I am from Duryea, Pennsylvania and am the Secretary on the Adopt-A-Town Committee. We are really proud to help in any way we can. As a minor correction, the event that we are having in called the "Benefest" and it is going to be styled as an "Oktoberfest". As you have NEPA roots, I am sure you are familiar with "Church Picnics", and that seems the best way to describe it. In addition to the benefest, the mayor of Duryea, (who is also my cousin, Keith Moss) has called on the other mayors from the area to help out with the "Mayor's Challenge". The mayors challenge consists of the residents of the different localities dropping pennies into the 10 gallon container of their mayor. We already have several celebrity bar tenders lined up for the event including a Professional Baseball player, members of state government, and Local Television personalities. We have already sent the first of our donations to Collins, Mississippi, in the form of mosquito spray. (We asked the mayor what the town needed most, and he said mosquito spray.) Our plan is to continue helping out our sister city for at least a year, of however long they need it. We have plans to help them with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are really hoping that the benefest is a sucess, and if the profits are anything like that of a local church picnic, we should have a nice donation for our sisters city. Hang in there everybody. You are in our prayers too!

Rebecca Sammon