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WILKES-BARRE — Attorney John Moses said of Children’s Service Center that in its first 157 years, it has grown deep roots and wide branches.
Moses was honored Monday by the agency with its “Commitment to Children Award,” and The Lands at Hillside Farms received the “Community Partner Award.”
The center’s 157th annual awards luncheon was held at the Genetti Hotel & Conference Center, Wilkes-Barre.
“Any honor, any award is only as meaningful as the presenting organization,” Moses said. “Children’s Service Center has deep roots in this community and wide branches. And the shade of those branches have helped and protected at-risk children for 157 years and will continue to do so into the future.”
Moses noted that CSC was founded to care for the orphaned children of the Civil War.
State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, said Moses has been a mentor to him for two decades.
“When I think of John Moses, I think top shelf — the highest quality,” Yudichak said. “He taught me that public service doesn’t always come with a title. It’s about caring for your community, and nobody cares more about this community than John Moses.”
Yudichak presented Senate citations to Moses and The Lands at Hillside Farms.
“CSC does God’s work,” Yudichak said. “They have helped and continue to help so many children and their families.”
Mike Hopkins, president/CEO at CSC, said The Lands at Hillside Farms conducts a “living classroom” each week, bringing live animals and displays for the children.
“Here, any one of us can be a farmer, a historian, a scientist,” Hopkins said of the program. “But far more importantly, we can get in touch with values too many of us have forgotten in a busy world.”
Hopkins said the students work side by side with educators and they interact with the animals to learn valuable life lessons.
Chet Mozloom, executive director at the Lands at Hillside Farms, a non-profit educational dairy farm that hosts thousands of children and their families annually, said the award “validates our work.”
The 412-acre farm provides hands-on educational programs and a wide range of volunteer opportunities for everyone in the Wyoming Valley, he said.
“There’s always a connection between kids and animals,” Mozloom said. “And that sustains the fabric of our community.”
Moses served as the Chairman of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania since 1997 and as an attorney in private practice since 1971, including as Of Counsel at the law firm of Cozen O’Connor since 2009.
During his career, he has served as Chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Heart Association and as Chairman and President of the Board of Governors of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (“St. Jude”), and as Chief Executive Officer for ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude.
