Cheryl Lichtenwalner from Lehigh County, in foreground, Sharon Mrozinski of White Haven and Cindy Gocek of Drums use binoculars on loan from Nescopeck State Park on an eagle watch in February. The program in which they were participating was one of hundreds offered through local state parks throughout the year.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader File Photo
Dressed to the nines, Bridget Giunta and Kerianne Geist, both of Kingston, arrive at the Westmoreland Club in September for a gala fundraiser that benefited the Osterhout Free Library.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader File Photo
Amelia Lozano and Ben Lozano, ages 7 and 9 at the time, take part in the breaking of the matzah during a community Passover seder meal at the JCC in Kingston. The celebration commemorates the escape of the ancient Jewish people from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader File Photo
The cast of the 50th anniversary production of ‘Living Stations of the Cross’ at St Aloysius Church in Wilkes-Barre listens to instructions from their director, Tony Wozinski. While the production was 50 years old in 2024, the church itself celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader File Photo
Back Mountain Harvest Church Lead Pastor Ray Petts portrays a Roman solider in ‘The Gift,’ a theatrical telling of the life of Jesus that has been a tradition for more than 20 years at the church.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader File Photo
A man dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Aztec warriors blows on a conch shell as he takes part in a Dec. 12 procession to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader File Photo
Children, several wearing their uniforms from St. Nicholas - St. Mary School, bring to the altar at St. Nicholas Church gifts of toys for needy families, in honor of St. Nicholas, a historical figure believed to be the inspiration for Santa Claus.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader File Photo
The family of the late Heidi Mitchneck Seeherman celebrates her memory with an annual effort, Toys from Heidi, which collects and distributes toys to children of modest means in time for Christmas and Hanukkah. Among the 26 people who came to the JCC in Kingston to help wrap hundreds of gifts on Dec. 16 were Sandy Buller, Bednonna Mitchneck, Hal Levine, Nora Seeherman, Joe Mitchneck and Samantha Seeherman.
Photo courtesy of JCC, File
Editors note: When many people think of “the news,” they think of negative stories and events. This region certainly has its share of those, but a lot of good things also happened this year in NEPA. Here are just some of our favorites that we reported in 2024.
Nine seniors watched in quiet awe as they realized that, yes, the birds they’d spotted on the frozen surface of Lake Wallenpaupack were eagles. And they responded with giddy delight when a large bald eagle flew within 15 feet of their van.
“I never saw an eagle that close, in the wild,” marveled Cindy Gocek of Drums.
The eagle sightings took place in early February, during migration season, and a hardy little group of retirees saw them courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources.
DCNR included a few naturalist-led, eagle-spotting expeditions among the hundreds of free and low-cost programs it offered in 2024 — even supplying van and driver. And it’s the abundance of available programs that truly seems worth celebrating.
Check out the events list at dcnr.org in 2025 and you are bound to find programs that will teach you and your children about bats and butterflies, offer tips on identifying trees and fishing, or simply celebrate the changing seasons. Some will be designed specifically for toddlers, or teens, or for women. Most are geared toward people of all ages who are eager to learn about the world around them.
“Just having Megan explain everything is great,” hiker Sherry Ferguson said in June, as she took part in a nature hike led by DCNR environmental education specialist Megan Fedor in a natural area near Bear Creek.
Community volunteerism thrives
Another aspect of community life worth celebrating in 2024 was the many people eager to assist the institutions that were founded, in some cases more than a century ago, to be of help.
“The Osterhout Free Library has been here for 135 years, and we want to make sure it’s around for another 135 years,” Lindsay Griffin-Boylan said on a Friday evening in September as a capacity crowd of 300 guests gathered at the Westmoreland Club for the 20th anniversary Gala and Auction to benefit the library.
Griffin-Boylan and Molly Hoegen co-chaired the event, during which Traci Cross of Nuangola accepted the Evergreen Award for her years of dedication to the library.
“It’s not just about books. It’s about community,” Cross said. “It’s about people from other countries coming to the library to learn English as a second language; it’s about people learning about computer science; it’s about all kinds of programs.”
Northeast Pennsylvania is home to many nonprofits and charities, and it seems that not a week goes by without someone taking up a collection, holding a dress-down day or finding some other way to help fill their shelves or coffers.
One of the most creative fundraisers may well be the annual Dancing Stars of Wilkes-Barre event. That competition pairs area “celebrities” with experienced dancers so they can dance onstage and vie for votes to see who will thereby make the most money for KISS, a young people’s theatre that focuses on inclusion and acceptance.
Winners of the Judges’ Choice Award in 2024 were Drew Popish and Amanda Hall; winners of both the People’s Choice and Kids’ Choice Awards were Trixy Valentine and Emily Coolbaugh.
Faith, tradition span generations
Another positive aspect of life in northeast Pennsylvania is the way people of faith pass along their traditions to new generations.
In April, for example, more than 100 members and friends of the Jewish Community Center in Kingston gathered to celebrate the first evening of Passover.
Here, Rabbi Larry Kaplan gathered the children in a group around him and asked what they would carry with them if they had to leave their homes and go on a long trip.
Getting them to imagine they were carrying “food and water and money with all your stuffed animals and the books you love,” he helped them get into the spirit of the Jewish people who escaped slavery in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago.
The 2024 seder meal was tinged with an extra layer of sadness because of the people who had been killed or taken hostage by Hamas the preceding October. But the children still learned about their history and the meaning of symbolic foods in the seder meal and had the chance to ask ritual questions.
In a light-hearted moment, the smallest ones were even invited to jump around amphibian-style as they sang a song about how the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt had to cope with, among other challenges, a plague of frogs.
Across the river in Wilkes-Barre in the spring, St. Aloysius Church celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding. And as the church celebrated another milestone the 50th anniversary of “Living Stations of the Cross,” it became clear how meaningful that pre-Easter event has been for generations.
“I think we all still remember every word of the narration,” said Maria Ramiza, who had portrayed the biblical character Veronica in 1997 and was on hand in 2024 as her daughter, Gabrielle, rehearsed the role.
“We come to see it every year,” said Frank Eick who portrayed a character known as “the bad thief” — as opposed to “the good thief,” who repents — in 1994 and attended a 2024 rehearsal where his son also happened to have inherited the role.
Longstanding traditions also continued at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly, where in December friends and members of the church presented “The Gift,” a theatrical production based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that an estimated 2,500 people watched.
Earlier that month, the Latino community at the parish of St. Nicholas – St. Mary in Wilkes-Barre celebrated their heritage by honoring Jesus’ mother, Mary, under the title Our Lady of Guadalupe. Despite bone-chilling weather, they carried a statue of the Lady on a rose-covered carrosa, dancing, singing and praying for two miles through the streets of the city.
St. Nicholas Church also was the site earlier in December for a weighty collection of gifts, given in honor of St. Nicholas, a real-life bishop who is believed to be the forerunner of Santa Claus. Presented in part as an opportunity to show children that it is more blessed to give than to receive, the annual event collects presents for youngsters in needy families.
And back at the JCC, Bedonna and Joseph Mitchneck got together with 26 friends on Dec. 16 and wrapped more than 700 “Toys From Heidi,” to be presented to children at various daycare centers around the area. In memory of their daughter, Heidi Seeherman, who worked with special needs children before her untimely death at age 40, they wanted to make sure youngsters who might not otherwise have a Christmas or Hanukkah gift would have something special to open.
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