Peace Center to honor five for their outstanding efforts

Peace Center to honor five for their outstanding efforts

W ILKES-BARRE – Rita Boyle is proud to have been arrested in May 1971.

“It changed my views on just about everything. It’s the first time I felt part of something much bigger than myself — advocating for peace, advocating for the U.S. government to change its policies. I felt the time had come to make a difference,” Boyle, 61, of Wilkes-Barre, said last week.

Boyle and hundreds of thousands of other peace activists marched in Washington, D.C., during the May Day protests of the War in Vietnam 40 years ago. Twelve thousand of them were arrested; it was the largest mass arrest in the district’s history.

She and four other residents of the Wyoming Valley will be honored tomorrow night at the Peace and Justice Center’s 18th Annual Dinner at the Kirby Memorial Health Center in Wilkes-Barre for their work to promote peace and justice throughout their years in the Wyoming Valley and, for several of them, throughout the majority of their lives.

Each one of them came to a realization at some point in their life that they could make a meaningful difference in the world, that they were part of something bigger and had a responsibility and a yearning to do good works that would benefit society and improve the quality of life for others.

It’s these kinds of people whom the folks at the Peace and Justice Center, located on North Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre, choose to honor every year, recognizing them for their work, their ideals and their commitment to making their community and their world more peaceful and just.

Rita Boyle

Boyle, on Monday, will receive the Susan Merril Constance Kozel Award, presented to an individual whose contribution to society reflects the principles of justice and peace.

A Wilkes-Barre native, she has worked across the country in a variety of jobs, ranging from serving as a policy aide to two San Francisco mayors to helping higher education institutions in Northeastern Pennsylvania engage differently with the surrounding communities.

When Boyle was told she was chosen as an award recipient, “I had to laugh,” she said. “I sort of consider myself a troublemaker for justice instead of a peacemaker. I think lots of people consider me a troublemaker.”

One of her “glorious failures” in bucking the norm to make things better, she said, occurred in Luzerne County in 1998 and 1999.

“Public agencies decided they were going to try what they called ‘system change.’ All of the agencies dealing with low-income children and families — welfare, juvenile probation, special education — wanted to figure out how to better coordinate services and not have families jumping through hoops (all over town) to get services,” Boyle said.

“They hired me as director of system change, but nobody wanted to change the system. My bosses, the heads of the United Way agencies, didn’t want to change anything. I worked really hard at it and it backfired,” she said.

“The forces to protect the status quo are just so much stronger than forces of change. … Silence in the face of unfairness is my biggest concern. I think human nature doesn’t differ that much from one place to another. But there’s something about Northeastern Pennsylvania that causes people to be timid and acquiescent and turn their eyes even when they see wrongdoing,” Boyle said.

“And I am one person who, very awkwardly sometimes, points it out when I see it,” she said.

One local hard-won success she’s proud of was her work to get President Barack Obama elected.

“For those of us who went door-to-door in Wilkes-Barre, manned the phone banks, the degree of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment we got was shocking. Even in a county where it’s more than 2-to-1 registered Democrats, there was no support for Obama. It was tough,” Boyle said of the primary campaign.

“But those of us working locally were tied to something nationally. We were working on something bigger than ourselves, and Obama got 57 percent of the vote here in the general election. … It was that sense of being tied to something bigger than ourselves, doing that kind of organizing in what started out in such a hopeless environment, it shows me that impulse is here in Luzerne County, even if it’s normally timid,” she said.

Sister Nancy Lee Lydon

A co-honoree with Boyle for the Kozel award is Sister Nancy Lee Lydon, a Religious Sister of Mercy who has worked not politically, but more spiritually, to make a difference in the lives of others.

At 73 years old, the Philadelphia native has been working as director of social ministries for St. Nicholas Parish in Wilkes-Barre for the past 15 years.

Coincidentally, 1971 also was a turning point for Lydon, who was then working as an elementary school teacher. She attended a retreat with mostly mothers and married women.

“It was really one of the first times in my life that I realized how the rest of the world lived. … I didn’t realize all the things that go on in life that change people’s lives and they can’t always apologize for what they can’t do because of all the circumstances with their children and their job and everything else. That was one of my first encounters with the real world in that sense. … That sort of did something to me,” she said.

The experience prompted Lydon to consider changing her career. A new ministry — being a pastoral associate — was developing in churches in the 1970s and Lydon was teaching in Williamsburg, Va. She decided she wanted to begin working with adults in that role.

“I got the job at the parish and I began to visit people and hear their stories. That work was so exciting because you could help people. Not that I wasn’t helping children, but it was just different. … Your life changes and you look at something else,” she said.

It was in Williamsburg, a tourist town, she said, that she saw poverty at its worst.

“I went back to the woods and I met this lady and she lived in a one-room shack and rain water was her drinking water. It just did something to me. That was probably one of the first times I encountered poverty in that sense of awareness,” Lydon said, as precious memories flooded back and her eyes welled with tears.

“I visited her quite frequently and she taught me a lot about how to live,” Lydon said.

She spent five years in Williamsburg and then eight years in a suburb of Richmond, ministering to the elderly and infirmed in hospitals and nursing homes.

“Certainly my life has changed through visiting all of them and learning from them. … I felt that I was doing God’s work and it was fulfilling. … I think listening and awareness are very important for everybody, not just for me. If everybody did those two things, I think that not only would they have peace in their heart, but they would be following God’s will in the sense of living a peaceful life,” she said.

“One of my philosophies is this: I always say to myself, ‘Who is my teacher today?’ And that is really the bottom line because, if I’m listening, then any person I meet along the way, a person who’s poor, a person who’s rich, any person, I have to listen to see what they’re saying to me because there’s a message there for me,” Lydon said.

Susan and Judd Shoval

Through their philanthropy and involvement in projects to improve the community and people’s ways of life, a Kingston couple has been sending a positive message to the Wyoming Valley for decades.

And Susan and Judd Shoval are being recognized with the David Frey Community Service for Peace Award for that commitment to their community.

The award is presented to an individual or group whose actions have contributed, either by direct support of the mission of the Peace and Justice Center, or by making a contribution to the community, to the civic or corporate cause of peace and justice.

Judd, 62, and Susan, 58, were married in 1974.

Originally from the Wyoming Valley, Susan spent her junior year of college studying in Israel, where she met Judd. He accompanied her back to Wilkes-Barre and was eventually followed by his parents as well as by his sister, Edna Tevet, and her husband, David, who own and operate Ollie’s Restaurant in Edwardsville and are also involved in admirable community work, Susan noted.

The Shovals co-founded GUARD Insurance Group in Wilkes-Barre in 1982 and wrote their first workers’ compensation insurance policies in 1983. Prior to that, they were in the insurance agency business, under the name of Shoval Associates. The agency was eventually sold to the Greenwald Berk Agency in Wilkes-Barre.

“GUARD Insurance Group’s food drives for United Way have always inspired us; the tireless effort that was put in by so many employees to donate so many tons of food over the years was really amazing. My participation as co-chair of the County Diversity Commission, and the fabulous people I was introduced to as a result, was particularly meaningful to me,” Susan said in an email, as the couple was traveling last week.

Similarly, Judd’s chairmanship of the CitiVest board, allowing him to support the effort to rehabilitate deteriorating structures near Wilkes University and remove dilapidated properties near King’s College, helping to revitalize the downtown, was very satisfying to him, Susan said.

“Lastly, we have worked closely with King’s to support their community service efforts. And they have done an incredible job building upon the basis we provided; King’s students provide thousands of hours of community service per year to the community at large, and we all benefit as a result,” Susan said.

Susan said she and Judd consider peace and justice in the Wyoming Valley “a journey, and not a destination.”

“Undoubtedly we have a long way to go, but we are encouraged by the advancements we have seen locally over time, and the support given by so many caring individuals. The influx of the new local Latino community is an opportunity for all of us to demonstrate inclusiveness and not repeat some of our errors of the past,” she said.

Stanley Chan

Promoting diversity in the Wyoming Valley is an activity that Stanley Chan considers a major priority and one in which he is heavily involved.

Chan, a 17-year-old junior at Hanover Area High School, is being honored with the Peace and Justice Center’s Student for Peace Award, presented to a young person whose academic and extracurricular activities reflect a commitment to justice and a future of peacemaking.

Chan credits a friend of his and Cindy Malkemes, the school social worker and Diversity Club adviser, with getting him involved in the club, which led him to become more involved in the community.

Because he was a club member for several years, Chan was qualified to attend the Multicultural Diversity Camp at Misericordia University, where he met Peace and Justice Center volunteers.

At the diversity camp, Chan said he “learned stuff that we should have learned a long time ago instead of going to a camp when I was 16,” such as the importance of not prejudging people without knowing all the facts. He also learned about topics such as religion, immigration, age biases, multicultural and diversity biases and prejudice.

Then, while volunteering at the Peace and Justice Center’s Peace Camp, Chan discovered he liked working with young children.

“They’re carefree and their naivety is a good thing because they don’t see other people as different from them, they just see them as another child and they just have fun with life. Sometimes I try to be like that and I get called immature. But I like imitating behaviors of children because … they know how to treat people,” Chan said.

“They don’t see different groups of people. They don’t see Asians or white people or Mexicans or Muslims or Christians. They just see you’re another kid and I’m going to play with you on the playground. Let’s have fun,” he said.

Chan believes the Wyoming Valley needs improvement in the administration of justice.

“As far as justice goes, I think we have a big problem there, with the corruption and the judges, the ones who are supposed to be keeping the justice. If they’re becoming corrupted and misleading justice and using their ability to define justice in the wrong way, I think the normal citizen is not going to have a sense of what justice really is,” Chan said.

But he believes the valley is on track in terms of peace.

“Since I’m 17, I mostly associate with younger people. Everybody says that we’re a lost generation, we’re not doing what we need to do. But I think our generation is accepting of new people who are different from us and come into the area, people of different backgrounds, whether it be religion or culture,” Chan said.

“The older population, I don’t really see a problem, but I think it’s harder to get the older population to understand and accept new things, whether it be new people or new things in general. But I think we’re getting there,” he said.

IF YOU GO
inside: AWARD RECIPIENT BIOGRAPHIES, PAGE 8

Rita Boyle

A native of South Wilkes-Barre and current resident of Mountain Top, Boyle came from a family of eight siblings, with parents who believed fervently in service to others.

Following her work in the anti-war movement in the 1970s, she earned a social work master’s degree, with a concentration in community organizing, while working in former mining camps and impoverished rural communities in Central Appalachia.

She served as policy aide to two San Francisco mayors, was a program officer to a philanthropic foundation, co-founded a neighborhood center and managed initiatives to reform services for children and families living in poverty.

In Northeast Pennsylvania, she has authored more than 45 grant proposals, securing more than $14 million in public and private funds for health and human services, community development, and education.

As a consultant, she assists local non-profits with program planning and grant-seeking, and is helping Hazleton organize a community-wide literacy and ESL coalition.

As the regional volunteer coordinator for Obama for America in 2008, she was the sole elected delegate for Barack Obama in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

She currently serves on the Ethics Commission Subcommittee of the Home Rule Transition Committee, and last year worked on the Ethics Awareness Initiative of the Ethics Institute of Northeast PA.

Sister Nancy Lee Lydon

A native of Philadelphia and a Religious Sister of Mercy since 1955, Lydon has been director of Social Ministries for St. Nicholas Parish in Wilkes-Barre for the past 14 years.

After serving as an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., and Williamsburg, Va., her ministry expanded to include parish ministry work.

Her work at St. Nicholas has included coordinating all aspects of the parish’s social ministry, including ministering to those in need through the parish food pantry, St. Vincent de Paul Society, ministry to the home-bound and hospitalized and a multitude of community out-reach initiatives.

She was a supporter of the Faith Speaking community organizing effort and has been an active member of the Downtown Ministerium and the Wyoming Valley Interfaith Council as well as the community services of the “People Helping People” projects of CEO.

In her spare time, she serves as a drummer/accompanist for the “Changing Habits” entertainment program. She has served the Wilkes-Barre Free Clinic, Ruth’s Place, the VISION program, Food and Facts Committee of Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Wyoming Valley Homeless Coalition.

Along the way, she received training as a massage therapist and she continues to exercise this ministry in her religious congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, especially serving sisters during their annual retreat times.

In addition to her academic degrees from Villanova University and St. Joseph’s College, she has received training at the California-based Institute for Creation Spirituality and many other training workshops.

Susan and Judd Shoval

The Shovals have pursued both independent and shared professional and civic interests for approximately three decades. Both are lifelong entrepreneurs and seasoned financial services executives.

Their primary areas of professional involvement are financial and commercial real estate investments. They co-founded GUARD Insurance Group, a property and casualty insurance organization specializing in workers’ compensation insurance. The insurance group was recently sold to a large international corporation.

Still members of the board of GUARD, the Shovals remain especially proud of the leadership role GUARD has played in the communities of northeastern Pennsylvania. GUARD was selected as the No. 2 Best Large Place to Work in Pennsylvania in 2001 and the Shovals credit a caring group of employees with such successes.

Today, Susan serves as a member of the Luzerne County Home Rule Transition Committee. She serves as a director of Highmark (a Blue Cross/Blue Shield Company), the Earth Conservancy, and The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.

Previous major associations include serving with Wilkes University, the Luzerne County Diversity Task Force, Wyoming Seminary and the United Way of Wyoming Valley.

Judd is chairman of CityVest, a community development corporation, and of the King’s College Investment Committee. He has served on the boards of several private, unrelated corporations.

Susan and Judd have received a number of leadership, community service, and professional awards, both as co-recipients and separately.

To support their philanthropic and charitable commitments, Susan and Judd formed the Shoval Foundation, and many local nonprofit efforts have benefited from their generosity.

Born in Austria, Judd was raised in Israel and received a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He relocated to the United States in the early 1970s. Susan graduated in economics from Cornell University and in advanced studies from the College of Insurance in New York City.

The Shovals are the parents of four adult children.

Stanley Chan

A junior at Hanover Area High School, Chan has distinguished himself as an exemplary volunteer at Peace Camp for Kids during the past and current season.

Described by many as a “natural leader,” he has been involved with many youth groups and activities. He excels in sports, currently playing Varsity Soccer for Hanover Area, and also practices karate as part of his sports and personal development regimen.

He is treasurer of the school’s Diversity Club, is a member of the National Honor Society and participates in the school’s Concert Band. He lives in Hanover Township with his parents, Anna Tin and Kim Chan, and his siblings, Alex and Sabrina.

He has served as a peer leader and peacemaker during the 2010 Diversity Leadership Camp at Misericordia University, where he was directly responsible for bringing together children from different schools and different backgrounds.

Tickets are still available for the Peace and Justice Center 18th Annual Dinner, 6 p.m. Monday at the Angeline Elizabeth Kirby Memorial Health Center, 71 N. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre. Cost: $35 per person or $275 per table of eight; students and reduced-income individuals can attend for $15. Call the Peace & Justice Center at 823-9977 or e-mail peacewb@verizon.net.