Santa Comes to Queen City

On December 8, Steve Elmarzouky and the Queen City Family Restaurant will open its doors and hearts to serve a traditional meal to 850 homeless and at-risk men, women, and children from our community. Tickets will be issued through community service agencies, and specific seating times will be assigned. Berks County Intermediate Unit will provide transportation for families to the event, and Santa will be present to distribute donated items from several local businesses.

We are asking for volunteers to commit to one or two hour shifts to help on the day of this event. Shifts start at 10:00a.m. and run until 9:00p.m. If you and/or your agency is interested in volunteering, please contact:

Bonnie Sussman: bversace@comcast.net or Beth Rothermel: betrot@berksiu.org

Committed volunteers: Berks Coalition to End Homelessness, Opportunity House, BCIU, Greater Berks Food Bank, Junior League of Reading, Alvernia Univeristy, United Way, Reading Police, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Olivet Boys and Girls Clubs, Marines, WalMart,, ALTRUSA, Mayor McMahon, Commissioner Leinbach, Mary Buerer, Judge Campbell.

Courtesy of the League of Women Voters

RIZE Goes to the Theater

The RIZE Program is a media arts program designed to educate the youth on different ways to deal with violence in today's society, through the media arts. The RIZE Program had a fundraiser on August 10, 2009 at Mi Casa Su Casa located at 320 Penn Street where the youth raised a total of $1,078.00. With the money they raised, they were able to purchase tickets to see the Cirque de Soleil: Alegria at the Sovereign Center, October 25, 2009. A total of 36 participants attended the show. The RIZE Program is only sustained by donations and grants. If you would like to donate funds or find out more information about the program, please call (610) 478-4055.

Local Poet Steps into the Light

"A journey of a thousand miles beings with one step." Teresa Arana definitely proved this to be right at her book showing at Alvernia University on September 29, 2009. Teresa has been writing poetry, mainly love poems, since she was nine years old. She continued writing poetry despite all the challenges she faced. At the presentation, she expressed how important it is to have dreams and to accept adversity as a learning experience. She expressed how instrumental writing is to her, and how having dreams and following them can take you a long way. Inspiring, as well as motivational, Teresa Arana has fulfilled her dream as author as well as publisher . Please follow her at http://www.eminencepublishing.com/.

Gillian Algarin