Wilkes-Barre City Councilperson Tony Brooks, who accepted a Community Impact Award from the Salvation Army on Thursday evening, pauses during the social dinner that preceded the organization’s annual dinner with, from left, Denise Acosta, director of the Kirby Family House; Josue Campos Tavarez, Arwen Barba, Dorian Barba and Siobhan Barba, members of The Timbrels, a group of young musicians who provide music for Salvation Army religious services; and Elizabeth Winborn, leader of The Timbrels.
Salvation Army musicians add festive notes to the social hour before the annual dinner, attended by about 70 guests on Thursday evening at the Wyoming Valley Country Club in Hanover Township.
Major Wanda Rivera, who leads the Salvation Army in Wilkes-Barre with her husband, Major Raul Rivera, congratulates Tony Brooks on Thursday evening at the Wyoming Valley Country Club.
Wilkes-Barre City Councilperson Tony Brooks was the honoree Thursday evening as the Salvation Army presented him with its Community Impact Award during the organization’s annual dinner.
But Denise Acosta said she felt honored just to be presenting the award.
“Tony is wonderful and amazing, with all he does to support the community. I see it every day,” said Acosta, who is the director of the Kirby Family House, which the Salvation Army maintains in downtown Wilkes-Barre to shelter families who are experiencing homelessness.
“He is an inspiration to me, and it is my honor to present the award,” she said before the $150-per-person dinner at the Wyoming Valley Country Club, which served as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army’s charity work.
“I am very honored to accept an award coming from an organization that has such a lineage,” said Brooks, a local history expert who serves as executive director of the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society. “The Salvation Army goes back to June of 1880 in Wilkes-Barre, helping people who, unfortunately, are struggling, and it’s still going strong.”
Brooks also is a board member for the Kirby Health Center, which helped the Salvation Army establish the Kirby Family House in 1995.
As guests began to arrive and mingle on Thursday, Salvation Army secretary Crystal Posten said she hoped this year’s dinner and silent auction would raise $70,000. The auction included items as diverse as a set of golf clubs, a painting of a Ricketts Glen waterfall by local artist Sue Hand, hockey tickets, and a basket of honey products from The Beekeeper’s Daughter.
Salvation Army musicians played in one corner of the banquet hall as guests greeted each other and sampled hors d’oevres, and young musicians known as The Timbrels awaited their turn to perform with their tambourine-like instruments.
Thirteen-year-old Arwen Barba said members of the group, which includes her 8-year-old sister Siobhan, 10-year-old brother Dorian, and 17-year-old fellow musician Josue Campos Tavarez, were not nervous about performing because they are used to providing music during Salvation Army services.
Each week, Sunday School is held at the Citadel on S. Pennsylvania Boulevard in downtown Wilkes-Barre, and the hour-long service follows at 11. Major Wanda Rivera, who leads the Wilkes-Barre Salvation Army Corps with her husband, Major Raul Rivera, said services are conducted in both English and Spanish, with speakers taking turns, one paragraph after another.
