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Luzerne County staff size comparisons released

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JCC previews new Kingston center, due to open in 2019

<p>PITTSTON &#8212; Fourth grade for me was a pivotal year. Miss Strongoski was my teacher and she left an indelible mark on my brain and my soul. I learned a lot in fourth grade, re-enforcing much that I had already learned at home, but expanding my perspective in many ways.</p><p>That may sound like a lot for fourth grade, but as I look back, I really don&#8217;t remember much from other school years.</p><p>And one of the best memories I have of fourth grade was my Halloween costume. My creative mother managed to out together the best-ever costume &#8212; the Headless Horseman.</p><p>I remember that the costume really freaked out other fourth graders and it really scared the heck out of those younger kids. I mean, I had no (visible) head. I was able to see through the black mesh my mom made for my neck, just below my severed head. And I had a cape and a sword &#8212; it was awesome.</p><p>Halloween was always a fun holiday back then. We would go door to door and sing our little Halloween tunes and receive candy and maybe some dimes or quarters and go on our merry way. Houses were always lit up to welcome kids dressed as ghosts, goblins, witches, hobos and headless horsemen.</p><p>Monday night&#8217;s Halloween Dance for Victory Sports took me back to those days. There were so many great costumes &#8212; some scary, some funny, all very well-done. Victory Sports is for adults with mental and/or physical challenges. Participants play baseball, basketball, they attend dances, movie nights, yoga classes, bowling and more. It&#8217;s always fun and smiles are everywhere.</p><p>Outcomes are not scientifically measured, but the results are positive. Parents, family members, friends and caregivers report that they see positive changes in their loved ones &#8212; they become more social, they look forward to interacting, they want to participate and they smile an awful lot.</p><p>And Monday was a great example of all that. More than 175 people attended and had fun.</p><p>Victory Sports, now in its 8th year of providing athletic, social and fun things for adults with mental and/or physical challenges, exists because of many people, but there are two special individuals.</p><p>&#8226; Joey Wychoskie. Some 27 years ago he wanted to play baseball, prompting his mom to inquire about the possibilities. That led to the forming of Challenger Little League of Wyoming Valley in 1991 &#8212; the second Challenger Little League in Pennsylvania (Williamsport was the first).</p><p>&#8226; And there&#8217;s Eddie Orlosky &#8212; a young man who in April 2011 came to an &#8220;Oldtimers Game&#8221; to honor his co-participants from Challenger&#8217;s first season of 1991. So on this 20th anniversary, we gathered at the field and about 35 of those first Challenger players &#8212; now in their late 20s and 30s &#8212; came back to play baseball, the game they love.</p><p>During the game, Eddie Orlosky came up to me and asked me a question. It was at that game that Eddie showed me &#8212; and the rest of our volunteers &#8212; the light.</p><p>&#8220;How come we can&#8217;t play baseball anymore just because we got older?&#8221; Eddie asked me.</p><p>I looked at Eddie, and I remember exactly what I said in response:</p><p>&#8220;Well Eddie, I guess we never thought about it. Shame on us.&#8221;</p><p>By August of that year, Victory Baseball was organized and we had 40-plus participants &#8212; all adults who wanted to play ball since they aged out of Challenger at 19, leaving them with no place to play.</p><p>Prior to Victory&#8217;s arrival, our adult participants had little to do in the way of organized athletic and social activities.</p><p>We have come a long way since 2011 and that&#8217;s the point &#8212; we want to continue to provide all of this and much more &#8212; because we see the value Victory brings to the participants.</p><p>At the baseball games, we serve pizza, soda, water and ice cream. We provide meals and soft drinks at every event we hold. We present awards and we make sure every participant is included in everything we do.</p><p>We want to establish more programs, go to more events, embellish our current programs &#8212; in other words, we want to improve our organization so we can provide more fun things for our participants to not just enjoy, but to benefit from and improve their quality of life.</p><p>In Victory Baseball, nobody ever makes an out. The games always end in a tie.</p><p>Yes, we want to expand Victory Sports and provide so much more for our participants. We want to be their advocates &#8212; their voices.</p><p>But this is about much more. This is about giving our participants the opportunity to expand their quality of life &#8212; to provide them opportunities they may never have.</p><p>That would be a real victory.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In the middle of ghosts, goblins and more, representatives of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Elks Club present a check for $1,500 to Fred DeSanto, president of Victory Sports, Inc. Victory Sports serves adults with mental and/or physical challenges. The check was presented at Monday night's Victory Sports Halloween Dance in Pittston.</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_VICTORY-HALLOWEEN-CHECK-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>In the middle of ghosts, goblins and more, representatives of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Elks Club present a check for $1,500 to Fred DeSanto, president of Victory Sports, Inc. Victory Sports serves adults with mental and/or physical challenges. The check was presented at Monday night's Victory Sports Halloween Dance in Pittston.</caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></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, or email at boboyle@www.timesleader.com. O&#8217;Boyle serves as vice president of Victory Sports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Beyond the Byline: Great costumes, lots of fun at Victory Sports Halloween Dance