SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) — In West Scranton, NeighborhoodWorks NEPA – a nonprofit that works with the city – is taking applications for hometown hero banners to line the streets.
“The program is designed to share and honor their service,” said Gerard Hetman, community development specialist at NeighborhoodWorks NEPA. “Honor their service and also share it with the broader community by displaying the banners we have along Main Avenue and Luzerne St.”
The last installation was around 5 years ago, and since then, Hetman says that he’s gotten constant questions on when they’ll be putting up new ones, and this year, they finally are.
“We’ve had folks contact us frequently over that time period, asking for the chance to put their loved one on a banner, if we’re going to do this again. So just seeing all those requests and having the ones up there now for a very long period of time, we want to give more folks the chance to honor their loved one who was in the military by doing a new round of banners,” explained Hetman.
They have 150 slots lined up on a first come, first serve basis and to apply, families submit a form detailing their service with proof, a photo of the veteran in uniform, and a one-time payment of $250. All existing banners will be taken down and returned to the families who originally paid for them.
“We find that their loved ones really want to honor that service and have a visible reminder of their service, but also to share it with the neighborhood,” continued Hetman. “And we want to showcase that, that patriotism and dedication to the country and to the community by putting those banners up there and sharing that service with everyone who walks by, drives by, and sees them.”
NeighborhoodWorks NEPA will be taking applications over the next few months with plans to have them installed by Memorial Day.