There were plenty of raffle items at the annual Greater Pittston Santa Squad golf tournament at Wilkes-Barre Golf Club last year. The 2023 tournament is slated for Saturday, Sept. 9.
Tony Callaio file photo| For Sunday Dispatch
PITTSTON – Coming off a most successful Christmas season, Anthony Marranca, founder of the Greater Pittston Santa Squad (GPSS), is looking to the future to build on the tremendous response of the 2022 Christmas campaign.
Looking forward toward the 2023 Christmas season, the GPSS has set up two fundraising efforts for the summer as well as setting up scholarship for Pittston Area and Wyoming Area students.
On Saturday, July 9, the GPSS will be holding third annual Christmas in July at the Susquehanna Brewing Co. from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“This should be a fun event for everyone to come out and support the Santa Squad and all the area children and agencies we help,” Marranca said. “I’m pleased to announce The Mere Mortals will be our featured entertainment for the event. These men are a great bunch guys, and they have been low key and haven’t really played much in 20 years until last year at Pittston Prohibition and we’re really happy to have them.”
The Mere Mortals will be playing from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., according to Marranca.
Admission is $30 and will include food all day from approximately 20 area restaurants and two beverages.
The second fundraiser of the year will be the Third Annual GPSS Golf Tournament on Sept. 9 at Wilkes-Barre Golf Club, Bear Creek.
“Last year we had a ton of giveaways, and we had some great door prizes as well as people being impressed with our raffle baskets,” Marranca added. “We will have more info coming out in the next few months regarding the golf tournament.”
Marranca stressed the importance of fundraising for GPSS and feels for the two events they hold offer a great time for all and both events are very well received.
GPSS is working on a scholarship program for the two school districts in Greater Pittston as well as donating $500 in the name of Tony Cook, a former GPSS board member, to a summer program set up by Hill Side Farms for children that have lost family members to suicide.
“We miss Tony. He was like a hero to us, and we just wanted to do something for him for everything he’s done for the Santa Squad and we wanted to do something for him,” Marranca added.
“Anything we can do help in the community and we are going to expand into the school districts and to see what we can do to get money back into the community.”
