Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. held its second annual “Walk for Wellness” on May 18, 2021.  Staff were encouraged to walk 56 minutes for the 56th anniversary of Head Start. 

Here are some pictures of our staff enjoying time spent outdoors.

To view the slideshow, CLICK HERE. Be sure to turn the volume up!

Fourteen Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) alumni from 8 school districts in Luzerne County who will continue their education after high school were honored during LCHS’s 56^th anniversary celebration.  Scholarship recipients are usually recognized at the agency’s annual luncheon, which was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In order to celebrate their accomplishments, the agency sponsored an outdoor “meet and greet” at its Beekman Street location in Wilkes-Barre.  Recipients were invited to attend the celebration, where they met with their scholarship sponsors. 

The Luzerne County Head Start Alumni Scholarship program was established in 1987 to honor the achievements of former Head Start students graduating from high school and continuing their education.  This year, 14 scholarships totaling $18,000 were presented to students who will pursue higher education.  From 1987 through 2021, scholarships totaling $293,250 have been awarded to outstanding students who began their educational journey at a Head Start program.  Recipients must submit an application and are selected based on academic performance, personal achievements, leadership, motivation and school and community involvement. The scholarship fund is supported in total by community organizations, individuals and businesses. 

In addition to the scholarship awards, LCHS employees were honored at a virtual ceremony earlier in the day for their years of service and dedication to the nonprofit organization.  Awards were also presented to the agency’s 2020-2021 “Outstanding Community Partners,” including Stacey Kile, Luzerne County Head Start Board of Directors; Christine Kiesinger, Ph.D., owner and founder of CEK Communication; Alan Klapat, Deputy Chief, City of Wilkes-Bare Fire Department and Lorna Veglia, Drums Lioness/Lions Club.  LCHS’s Outstanding Community Partner award recognizes area businesses, organizations and individuals in the community who have made significant contributions to the Head Start program and who have made a difference in the lives of the children and families the agency serves.

Ariel Mitkowski from Hanover Township, who is a former Head Start student and senior at Hanover Area High School, receives the Fran Williams Scholarship in the amount of $4,000.  Ariel is pictured with her scholarship sponsor, Gary Williams, who is a member of the Luzerne County Head Start Board of Directors.

St. Raphael Mosley-Boncy from Jenkins Township, who is a former Head Start student and senior at Pittston Area High School, receives the Benco Family Foundation scholarship in the amount of $2,000.  St. Raphael is pictured with George Rable, who is the VP of Culture & People at Benco Dental and the president of the Luzerne County Head Start Board of Directors.

Faith Wargo from West Pittston, who is a former Head Start student and senior at Wyoming Area High School receives the Church of Christ Uniting Scholarship and the Coombs Family Memorial Scholarship for a total of $1,000.  Faith is pictured with her scholarship sponsors, Pastor Jane Pykus from Church of Christ Uniting in Kingston and Michelle Coombs.

Each year in March Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. (LCHS) holds its annual March Mayhem competition.  The 4-week team-based wellness challenge is sponsored by Geisinger and encourages healthy competition, while also supporting LCHS employees in achieving physical activity goals and improving overall well-being. 

Seven teams from LCHS with six members on each team took part in this year’s event.  For the second year in a row, team “Slimalicious Babes: The Girls are Back!” won the competition.  Team members included Justin Temperine, Irma Rosado, Fran Scarantino, Julia Scott, Lucia Walkowiak and Christine Fritz.  Each member of the team received a $20 gift card from Wegmans as their prize. 

The competition began on March 1^st and wrapped up on March 28^th.  Every week, each member of the team kept track of and then submitted their weekly step totals and overtime challenges to their team captain.  Statewide, 162 teams participated in Geisinger’s March Mayhem wellness challenge. 

Congratulations to our winners and all those who participated!

The 2021 LCHS March Mayhem teams included:

Slimalicious Babes: The Girls are Back!

Step Sisters

The Masked HomeGirlz

Lost in Space

Zoom, Email, Walk, Repeat!

Holy Walkamolies

Team Synergy

The winners of this year’s March Mayhem competition included, from left to right, Justin Temperine, teacher, LCHS; Christine Fritz, team captain & lead family worker, LCHS; Julia Scott, data entry operator, LCHS; Lucia Walkowiak, family worker, LCHS; Fran Scarantino, family worker, LCHS

Absent from photo: Irma Rosado, family worker, LCHS

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. recently received a generous donation of PPE and sanitation supplies from the Moses Taylor Foundation and AllOne Foundation & Charities. The donation was part of a larger effort to provide school nurses throughout the Foundation’s 11-county region with these materials.

The kit included 20 KN 95 masks, 10 face shields, 750 disinfectant wipes, 250 adult 3 ply masks, 50 pediatric 3 ply masks, 20 gowns, 1,000 nitrile gloves and four hand sanitizer pumps.

Luzerne County Head Start re-opened several of its Head Start Pre-K/Counts classrooms on March 15th, nearly one year after the agency suspended in-person learning. The supplies will be used to help clean the facilities and to keep children and staff safe while they are in the classroom.

Filing a tax return for 2020 is the only way to prove to the IRS that your child is eligible to receive the credit, meaning that all Americans with children should file a return regardless of income. This will ensure you receive the child tax credit. The deadline to file taxes is Monday, May 17th.

Please note the Commission for Economic Opportunity (CEO) located at 165 Amber Ln, Wilkes-Barre or 570-826-0510 is providing the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VIDA) program to help families prepare their taxes at no cost.

Please click HERE to read more from the IRS on the child tax credit.

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. will be hosting a Covid-19 vaccination clinic, in conjunction with the Wilkes-Barre Health Department. The clinic will take place at our Beekman Street Center on Friday, May 14th from 10am – 12pm. It will be open to any LCHS families, any staff who are interested in being vaccinated, and/or anyone’s family members who are over 18. The Wilkes-Barre Health Department will be using Moderna, therefore the second dose will be administered at our Beekman Street center on June 11th.

If you or a family member over the age of 18 would like to receive the vaccine, please contact your child’s teacher, family worker or family educator to sign up. If you are a staff member, please contact Dawn Smith. You must register by Monday, May 10th.

Head Start children and their families at LCHS’s Nanticoke center painted rocks at home together as part of the center’s Parent Committee project. Each rock has a QR code taped to its backside, which will take you directly to LCHS’s website. The rocks were placed in locations throughout the community.

The children and their families encourage you to spend some time outdoors searching for their painted rocks. If you find one, post it on your Facebook or Instagram page with #LCHSROCKS. You can find more information on this special project by CLICKING HERE.

Happy Rock Hunting!

According to the Department of Human Services website, Congress has temporarily increased the SNAP maximum benefit allotment by 15 percent through the recently-signed federal government funding bill. This change affects every SNAP recipient in the commonwealth and is effective from January 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021.

Hazleton police Det. Brett Green was honored for her community outreach work by Luzerne County Head Start.

Through the Blue Santa Project, Green and the Hazleton Fraternal Order of Police treat impoverished children, those who lost a parent and children who were victims of crimes to a VIP visit and party with Santa Claus each year. Created and organized by Green, toys and financial donations are collected from the public through the FOP.  They are wrapped by “Santa’s elves” and covertly placed in the vehicles of guardians or parents while the children visit with Santa, make Christmas cookies and create their own Christmas stockings at the Harwood fire house.

The undertaking has benefitted 600 children in four years, Green said.

The officers never get to see the children open their gifts, but on Friday, during an appreciation presentation, Luzerne County Head Start offered Green a collage on a shield cutout that contained pictures of bright-eyed, excited children opening up their gifts. The shield was designed by Angela Arguinzoni, an Early Head Start family educator.

“Grateful and humbled. It’s nice to see the other side of the (Blue Santa project) where the children receive the gifts because so much work is put into it,” Green said.

In addition, Green was bestowed with framed artwork drawn by one of the Head Start students depicting a police officer, police vehicle and an arrestee.

Each year, Luzerne County Head Start employees nominate and then present several businesses, organizations or individuals with the Outstanding Community Partner award, said Lindsey Fredericks, community advocate at Luzerne County Head Start. Winners are selected by the agency’s executive leadership team.

Green was one of four to receive the 2020 Outstanding Community Partner award.  The others included The Kennedy Early Childhood Center, Nanticoke; Energy Transfer, Tunkhannock; and PCC Aerostructures, Wilkes-Barre.

Green was nominated by Mirian Lozano, an Early Head Start family educator, who explained that Blue Santa benefitted about 40 Early Head Start children and their families in the Hazleton area in two years.

The award, first presented in 1984, recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to Head Start and who have made a difference in the lives of Early Head Start and Head Start children and their families, Fredericks said.

Story from the Hazleton Standard Speaker: Amanda Christman, Staff Writer

PHOTO CREDIT: Warren Ruda/Hazleton Standard Speaker, Staff Photographer

PHOTO CREDIT: Warren Ruda/Hazleton Standard Speaker, Staff Photographer

Nearly one year after the pandemic forced the closure of schools across Pennsylvania, Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) will re-open 20 of its classrooms for in-person preschool services. Beginning Mon., March 15, Head Start/Pre-K Counts classrooms at 15 different sites in Luzerne and Wyoming Counties will once again offer in-person learning to 131 preschool-aged children.  This accounts for approximately 10% of children LCHS is funded to serve.  Classrooms have been closed for in-person learning since March of 2020, with the exception of two sites in Wyoming County, which opened for a brief period in November before closing again due to increasing COVID-19 cases.

Executive director, Lynn Evans Biga, said “The benefits of in-person preschool services for young children are invaluable.  They learn social and emotional skills, get healthy meals and exercise, mental health support and other services that cannot be easily replicated online.  We want our children back in the classroom.  We want to make sure they are fed, they play, they exercise, they learn, they explore and they make new friends.”

LCHS has put in place a number of protocols to ensure all staff and children are safe.  Class sizes will be limited to 10 students.  In most centers, classes will take place in a hybrid format Mon. through Thurs. for four hours each day.  Families who have children in classrooms that will offer in-person learning have the option to keep their children enrolled in virtual services.  Additionally, all staff and children will be required to wear face coverings, practice physical distancing and take part in extensive hand-washing.  Prior to arrival, each staff person is required to fill out a COVID-19 screening.  Temperatures of children will be taken upon entry into the classroom.  If a child becomes ill while at school, the child will be isolated with a staff member until a parent or guardian picks up the child.  Classrooms and high touch surfaces will also be cleaned and sanitized at the end of each school day. 

LCHS operates 23 Head Start/Pre-K Counts centers and five Early Head Start centers across Luzerne and Wyoming Counties.  Eight of its Head Start/Pre-K Counts sites and the Early Head Start home visiting program will continue services in full virtual operation.