Luzerne County Head Start held its annual luncheon to mark its 54^th year of providing opportunities for our community’s most vulnerable children and families.  The event took place May 20 at The Woodlands, Route 315, Wilkes-Barre.   Ed Williams, a Wilkes-Barre native and former Head Start student, who now serves as Vice President and General Counsel at McAllister & Quinn in Philadelphia served as the keynote speaker.   A record number of 20 former Head Start students, who plan to continue their education after high school, were honored with scholarships totaling $19,000 as part of the Luzerne County Head Start Alumni Scholarship program.  To date, LCHS alumni have been awarded 272 scholarships totaling $256,650.  The scholarships are funded by individuals, businesses, and organizations in the community.  LCHS also recognized several community organizations that support our mission including Jennifer Hetro, The Wright Center for Community Health; Care and Concern Ministry; Bill McLaughlin, North Penn Legal Services and KRZ’s Cares for Kids campaign.

LCHS is one of six locations in Luzerne County now home to a ‘Little Free Library.’ Members of Leaderships Wilkes-Barre’s team ‘Learning with Books: A Little Free Library Project’ turned old newspaper boxes into free community book exchanges. Students at the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County helped the team freshen up the old newspaper boxes with a new look. Each box is filled with books for children and adults. The idea behind the little free library is for people to take a book or leave a book – whatever they choose. Team members say the little free libraries encourage reading and help bring communities together. In addition to LCHS’s Wilkes-Barre location, the little free libraries can be found at the Lands at Hillside Farms, Shavertown; Napoli’s Pizza, Pittston; Public Square, Wilkes-Barre; Quality Hill Park, Nanticoke and Nucleus Raw Foods, Luzerne.

Children from Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) welcomed State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Luzerne to the agency’s Nanticoke center. Rep. Mullery sat down for breakfast with the children and read “Say Something” to the group. He presented each teacher with a copy of the book for their classroom. Following the reading, he also donated several bicycle helmets for children to use in the center’s gymnasium. Rep. Mullery participates in LCHS’s Adopt-A-Classroom program. The program is designed to promote community engagement and strengthen the community’s youth by working together. LCHS is an income-based early childhood education program that provides comprehensive services to pregnant women, children birth to age five, and their families in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.