Written by Robert Curry
Posted by Michael Sauers
June 3, 2024
Sometimes dreams are just too big for one person to carry. Those big dreams must be shared if they are to become a reality.
The story of the Hazleton Integration Project (HIP) is one such dream. HIP became a reality only because three people dared to share the very same dream.
In the early winter of 2011, I was managing the Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township. My wife, Elaine, a medical librarian, and I were hosting a dinner for her cousin Joe Maddon and his wife.
Joe was just a few years removed from managing the Tampa Bay Rays to their only World Series appearance. Joe had been expressing his displeasure regarding the growth of what he felt was racial bias among many of the long-standing residents in Hazleton. Elaine and I held similar views on the subject.
By the end of that evening several ideas began to coalesce and our collective dream began to take shape. Together we decided to open a full-service community center where children would play and learn together in a safe nonjudgmental space.
The center would offer high-quality education, cultural, and athletic opportunities for economically underserved children and families. We understood that if we could manage that, we would also be able to narrow the racial divide and help foster trust and respect for all our area’s cultures.
We also knew that this was a very tall order indeed.
Our initial efforts were met with a heavy dose of skepticism. More than a few times I was stopped on a street by someone determined to let me know what they thought of the proposed HIP center.
Many said we were “enablers who brought a bad element to the city. “Some were more personal, like the angry woman who said we were “a bunch of idiots.” Others called us more colorful names.
Despite the criticism we resolved to stick to our mission, understanding that history was on our side.
On June 15th, 2013, we opened the doors to the HIP One Community Center for the first time. Literally hundreds of people shared their ideas about potential programming. Many of those ideas had merit.
The problem was at the time HIP had a grand total of one employee. The rest of the staff – including Elaine and I were volunteers. That first week we began to fully comprehend just how much our services were needed and how much work would be required.
Over the next decade we painstakingly put together a slate of programs to best match our community’s needs. HIP is now open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days every week. We employ eight full-time and nine part-time employees to staff our bilingual Pre-K, our Afterschool Scholars and our Spectacular Summers camp program.
One and fifty adults are enrolled in ESL and Hazleton has over 500 new citizens who took HIP citzenship classes.
Our gym is open daily for students to play in a safe, structured atmosphere. HIP also serves as one of the largest food distribution networks for economically underserved families in our city. For our efforts, HIP has been honored by winning several local, state and national awards.
If I were to offer advise to anyone regarding their dreams it would be this. Go for it! Dream it into reality. Combine your big dream with the necessary work, and the result might exceed anything you can imagine.
People frequently thank us for opening the center, but I cannot overstate just how much personal satisfaction we have all derived from watching it blossom.
Outside of family, our HIP community center has been the greatest gift any of us has ever received.
As the great Mahatma Gandi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”.
Amen.