WHAT’S NEWS IN CRANBERRY
LOCAL GIRL SCOUTS
MAKE WARM BLANKETS
FOR CANCER PATIENTS
Cranberry Area Girl Scouts of all ages used a
day off of school to work together creating
nearly 125 blankets for cancer patients in
honor of their founder, Juliette Gordon Low.
Juliette Gordon Low died in 1927 of breast
cancer, a time in our history when cancer
wasn’t openly discussed. This project was
selected as the Cranberry Neighborhood
Service Unit Project of the Year for 2016 and
follows several other scouting year projects
designed to help the local community while
encouraging scouts of all ages to work together
for a common goal.
Today, girls are painfully aware that cancer
is a struggle for many and they do not want
to sit on the sidelines but instead want to do
something to encourage others. In fact, many
Girl Scout families in Cranberry have been
affected by cancer in some way and several
local girls wanted a way to help. Scouts from
Troops 20519 and 20074, Samantha Mill, Andi
Mikula, Sabra Richart and Alena Richart, all
had grandmothers who were diagnosed with
cancer over the past year and they put their
diverse skills together to help coordinate the
blanket making program. Samantha was made
aware of a need for blankets at a local cancer
center while her grandmother was undergoing
treatment recently for uterine cancer. She
learned that these centers routinely run out of
blankets. Andi, Sabra and Alena learned that
there was a great deal of misinformation still in
the community about cancer prevention and
treatment. The girls each worked with their
leaders and the Cranberry Girl Scout Service
Unit to plan the day by making SWAPs and
posters, researching cancer, collecting supplies
and organizing the activities. Other troop
leaders joined the efforts and recruited moms,
who were cancer survivors, to set up drop off
locations for supplies and help to publicize the
event.
8 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Cranberry
More than 70 scouts from 16 different
troops, ranging in age from 5 – 17, and leaders,
worked together tirelessly on Friday, Nov. 11,
2016 and at home, preparing fleece and tying
knots making no sew blankets which will be
donated to local cancer patients undergoing
treatments at a variety of locations in the
Pittsburgh Area. Locations include Children’s
Hospital, St. Margaret’s Hospital Cancer Unit
where Samantha’s grandmother received
treatment and the Cancer Center at AGH
Wellness Pavilion in Wexford where Andi’s
grandmother received treatment. Patients,
along with Samantha’s grandmother, have
already received the blankets with much
appreciation.
Photo courtesy of Tatiana Bower and Tabatha Mill
ST. MARGARET
FOUNDATION FALL
FACE-OFF HOCKEY
TOURNAMENT WINNER
St. Margaret Foundation proudly announced
that Seneca Valley won the championship
round of the two-week St. Margaret
Foundation Fall Face-Off Hockey Tournament
by beating Butler 3-2 at Alpha Ice Complex in
Harmarville on Sept. 20. The teams competing
were Bethel Park, Butler, Canon-McMillan,
Central Catholic, Franklin Regional, Greater
Latrobe, Hampton, Mars, Montour, PineRichland, Quaker Valley, Seneca Valley, Shaler,
South Park and Upper St. Clair.
For more information, contact Mary
Lee Gannon at [email protected] or
412.784.4277.
CARDINAL WUERL NORTH
CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE
TO HONOR ROONEYS
Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School
is proud to announce an initiative honoring
Ambassador Dan Rooney (Class of 1950) and
Patricia Rooney in recognition of their hard
work and generosity. The upgraded athletic
practice area will be named the Ambassador
Dan Rooney Athletic Complex and the school
library will be named the Patricia Rooney
Library.
Phase One of the initiative will enhance
library services by expanding technology,
and will also enable the student government
to participate in leadership development
programs. It will also upgrade the athletic
practice fields, including regrading, adding
irrigation, drainage and new sod, which will
provide improved surfaces for sports teams
and the marching band.
“Mr. and Mrs. Rooney have touched and
influenced so many lives in the areas of
education, civic leadership and athletics that it
is only appropriate we try to honor them with
these recognitions,” says Kevin Colbert (Board
Member and Class of 1975). Construction
began Nov. 1 with a dedication soon thereafter.
LOCAL RESIDENTS
REACH ACROSS BORDERS
TO CHANGE LIVES
Rosita Valenzuela and her younger brother,
Luis, grew up in San Luis, Mexico. At the ages
of five and four, police removed both children
from their home. For the rest of their young
lives, they lived at Bethel Orphanage in San
Luis.
Had it not been for the intervention of
residents in Cranberry Township, the children
might have remained in the cycle of drug
addiction and poverty that marked their
childhood. Through the years, local individuals
from Pittsburgh’s Caring Hearts Ministries
funded operations at the orphanage and visited
there often. The Cranberry Township Sunrise
Rotary raised several thousand dollars to help
fund the mission work.
Because of the efforts of these local
residents, Rosita and Luis learned English.
Both distinguished themselves by excelling
in school. When Rosita graduated from high
school, she was invited to spend her college
years with a Cranberry Township physician
and his family. The family assisted with
her education expenses, as did a family in
Confluence, where Rosita resided when school
was not in session.
In May, she graduated Cum Laude from
California University of Pennsylvania with a
bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and Luis received
his associate degree in facilities management
from the Community College of Allegheny
County.
Local resident Walter Scott has played a
significant role in the lives of Rosita and Luis.
Scott