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.

The Pennsylvania Head Start Association (PHSA) recently awarded former Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) student, Asucena Vergara, Wilkes-Barre, with the “PHSA Alumni Scholarship” at its annual conference in State College.  Each year, PHSA recognizes one graduating high school senior in the state of Pennsylvania who can trace his/her academic successes back to the days as a young child in a Head Start classroom.  The $1,000 scholarship award is presented to the applicant who receives the highest score based on a number of factors including letters of reference, biographical sketch, special contributions and education goals.  The scholarship is meant to go toward higher education costs.  Vergara is a senior at Elmer L. Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre who plans to attend Misericordia University in the fall.     

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Dallas, and Lehman–Idetown United Methodist Church, Lehman recently presented Luzerne County Head Start staff with a gift collection to be distributed to Head Start children and their families.  Each spring, members of both congregations purchase gifts for approximately 36 children and their families at the Back Mountain Head Start center, located within St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.  The gifts include items families might need like clothing, shoes or household items.  Staff from Luzerne County Head Start is invited to attend a breakfast at St. Paul’s.  During this breakfast, they are presented with the gift collection to distribute to children and their families.