The featured performers of Lackawanna County high schools are spreading their sparkle beyond the football field. They have joined together for service projects and started by nearly doubling the collection sites for NEPA Youth Shelter supplies.
Donation sites extend to businesses around the region, including Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Pittston, Plains Twp. and Honesdale.
Miss Comet, Kara Rillstone of Abington Heights High School, started reaching out to her fellow performers before the season started and got an enthusiastic response, she said.
“I’m really excited to work with the other featured performers, to bring warmth and kindness to those who need it most,” Rillstone said. She was inspired by work done by the 2018 Miss Comet, Nina Sampogne.
Scranton’s Miss Knight Bella Hubert and West Scranton’s Miss Invader Riley Merrifield at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Scranton on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Through Oct. 31, the performers will be collecting new winter items from their school communities for the NEPA Youth Shelter in Scranton: gloves, warm socks, winter hats, blankets, scarves, hoodies and hot cocoa packets.
The project started with an even smaller group, Kindness in Chaos NEPA, a mutual aid group that at the moment is just three women. Kindness in Chaos NEPA set up drop-off locations at 11 businesses. The performers’ schools added 10 locations.
The public should not come to the schools. Businesses will take donations through Saturday, Nov. 1.
The performers really took the initiative, said Caitlin Rogan of Scranton, co-founder of Kindness in Chaos NEPA. “That’s so cool, right?”
The NEPA Youth Shelter runs a Teen Center, an after-school spot providing activities, food, support and supplies. The current location opened earlier in October. It also has a housing program.
“We’ve had organizations that would do fundraisers for us, but nothing like this,” said Executive Director John W. Rosengrant. “This is pretty unique.”
It is called a “housewarming drive,” a reference to the Teen Center’s new location and an upcoming Nov. 15 “housewarming” fundraiser there.
At 895 Providence Road, the center is a short distance from Scranton High School and 2 miles from West Scranton High School.
Christine Houser is a Scranton High School school-based behavioral health counselor and a cheerleading coach. By email, she said the shelter “provides an incredible lifeline for local teens in need, offering not only a safe space but also hope and support.”
The school community is responding to the drive generously and with a shared sense of purpose, Houser wrote.
In addition to Rillstone, the students are Julia Temperino, Dunmore; Shiloh Muta, Lakeland; Noah Marbert, Mid Valley; Hannah Rocco, North Pocono; Nadia Wansacz, Old Forge; Peyton Oustrich, Riverside; Bella Hubert, Scranton; Heather Davis, Valley View, and Riley Merrifield, West Scranton.
The Scranton business locations are Zummo’s Cafe, Friendly Alien Books, Electric City Tattoo & Piercing and Pigeon Post Art & Books. The South Abington Twp. location of Pivot Physical Therapy is also participating.
In Luzerne County, the sites are Moxie Femme Studio and Blind Cat Beer Company, both in Pittston; the Coffee Garden, Kingston; the Burnt Norton, Wilkes-Barre, and Thallo Beauty, Plains Twp.
In addition, Get Flexy Strength, Stretch & Soul Fitness Studio, Honesdale, is taking donations.
November fundraiser
Warm winter items are being collected for the NEPA Youth Shelter at regional businesses and certain Lackawanna County high schools. The shelter is holding a fundraiser at its new Teen Center on Nov. 15. Tickets and sponsorship forms are available at nepayouthshelter.org/shop/p/2025-fall-fundraiser-ticket.
Originally Published: October 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM EDT