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First Posted: 5/3/2013

EIGHT DAYS ago, on the campus of Misericordia University in Dallas Township, college students eagerly linked markers in an effort to establish a Guinness Book of World Records mark. The effort was part of a SpringFest Weekend and a chance for students there to do something fun together. They succeeded on all counts.

That same day the Pittston YMCA held a Healthy Kids Day with a best Lemonade contest, a precursor to a national Lemonade Day scheduled for a week later (yesterday). The national event was started in Texas in 2007, the program now involves an estimated 150,000 kids across the U.S. and Canada as a fun way to get them to understand how to make, save and share money – and have fun. All by making, marketing and selling lemonade. It’s a good guess that when life hands these kids lemonade they’ll make it even better.

On Wednesday, students at Ross Elementary School, part of Lake-Lehman School District, made their own effort at setting a Guinness world record by counting and connecting 7,507 friendship bracelets to measure 2,678 feet. They counted and tied and measured and succeeded. That’s a significant accomplishment for the 300-student school in Ross Township.

It’s all simple, fun stuff — getting young people involved, engaged and working together to accomplish a goal.

And where will that lead? Likely to active adults.

On Thursday, dozens, scores, maybe even hundreds of people took part in a day of prayer held at places of worship throughout the area. It included a Circle the Square with Prayer event in Wilkes-Barre.

On Friday, dozens of people gathered at the Thornhurst Volunteer Fire Station in Lackawanna County to express their thoughts about the path chosen for a new power transmission line. Many were unhappy with the path of the new line; some people supported the project as a job creator.

Also on Friday, residents from Kingston Township and West Wyoming gathered in a fire company station of the latter to raise concerns about a gate station being proposed by UGI Penn Natural Gas.

People together make a difference, even when they don’t immediately achieve the desired results. Because people make the community.

Whether it’s and Adopt a Cop benefit in Wilkes-Barre or a dance-a-thon at the JCC camp in Harveys Lake — both are being held this weekend — people need to take part. They need to learn at an early age to work independently and together to accomplish personal and community goals. Those young people at the lemonade stand and doing the walks and dance-a-thons will someday be the people engaged in the bigger issues of the community. The people who debate how we spend taxes, who gets elected and where the infrastructure goes.

Start them young, get them involved and teach them well because the issues never go away.