WEST PITTSTON — With the success of last year’s block party, the Valley Alliance Church held another one, this time to benefit the Wyoming Area and Pittston Area band programs.
The church had food, games and entertainment Aug. 10 in the church parking lot on Luzerne Avenue where each school’s program walked away with $825 as a result of the fundraising effort.
Two years ago, the Valley Alliance Church was formed after a merger between The Lighthouse Fellowship and the West Pittston Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, two churches just blocks away from each other, when both churches realized that, with dwindling member numbers and the economics of running two separate churches, both would benefit if combined.
“I was the pastor at Lighthouse Fellowship and Pastor Don Strope (Christian and Missonary Alliance Church) was retiring and the two churches got together and said we’re dwindling in size, let’s come together and so two congregations came together as one two years ago,” Pastor Shane Nichols said.
Since combining churches, Pastor Nichols felt the new church should be involved in community giving. Last year, the first block party benefited the West Pittston Volunteer Fire Dept.
This year, the two area school districts are the benefactors.
“Our assistant pastor Tim Williams and our head deaconess Laura Hall were very involved with music growing up and loved music, were very passionate about music, so they said maybe we could reach out to two of the local school bands to see if they would be interested in raising money,” Pastor Nichols explained.
Money raised was going to be split evenly between the two school programs and the church would not be reimbursed for expenses.
“You gotta give, right,” Nichols said.
The church had plenty of tents erected for protection from the sun during a very hot weekend.
Food was served, games such as jousting, a bounce house, dunk tank, face painting and games for the young children were enjoyed by all attending.
John Carminati, of Wyoming, a member of the Valley Alliance Church, was on hand for the party.
Carminati, whose son is a member of the Wyoming Area band, was happy for the great weather this year. “Other than being a little bit wet, it went pretty well, actually,” Carminati remarked about the 2019 block party.
“I’m here to support the band and it’s so much fun to just be in it and it means a lot that everyone came to support us,” Wyoming Area band member Dailyn Cochran said. “With the money, we are able to buy uniforms or fix instruments.”
Pittston Area band member Joe Long, a first-year band member, was on hand with his family to support both band programs.
“It’s really nice that a lot of people care about what we do and are willing to support in any way possible,” Long said. “Just seeing this alone makes me know a lot of people want to see us go places.”
The next event for the Valley Alliance Church is Light the Night on Halloween when a Trunk or Treat party will be held on the church premises.
