Our annual Christmas dinner for our staff, board members and Friends was a resounding success.  It was the first year in recent memory that we did not have to traverse through a blizzard to get there.  The ballroom at the Lawrence Park Golf Club looked beautiful and was very comfortable – acoustics were great and the food was awesome.  And a big plus was the fact that it was close to our agency for transporting the kids in the choir to the venue.  Sr. Carol Morehouse, Chairperson of the Board of Directors warmly welcomed ninety-seven guests to the dinner and net proceeds for the event exceeded $3,000. These funds will be used to use to purchase Christmas gifts for our residents.

One of our former residents, Mr. Shawn Reese, was the guest speaker – he is the owner of a Supreme Window Cleaning business in Pittsburgh.  After discharge from Harborcreek, he went to an outward bound type program where he learned mountain climbing and rappelling – he loved the activity so much, he transformed it into his business of washing the windows of skyscrapers in Pittsburgh – he does really well!  Shawn was very pleased to share the story of his youth and how much the staff and treatment here influenced him.  It was heartwarming to hear this success story!

Following Mr. Reese’s remarks, Chief Executive Officer John Petulla awarded the 2011 Friends of the Year award to the current and past youth and families in residential and community treatment.  Resident James M. accepted the plaque on behalf of the honorees and spoke for a few moments about his experience and lessons learned at Harborcreek. 

While everyone enjoys the dinner and the speakers, they really look forward to the performance of our youth choir.  Campus Minister Barb Lindstrom and Gannon University Intern Matthew Durney conducted the choir in performing various Christmas tunes and the highlight of the evening was a new song for the finale “I Believe I Can Fly”.  As former board member and current committee member Joe Kloecker wrote to us.   “…As always, the boys did an outstanding job, but I think they were particularly good this year.  And while I look forward to “Lean on Me” (from years past), I really liked that they changed their closing song to make it their own.” 

We sincerely thank everyone who attended and/or donated to our agency for this event and all year long.  We wish you and your families a warm and blessed Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.