Wayne & Pike County, PA -
WP Workforce Alliance SHINE After School Program started their third year of operations on September 20th.
The program is running in person serving students in Wayne Highlands, Western Wayne and Wallenpaupack school districts.
On October 28, each center will participate in Light's- On Afterschool, a national celebration. For 22 years, Lights-On Afterschool has put a spotlight on the important role afterschool has played in our communities - now, that role has never been more important, especially for our students & families most in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it's after effects.
When schools were forced to close in 2020, afterschool programs across the country immediately jumped in to make sure families who relied on afterschool meals, childcare, and much more were taken care of. Now more than ever, afterschool programs are rising to the moment to keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families-and on October 28th thousands of programs will share how they're keeping the lights on afterschool for our children.
As part of the celebration the community has come together to bring attention to afterschool programs by lighting up landmarks.
The following will light up their lights at 5pm: Pocono's Visitor Center, Honesdale Courthouse, and each participating school district will light their stadium lights. In addition, the Wayne County Commissioners will do a proclamation in celebration of this event.
Our programs make a difference for the kids, families & communities they serve every day. However, across the country, for every child who gets to participate in an afterschool program, two more are waiting to get in. If you think every kid deserves access, join us to celebrate by turning on your porch lights at 5pm.
We are challenging friends of afterschool across the country to take a photo of themselves mimicking our Lights On Afterschool logo and posting it on social media with the hashtags #LightbulbChallenge and #LightsOnAfterschool. Then, participants challenge their followers to do the same.
Lights-On will take place on Thursday, October 28th at 5pm.
WP SHINE is funded in full or in part with a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education
For more information contact:
Pantea Shademani Wayne Pike Workforce Alliance pshademani@wpworkforce.org
570-229-5763
