If it’s Labor Day weekend then it’s that time of the year when students head back to school for another year, autumn is around the corner and our nation’s premier tennis event, the U.S. Open, is being played in New York City. Even though I love my summer temps, I look forward to fall weather – I just hate what follows.
Autumn’s splendor will be at its fullest sometime in early to mid-October. You can never pinpoint the date when foliage would be in full bloom because each and every year it’s different with the climate.
We’re having cooler temps these days on the east coast but in LA, they’re sizzling around the 100-degree mark.
The sixth anniversary of Tropical Storm Lee is upon us and those of us on the West Side, in particular, will never forget going through that awful disaster. Many of us remember the 1972 Agnes Flood that devastated the entire Wyoming Valley.
With levees holding strong downstream, West Pittston didn’t have a chance.
All those memories of ravaging floodwaters here in the Greater Pittston only brings home what those poor people in Texas and Louisiana are going through.
In 1972 and 2011, we did not endure up to 50+ inches of rain as the Texans have seen with Hurricane Harvey. I can’t even imagine what that must be like in person. Watching some of the reports on the Weather Channel, I was amazed to see rainfall as if someone dumped a bucket of water over a large area from the heavens.
I don’t live in a flood zone so I don’t know what it’s like to have a home ruined with floodwater. All I know is the Susquehanna hasn’t been very good to West Pittston in the last 45 years.
Still, after six years, there’s plenty of scars visible from Tropical Storm Lee. The landscape has been altered with downed houses and buildings. There are empty lots lay where homes once stood. Businesses and apartment complexes are gone.
Abandoned homes still stand and have been left just as they were when flooded. A big chunk of the area’s tax base will never be replaced because of owners taking the government buyout to demolish homes.
If we feel the effects of a tropical storm six years later, what will Houston and other Texas towns and cities endure over the next several years?
Hurricane Katrina hit landfall as a category 5 hurricane, sustaining winds at 174 mph in 2005 and New Orleans was never the same.
So far, there have been telethons, text campaigns and numerous local organizations collecting perishable and non-perishable items and money for Texas.
Unfortunately, West Pittston and other towns in the path of Tropical Storm Lee did not benefit from a telethon or large donations, but if everyone would do their part to help those in the south, I’m sure they would greatly appreciate it.
Paint Pittston Pink
Speaking of giving, I ran into Barbara Sciandra last week and her Paint Pittston Pink (PPP) campaign is gathering steam and she’s looking forward to getting events started.
I don’t know how Barbara and her team do it, but they have a lot of events on the agenda.
PPP is the brainchild of Barbara and Qiana Lehman. A cancer survivor, Barbara got together with Qiana to put a plan together to create breast cancer awareness in Greater Pittston so money could be donated to the Pennies in Action Fund where money goes to help fund a vaccine to rid breast cancer through the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Brian Czerniecki of U of P and his team are leading the way in the fight against breast cancer and Barbara has benefited from the program with the a vaccine preventing recurrence.
PPP is a 501(c)3 organization making donations a tax write off.
The lineup of events includes PPP Community Awards (9/28); PPP Night (9/29); PPP Purse Bingo (10/1); Paint PAZZA Pink (10/2); PPP Karuna Reiki-Infused Yoga at Sapphire Salon (10/5); Paint The Red Mill Pink – Celebrity Bartending Night (10/6); Color Me Pink 5K and Gentleman’s Dash (10/7).
For more information on PPP events and functions, go to the Paint Pittston Pink page on Facebook.
It’s a great way to note October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month; it’s a great way to celebrate Barbara’s survival, and it’s a great way for Pittston and surrounding communities to give to a worthy cause.
I can appreciate what Barbara and Qiana are doing. This coming Friday, Sept. 8 will mark my 11th anniversary of being cancer free, thanks to urologist Dr. Michael Campenni.
Quote of the week
“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.” – Dalai Lama
Thought of the week
“Some days are just bad days, that’s all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that’s just the way it is.” – Dita Von Tesse
Bumper sticker
“Every day brings new choices.” – Martha Beck
