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Vol.121 No. 47
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
January 27 - February 2, 2013
The
DALLAS PosT
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
2u Fund founder
pays visit fo DMS
Program teaches children
how to help less fortunate
on their birthdays.
By ELIZABETH
BAUMEIUSTER
ebaumeister
@theabingtonjournal.com
Dallas Middle School sixth-
grade students learned about
» opportunity to make a differ-
ice in the lives of others on
their birthdays during a special
assembly Jan. 14 in the school
auditorium.
Richie Kraus, a seventh-
grade student at Wyoming Sem-
inary and founder of the “2u
Fund: So Every Child Can Have
a Happy Birthday,” spoke about
the history of the program and
how to get involved.
At the beginning, Kraus
asked students, “What are your
favorite things about your birth-
days?” Answers ranged from
cake to presents to parties.
Afterwards, student Zach
Palfey said his favorite thing to
do on his birthday is “get with
family and friends and party.”
Kraus explained when he was
6 years old, he helped his school
collect Christmas presents for
underprivileged children. He
recalled asking his mother,
“What do poor kids do on their
birthdays?”
It was that thought that in-
spired the 2u Fund, which
Kraus founded at age 7.
He explained the 2u Fund
works by providing stickers
through the Luzerne Founda-
tion to children for use on their
birthday party invitations. The
stickers request that instead of
gifts, invitees make small dona-
tions to the fund.
“It’s really easy,” he told the
assembly. “Anyone can do it -
Richie Kraus, founder of the
2u Fund, speaks to students
at Dallas Middle School about
how they can help underprivi-
leged children have happy
birthdays.
“I think it's a very
original idea and |
would definitely think
about participating.”
Ethan Zawatski
DMS student
even you.”
Now 12, Kraus will soon cele-
brate his bar mitzvah, a coming-
of-age ceremony in the Jewish
religion, and is promoting par-
ticipation in the 2u Fund as part
of his mitzvah, or good deed
project.
His spiritual leader, Rabbi
Roger Lerner, of Temple B'nai
B'rith in Kingston, introduced
Kraus at the beginning of the as-
sembly, speaking briefly to the
students about what Jewish
education is like.
After his speech, Kraus an-
swered several questions from
students about the fund and
how to get involved. He also left
See DMS, Page 11
ELIZABETH BAUMEISTER PHOTOS/ THE DALLAS POST
Richie Kraus, left, founder of the 2u Fund, displays an informa-
tion card while visiting with Dallas Middle School students,
from left, Ethan Zawatski, Emily Farrell and Zach Palfey.
Party for
a good
cause
he Seventh Annual Com-
munity Cares for Kids Car-
nivale was held Jan. 19 at
the Westmoreland Club in
Wilkes-Barre. The event benefits
an organization founded by plas-
tic surgeon Dr. Francis Collini
and his wife, Susan, of Shaver-
town. Since 1977, Dr. Collini and
a medical team have gone to
Ecuador each year to operate on
children desperately in need of
corrective surgery. They work
around the clock for a week every
summer, taking with them not
only medical personnel but all
medical and surgical supplies. In
2006, with the opening of a new
ambulatory surgery center in
Shavertown, Dr. Collini and the
volunteers have expanded their
humanitarian mission by bring-
ing children from other parts of
the world to the Back Mountain
facility.
EXTREME RIGHT PHOTO: Carol
Sweeney, of Harveys Lake, has
palm reader Louise Fontaine, of
Coal Twp., read her hand during
the annual Community Cares
for Kids benefit dinner and
dance at the Westmoreland
Club in Wilkes-Barre.
a
A poster at the event shows
how Community Cares for Kids
sends local doctors and nurses
to South American countries
for much-needed cosmetic
operations.
A CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Susan and Dr. Francis Collini, Dallas, dress appropriately for the Seventh Annual Community Cares for Kids Carnivale.
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
This highway sign on Route 415 in Dallas near the entrance to the EImcrest Development is in need
of repair.
i,
Can someone help repair sign?
By DOTTY MARTIN
dmartin@mydallaspost.com
Rev. Jim Pall is upset.
Every day on his way to
work as chaplain at the State
Correctional Institute at Dal-
las, he passes the sign on the
Dallas Highway in front of the
Elmcrest Development. And
every day, he notices the sign
is in need or repair. He would
like to see someone take on re-
pair of the sign as a project.
Rev. Pall, whose mother,
Jean Marie Pall, was the jus-
tice of the peace in the Back
Mountain at one time, remem-
bers when the sign was erect-
ed. Because there were so
many accidents on the high-
way at the time and so many
people were either injured or
killed in those accidents, Pall
thought, for the longest time,
that the sign was erected to
honor them.
It wasn’t until he became a
young man that he came to un-
derstand the sign pays hom-
age to service men and wom-
en, first responders and the
heroic.
Rev. Pall and The Dallas
Post are seeking someone -
perhaps a high school student
working on a senior comple-
tion project or a Boy Scout
hoping to earn his Eagle Scout
bad to tak i
f n
this sign as their project.
But we're wondering — who
erected the sign in the first
place, who funded it and who
owns the land where it sits?
If you can answer any of
these questions or you're in-
terested in taking on the re-
pair of the sign, call The Dal-
las Post at 675-5211 and we’ll
help you get started.
098151200798
=o