Sarah Donahue, the Greater Pittston Friendly Sons’ 2023 Irish Woman of the Year, is shown with her trophy and a bouquet of flowers given to her at a breakfast reception in her honor at the Woodlands Resort, Wilkes-Barre.
Submitted photo
The Greater Pittston Friendly Sons’ 2023 Irish Woman of the Year, Sarah Donahue, right, poses with her sister Jessie Tropp, left, and her mother Julie Donahue.
Submitted photo
PITTSTON – The Greater Pittston Friendly Sons of St. Patrick announced the 2023 Irish Woman of the Year going to Sarah Donahue of Pittston.
Donahue was honored at the annual Friendly Sons Annual Women’s Breakfast on Sunday, March 5, at the Woodlands Resort, Wilkes-Barre.
“I’m honored to be the second recipient of the Irish Woman of the Year Award,” Donahue said. “Carrying the last name of Donahue has always been a huge source of pride for me. The last 11 years of my life planning our Saint Patrick’s Parade has provided some of the best moments of my life. I hope that all of my ancestors – Irish and Italian – are proud of the events that we have in Pittston to keep their legacy and traditions alive.”
A 2000 graduate of Pittston Area High School, a 2004 graduate of Elizabethtown College with a BA in Communications/Public Relations, and a 2009 graduate of Marywood University with a MS in Teaching/Elementary Education, the 40-year-old Donahue is a seventh grade reading teacher in the Pittston Area School District. She also works in Montage Mountain’s Ski and Snowboard School during the winter season.
Donahue is an original member of the Pittston Saint Patrick’s Parade Committee where she is instrumental in planning and scheduling the parades as co-chair.
Under her guidance, the parade has grown to also include a Catholic Mass, 5k race, a pub crawl, and the Little Miss and Mister Leprechaun contest.
Donahue has been a member of the Tomato Festival committee since 2001 and serves as the organizer of the festival parade and co-organizer of the Little Miss and Little Mister Tomato contest
She was the first Special Events Coordinator for the Pittston City, organizing events such as Christmas in Pittston, Trick or Treat Main Street and the Second Friday Art Walks.
Donahue has served as an assistant coach for the Pittston Area girls soccer team, girls lacrosse team and swim team. She helped coach the girls soccer team to their first division championship in 2012 and first district championship in 2014. She currently serves as a board member of the Greater Pittston Stoners Youth Soccer Association.
As a teacher at Martin L. Mattei Middle School, Sarah co-founded the Builder’s Club. She currently organizes the Middle School Angel Tree program, benefiting the Greater Pittston Santa Squad.
Donahue enjoys teaching a very in-depth unit on Anne Frank and Holocaust tolerance and has led an educational trip to Europe, which included visiting Auschwitz. She has also completed the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Belfer Conference for English Language Arts Teachers.
She is a founding member of the Pittston Pacers Running Club, a member of the Wyoming Valley Striders, a committee member of the Wyoming Valley Run and a member of the Greater Pittston YMCA. Donahue enjoys running and has completed several races, including five half marathons. She looks forward to training for the Steamtown Marathon this year.
She is a member of the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network and the Jacquelines.
Donahue graduated from the first Leadership Wilkes-Barre IMPACT Teachers’ Program in 2016.
In 2021, she was honored as the Joseph Saporito Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, an award sponsored by the Greater Pittston Sunday Dispatch.
She has sat on the board of the Greater Pittston Historical Society, the Greater Pittston Athletic Association, and the Greater Pittston Literacy Council.
Donahue resides downtown Pittston with her cats, Cookie Monster and Elmo.
She is the daughter of Casey and Julie Donahue and sister and brother-in-law Jessie and Ben Tropp.
Donahue enjoys shopping, making wine with her family, exercising and visiting Cape May.
