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Swoyersville Legion hosts Fall Festival

DURYEA &mdash; Some light rain had no chance of stopping hundreds of men, women and children coming out on Saturday in support of Nathan, a brave young boy who&rsquo;s been fighting cancer for four years.
				&ldquo;Superheroes For Nathan,&rdquo; saw more than 150 people admitted in just in the first hour of the fundraiser, held from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Duryea VFW Post 1227 on Stephenson Street.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had this planned for about three or four weeks now,&rdquo; said Alok Sarin, a co-worker of Nathan&rsquo;s father and one of the many, many individuals responsible for organizing Saturday&rsquo;s fundraiser. &ldquo;We wanted to help as best we can.&rdquo;
				It was clear right from the entrance tent, where a $10 donation covered food and drinks for the whole day, just how much effort and care it took to get Nathan&rsquo;s fundraiser off the ground.
				Food tents. Beer vendors. A basket raffle. A live band, Mr. Jones and Me, cranking out the hits as horseshoe and cornhole tournaments carried on.
				Even as a little rain fell, it was clear that no bad weather would spoil everyone&rsquo;s chance to give back to a family in need, and to show support for a young superhero as he fights cancer.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;d do anything for the kids,&rdquo; said Joe Kirkpatrick, of Pittston, seen wearing a special &ldquo;Superheroes for Nathan&rdquo; T-shirt available to anyone for an extra $5 donation. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to see so many people here.&rdquo;
				The VFW lent out all of their outdoor space, meaning that people could gather without becoming too packed in. Masks were on as everyone walked around, checking out the action on the cornhole boards or checking out the car show happening behind the building.
				Chelsea Zongilla has had some experience getting car shows organized for other events, which led her to &ldquo;Superheroes For Nathan&rdquo; on Saturday.
				&ldquo;We got trophies donated from Superior Trophy in Scranton, and we&rsquo;ve got 37 cars registered so far,&rdquo; Zongilla said.
				Also volunteering to lend their expertise for the cause were Brandon Evans and Kevin Amaral of the Valhalla Cornhole Club. The club&rsquo;s boards and bags could be seen as teams competed to win a tournament, and two boards were also available to be won as part of the basket raffle.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a veteran-owned and operated club,&rdquo; Amaral said. &ldquo;We know the commander here at the VFW, we wanted to come and donate our time and support.&rdquo;
				The flow of people filing into the venue didn&rsquo;t slow with the rain, or even as the fundraiser entered its second hour. With good food, good beer and a great cause, why would it?
				&ldquo;There were so many moving parts with this, but even more people that were willing to help out,&rdquo; Sarin said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t difficult at all. Nathan and his family needed help. We&rsquo;re here to help.&rdquo;

Rain doesn’t deter crowd at ‘Super Heroes for Nathan’ event