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Former Wyoming Valley West lineman Chris Bleich picks up offer from Penn State

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Residents express disappointment that Rich’s Golf and Fun Center will not open this year

If you are going to do charitable giving, consider giving locally &#8211; there is no shortage of worthy options, as The Luzerne Foundation&#8217;s third annual Nonprofit Forum held Wednesday proved.The forum launched in 2014 with what is still arguably its most memorable moment: The sonorous voice of longtime community theater actor Walter Mitchell singing &#8220;<a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/512114/deadline-looms-for-chance-at-grants-during-non-profit-forum-sponsored-by-luzerne-foundation" target="_blank">If I Were a Rich Man</a>&#8221; from the musical &#8220;Fiddler on the Roof.&#8221;Mitchell&#8217;s performance nabbed $1,000 for the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, which he said helped to weatherize the building, saving about 60 percent in winter heating bills.The forum is one of several ways the foundation &#8211; founded in 1994 and now the umbrella for some 350 charitable funds &#8211; works to give area nonprofits a little publicity and a financial boost at the same time.As foundation President Charles Barber put it in <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/columns/523635/charles-barber-attend-forum-where-33-area-nonprofits-each-get-5-minutes-to-make-a-great-impression" target="_blank">a recent column</a>, the forum &#8220;creates five minutes of opportunity&#8221; for the agencies that give brief presentations of their worthiness and purpose. Several of them get foundation grants; all get a chance to place their causes in the public eye, as <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/526809/wide-range-of-local-charities-get-five-minutes-to-convince-luzerne-foundation-theyre-worthy-of-grant-money" target="_blank">Wednesday&#8217;s event showed</a>.How many people knew a defunct factory in Berwick once employed more than 9,000 area residents making 15,000 &#8220;Stuart&#8221; tanks so prolifically during World War II that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler put the facility on his target list &#8211; if any opportunity to destroy it might arise? A local group has been trying to create a memorial to the factory and its workforce, and acquired a Stuart tank just this week.This year&#8217;s forum gave 32 other agencies &#8211; including Cori&#8217;s Place, Camp Orchard Hill, Camp Cadet and The Hope Center of Wyoming Valley &#8211; a chance to tell their stories. Many touted how heavily dependent on volunteers they are. They work on causes as noble as providing free health care for Medicare clients too poor to afford supplemental insurance, giving autistic and other children with special needs a chance to dance, act or sing in stage performances, feeding children from poor families and working to turn around area downtowns, big and small.The nonprofits&#8217; speedy presentations were, and always have been during the foundation&#8217;s forums, straight-up, human-to-human appeals, no PowerPoint presentations, slide shows or other distractions. In an age of incessant digital diversion, this can be very effective. As Hope Center Director Ron Hillard said while pointing to his chest, &#8220;I learned a long time ago that if I speak from here, people listen.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Get involvedTo learn about area nonprofits and their needs, contact these or similar organizations in Northeastern Pennsylvania.&#8226; The Luzerne Foundation. Call 570-714-1570. Visit <a href="http://luzfdn.org/" target="_blank">luzfdn.org.</a>&#8226; United Way of Wyoming Valley. Call 570-829-6711. Visit <a href="http://www.unitedwaywb.org/" target="_blank">unitedwaywb.org</a>.&#8226; United Way of Greater Hazleton. Call 570-455-9515. Visit <a href="http://www.unitedwayhazleton.org/" target="_blank">unitedwayhazleton.org.</a></factboxMeta></div>

Our Opinion: Area’s nonprofits sing for their supper; which one strikes a chord with you?