It's hard to describe inspiration, but you know it when you see it or feel it. For Grace Reid-Vensel, the inspiration for a way to help her community came from enduring the COVID-19 pandemic. "I was a 16-year-old junior in high school in the wake of the pandemic," Grace remembers. "My ...
When Michele Pagen was growing up in the Mon Valley, she could only dream of having a special place to go to study music, theater and all sorts of performing arts. "I grew up in this area and always knew that if I was given the opportunity, I would start a program such as this," says Pagen, ...
Father's Day falls in June, so it's appropriate that our Driven By Hope award this month recognizes an organization started by two dads who just wanted to form a sports league for special needs children and adults. Back in 2001, Washington County’s Challengers Baseball folded. Terry ...
The old saying in theater is that, "The show must go on!" From dramatic plays to musical productions to Christmas shows and family-friendly fare, one theater group in Hickory in Washington County has been putting shows on for nearly 35 years. The Old Schoolhouse Players is this month's ...
Deja Glemba has to laugh when she remembers how her brother handled growing up with only sisters as siblings. Her brother, Caleb Jackson, was the only boy among the six kids. "He was spoiled," she chuckles. "So he knew that if he went to Mom and Dad and they said no, then he could come to ...
Tracy Crompton is certain of one thing: Rescuing animals is her mission. "It's my calling, it is," says Crompton, who is co-founder of Bridge to Home Animal Rescue in Washington. "It's my purpose. It really is. It's why I'm on this earth." Crompton and four other women founded the ...
