave each child a liquid level indicator, which is a small, pronged device you can place on the outside of a cup where it makes a sound as a signal you can stop pouring.</p><p>Future activities for the Insight Kids include field trips, technology lessons and the opportunity to attend Camp Sight, a two-week summer day camp with opportunities for children to go rock climbing, ice skating, and horseback riding while learning life skills and spending time together.</p><p>Socializing is the best part, Kayla McDonough said. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost like we&#8217;re all best friends together.&#8221;</p><p>For more information about Insight Kids of NEPA or Camp Sight, call 570-693-3555, ext. 222.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kamrein Havrilla, 15, of Luzerne, left, and Raina Long, 15, of Wilkes-Barre, put ice cream in the special punch at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016. 3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids1-1-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kamrein Havrilla, 15, of Luzerne, left, and Raina Long, 15, of Wilkes-Barre, put ice cream in the special punch at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016. 3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids5-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Karen Fleischer, visual rehab specialist, guides Gabriella D'Amato, 9, of Hazle Twp., on where to put the cupcake batter at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016. 3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids5-1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Karen Fleischer, visual rehab specialist, guides Gabriella D'Amato, 9, of Hazle Twp., on where to put the cupcake batter at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016. 3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids4-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lori Lesante, Community Services for Sight president, helps Kayla McDonough, 16, of Carbondale, put tortilla shells, which are cut into shapes, in the oven at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016.  3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids4-1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Lori Lesante, Community Services for Sight president, helps Kayla McDonough, 16, of Carbondale, put tortilla shells, which are cut into shapes, in the oven at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Association for the Blind in Exeter on Saturday, March 12, 2016.  3/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Esther Dempster, 12, of East Stroudsburg, works on gently cracking an egg that will go into the cupcake batter. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids2-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Esther Dempster, 12, of East Stroudsburg, works on gently cracking an egg that will go into the cupcake batter. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids5-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Karen Fleisher, visual rehab specialist, guides Gabriella D&#8217;Amato, 9, of Hazle Township, on where to put the cupcake batter. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_TTL032016cookingkids5-2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Karen Fleisher, visual rehab specialist, guides Gabriella D&#8217;Amato, 9, of Hazle Township, on where to put the cupcake batter. </caption4><photoCredit4>Sean McKeag | 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"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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Insight Kids of NEPA provides opportunities for socialization, recreation, education, to blind and visually impaired youngsters