{"id":74897,"date":"2025-12-31T17:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/74897\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:55:07","slug":"how-nepapac-celebrates-kwanzaa-beyond-the-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/74897\/","title":{"rendered":"How NEPAPAC celebrates Kwanzaa beyond the holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Rooted in tradition and driven by community, local organization NEPAPAC<\/a> is using Kwanzaa as a catalyst for connection and empowerment. <\/p>\n

As many families celebrate Kwanzaa, the week-long holiday honors African American culture, history, and community. From lighting the kinara to reflecting on the seven principles, Kwanzaa is a time for unity, purpose, and pride.<\/p>\n

NEPAPAC is celebrating African American culture while expanding vital resources for the community. Assistant Director of Operations Rashida Lovely shared how the organization\u2019s work goes far beyond the holiday itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run a series of social programs. We have a free after-school program that runs for four days a week from 3:30 to 6:45. And in that program, we do tutoring, mentorship. We feed the kids dinner, whatever they need. This year, we’re partnered with Geisinger Medical.<\/a> They are our tutors for this year. And we also have a summer camp that we run, a STEM camp. And then we have a crime prevention program for young boys who were previously incarcerated,\u201d said Lovely.<\/p>\n

Across seven days, Kwanzaa tells a story\u2014one of unity, self-reliance, growth, and more, said Lovely.<\/p>\n

\u201cKwanzaa is a very important holiday that was developed by African Americans, here in the United States. We celebrate over the course of seven days. In those seven days, we come together as a community, focusing on folks that are part of the whole diaspora. And we come together to focus on economic development, charity, and just the coming together. And so, what we label it as is unity in the community,\u201d said Lovely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seven days, you have different meanings. And so, every day you focus on one particular meaning. One day is unity. The other day is spirituality. Another day is your faith. Economic development, self-reliance. Every day we try to exemplify that day and its meaning,\u201d said Lovely.<\/p>\n

While reflecting on how Kwanzaa\u2019s principles are put into practice, NEPAPAC member David Thurston recalled a trip the organization took together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe practice them for the seven days, but also you bring that through the year as well. So, one memory I have reminds me of the principle of unity. In Luzerne and Lackawanna County, in Lackawanna County, the organization went down to Washington, D.C., on a bus, and we had so much fun. And it was just families from both counties. A lot of us didn’t even know each other. And we took the coach bus down to the African Heritage Museum. And the best part of it was the ride there and back. We watched The Pursuit of Happiness. And it was just one of the best times of my life,\u201d said Thurston.<\/p>\n

The celebration of Kwanzaa concludes on January 1, coinciding with the start of the new year. <\/p>\n

To learn more about NEPAPAC, click here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Rooted in tradition and driven by community, local organization NEPAPAC is using Kwanzaa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-74897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}