n Cressona: People will be able to help raise funds for the Schuylkill County Fair on Thursday simply by dining at Hoss' Steak and Sea House. From 11 a.m. and throughout the day, Hoss' will donate a portion of proceeds to the Foundation for Agriculture and Resources Management, parent organization of the fair. Those who visit Hoss' that day will need a Hoss' Community Night Letter. The letters are available by request at schuylkillfair@comcast.net. This year's fair will run July 29 through Aug. 3 at the fairgrounds in Summit Station.
n Frackville: A fast-pitch adult softball league is being formed to raise money to enable former team member and sponsor Robbie Krick to get a life-saving heart transplant. Organizers are seeking former members and sponsors of the Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Frackville fast-pitch league. The goal, organizers said in a release, is to get teams or individuals, especially old-timers, who are interested in playing. The event will be held Aug. 18 at the Frackville Little League/Softball Complex, High Street. The number of games and innings played will be determined by the numbers of teams and the age of the players entered. The deadline for entry is Aug. 2. The event will be held rain or shine. The Frackville Little League Complex is an alcohol-free zone. Anyone interested in just making contributions can do so the day of the event. Ethnic food and soft drinks will be available and there will be additional fundraising activities. For more information, call 570-427-8814. The minimum entry fee is $10 per person, made payable to the Rob Krick Heart Fund.
n Pottsville: The Schuylkill County Bar Association completed its annual canned food drive July 2 and, with the help of Boyer's Food Markets Orwigsburg store, garnered nearly 1,300 food items and baby diapers for distribution to food pantries throughout the county and for Schuylkill Women in Crisis. According to an association release, its young lawyers division co-chairmen, Ryan Bates and Eric Prock, worked with Jason Schally of Schuylkill Community Action, Matt Pogar and other members of Boyer's to fill a deliver van with the food items and diapers. "The bar association is now in its seventh year of holding the annual canned food drive," attorney Sud Patel, bar association president and chairman of the community development/public relations committee, said in the release. "What started as a modest collection of a few dozen items in our first year has now morphed into an incredibly successfull annual event." He commended the roles Boyer's and SCA play in partnering with the association for the drive, noting SCA works closely with 18 food pantries that are part of the Schuylkill Food Network. "To think that within the next year or two we will have collected and distributed in excess of 10,000 items is pretty remarkable and speaks volumes of the generosity and community awareness of our entire bar association," Patel said.
n Pottsville: Tina Zanis of the Clinical Outcomes Group recently addressed members of the Pottsville Rotary, telling them she was comfortable speaking to them. She also spoke about how much she likes to brag about her late husband's work and how much he would hate that she was doing it. Clinical Outcomes Group Inc., she said, is shifting its name to COGI, because the former is sometimes difficult to remember or brand. COGI should be easy for Rotarians to remember by thinking of a COG in the wheel, she said. COGI was founded when her husband, Dave Zanis, wrote a proposal to manage the funds Schuylkill County was due to receive from Pennsylvania's portion of the mammoth tobacco settlement about 14 years ago. After being awarded the contract, Dave and Tina Zanis created the organization. COGI's mission, she said, is to be a private, nonprofit organization offering accessible and innovative public health programs "derived from the needs of our communities and improved through program evolution and research." COGI's philosophy is to provide innovative solutions to public health and social problems, she continued, adding that increased access, superior quality and lower costs are principles behind all COGI does. Among its programs are tobacco prevention and cessation services, workplace wellness, abuse intervention services and research and innovative programs. COGI currently provides tobacco prevention and cessation services to 13 counties in central Pennsylvania. It has 26 employees and expects to be at 28 by the end of the year, Zanis said. The agency is guided by a volunteer board of directors, which includes Zanis and Rotarian Eric Lieberman.