Author Archives: Maddie Conley

Harrisburg area refugees share their stories, perspectives amidst shifting immigration landscape

March 28, 2025 | by Rebekah Teuscher

The landscape of refugee resettlement in the United States is changing rapidly, due to policy updates by the federal government and increasingly charged public discourse surrounding immigration. As a result, the futures of refugees and immigrants across the country—and of our new neighbors in the greater Harrisburg area—remain uncertain.

Out of a desire to hear directly from our refugee neighbors, we’ve invited two people and one family living in and around Harrisburg to share part of their stories of displacement and resettlement, along with their perspective on recent events. For further reading about the realities that resettlement agencies are facing, as well as how the community has stepped up to respond in care for newly arrived refugees, find our recently published magazine story, here.

Daria—Ukraine

Daria

Daria was only 17 years old when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. She had just moved from her hometown on Ukraine’s eastern border, Sumy, to Kyiv to start college. Within days of Russia’s invasion, everything changed.

“I didn’t understand what was happening. I was shocked,” she said. “I remember those first few weeks waking up every single morning scrolling through the news, and every single morning the news was horrible. [The day before the invasion] I was just a child doing homework at my college. The next day, I woke up as an adult. I grew up within one day.”

In the midst of the escalating conflict, Daria’s grandparents invited her to come stay with them in central Pennsylvania, where they were longtime residents. As soon as she received the necessary visa and documentation in August 2022, Daria booked a one-way ticket to Harrisburg. The plan was to stay for a few months with her grandparents until things settled down back home. But what was supposed to be three months turned into three years as the conflict continued to escalate and it became clear returning to Ukraine was not safe.

Even in the midst of uncertainty about where she might end up “long-term,” Daria has continued to establish her life in central Pennsylvania. She continues her college program in Ukraine online and will graduate in May, and simultaneously is taking classes at HACC while working full-time, with plans to graduate in December. She also recently got married. Even these significant life events are intertwined with sadness. Her mother and father, who are living in Ukraine and Poland, respectively, have not and will not be able to attend any of these events in person.

“It’s hard to be separated from my family—the most important moments that have happened in my life, my parents have missed. I haven’t seen my mom for almost three years,” she said.

Daria has been living in the U.S. on a humanitarian parole visa, along with roughly 500,000 other Ukrainians fleeing the war. In recent weeks, this has been the topic of much debate in the White House as some members of the Trump administration push for these visas to be revoked.

“I just want to say, people, please stop being afraid of refugees,” she said. “I see a lot of people screaming that there is a refugee ‘invasion’ in America and Europe, and that isn’t true. People are escaping violence and war from their home countries, and come to America to find a better life.”

Statistically, an estimated 1% of the global refugee population will ever be resettled to western countries such as the U.S. or Canada, according to the International Rescue Committee.

In the midst of so much uncertainty, Daria is also finding—and offering—hope in her career, where she supports newly arrived refugees from various countries and helps them navigate the many complex systems in the U.S.

“In my job, I’m responsible for bringing hope to people,” she said. “I’m an optimist. I try to tell people to hold on in the midst of so much happening. Let’s believe things can get better in our communities and in our environments.”

Yaser, Abir, Ayman and family—Syria

Leaving home was never the plan. Yaser and his wife Abir had a wonderful life in Syria, with a thriving business and community. However, as their country’s government became more oppressive, they began to worry. Military checkpoints popped up everywhere, and a new danger was discovered: Yaser shared a name with a man the government was seeking to imprison. At checkpoints, armed guards would glance at Yaser’s ID and try to detain him, not bothering to check any details beyond his name. After this happened multiple times, Yaser and Abir decided it was too dangerous to stay in Syria and fled to Egypt with their children. Their oldest son, Ayman, was 10 years old when they left.

“We had a generous life before leaving Syria, and there was this abrupt change that impacted everything,” Yaser said. “We went from [being in] a good place—having a house, a car, our kids in school—to suddenly having none of these things. We didn’t even say goodbye to our family.”

After three years of scraping by in Egypt, in late 2016, the family received hopeful news: they had been approved to resettle in the United States as refugees. However, just a few short weeks after this first message, a second message arrived that their resettlement was indefinitely on hold. The new U.S. president, Donald Trump, had paused all refugee resettlement and had ordered a travel ban preventing any Syrians from coming to America. Although they did not know it at the time, the family would end up waiting an additional seven years in Egypt. While waiting, they did all they could to set themselves up for success. Yaser kept working, the children enrolled in school, and their oldest son Ayman worked alongside his father while also diligently studying and learning English.

In early 2023, the family received notice that they once again had travel booked to resettle in America, and arrived in Harrisburg that March.

“We were so happy to come to America, and even though the first few weeks were difficult, we had so much help and support,” Ayman said.

Through the combined support of their resettlement agency and a volunteer welcome team, over their first year in Harrisburg, the family found jobs, a car and a community of other Syrians living in America. Ayman’s younger siblings were enrolled in school, and Ayman, 20 years old, began taking college classes at HACC while working full-time. Now, the family, particularly Ayman, spends part of their time coming alongside other Syrians who have recently arrived in the area, helping them navigate the beginning of life in a new country.

However, due to similar executive actions by Trump in his second term, the family is seeing history repeat itself at the expense of their fellow Syrians.

“We are sad to see everything happening, because we felt, ourselves, the effects of Trump’s decisions. The American people are very nice, but the American government is not kind to [our people],” Ayman said.

Since Trump’s inauguration, the federal government has withheld promised funding from resettlement agencies to provide essential services. Many refugees who have arrived in Harrisburg in the past few months are therefore not receiving the support they were promised.

When asked where he is finding hope and encouragement, Ayman shared, “We see that most Americans don’t like what is happening. It is encouraging to see our American neighbors raising their voices and telling the government that they love their refugee neighbors.”

Isabella*—Venezuela

Isabella’s oldest daughter Ria was critically ill, but with no available jobs in Venezuela for Isabella to earn money and pay for Ria’s medical care, staying in Venezuela was not an option. Even if she had the money, there was no guarantee that medical care would be accessible. As Ria’s health continued to deteriorate, Isabella made the difficult decision to cross the border into Colombia with her daughters—her youngest just an infant—in search of lifesaving medical support.

As soon as they arrived, Ria was taken to a hospital, where she stayed for over a month as the doctors tried to stabilize her. Ria needed a liver transplant, and badly. However, because she was not a Colombian citizen, she was denied access to a transplant.

It was at this point that Isabella applied for refugee status, hoping that she and her daughters could be resettled in the U.S., where Ria could finally get the medical attention she needed. They lived in Colombia for six years, finally receiving approval to resettle in the United States in September 2024.

“Some people were telling me we would not be approved because it was ‘just’ my daughter being sick,” said Isabella. “But I thank God the door was opened to us, and we were approved.”

Now, having been in America for just under six months, Isabella reflected on how grateful she is.

“I’ve had an excellent experience, and we are blessed to have a house,” she said.

Her daughters have enrolled in school, and they have very quickly settled into a routine and found support. Ria is in the process of getting a liver transplant, and Isabella is hoping to be her daughter’s donor.

“The people I have met so far have been good to me,” she shared.

Although there have been many challenges, Isabella noted that she has found support from her daughters’ teachers, the school social workers and the hospital social workers. She has also found significant support through her church.

However, Isabella is concerned for many of her Venezuelan friends who are in the U.S. under a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) visa, or waiting at the U.S./Mexico border to claim asylum—both legal immigration statuses that are at risk of being denied.

“People need to be empathetic towards this topic,” she said. “Everyone comes to America with a purpose, and most are good people. My daughter needs a liver transplant, and we are grateful to be here. Many other people are in similar situations, and their health and lives are being denied.”

At the same time, Isabella is also finding hope in this season, particularly from her church and in her Christian faith.

“I find my hope and encouragement in God,” she said. “Trump can be whatever he wants to be, but God is the only one who has the future.”

Finally, Isabella shared that she is encouraged to see how many American people oppose what the government is doing.

“Maybe they should make immigration a subject in the schools here, so more people learn about it,” she said.

*names changed to protect identities

Rebekah Teuscher works for The Meeting House Church-Dillsburg Campus to coordinate volunteer efforts in assisting local refugees in the Harrisburg area.

Read more about the status of local refugee resettlement agencies and volunteer efforts, in our magazine story.

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Making a Home: Harrisburg couple’s historic house renovation documented by local filmmaker for national television

March 28, 2025 | by Maddie Gittens

The Burchfields

At around 8 p.m. one night, Eva Burchfield called her husband Bruce to check in. Dinner was ready, and Bruce was still not home.

“She’s like, ‘where are you guys? Dinner’s ready and you’re late,’” Bruce said. “I was like, ‘we’re holding up the front of the house, not now.’”

He meant that literally. The front of the Burchfield’s fixer-upper was actually leaning. Water had crept in between the bricks and the turret window and froze, popping it off the house. Bruce was holding it up, desperately trying to save the structure.

“Those were the moments where I’m like, ‘what did we do?’” Bruce said.

In 2022, the Harrisburg couple embarked on a year-and-a-half-long renovation project at the dilapidated corner house on Kelker Street that would become their home. The project was more of an undertaking than the couple ever thought, even testing the perseverance of Bruce, a professional architect.

However, the Burchfields needed more space for themselves and their two young kids and wanted a home that would keep them in their tight-knit community. They were also suckers for a good historic property and saw renovating a blighted building as a way to make a positive impact on their neighborhood.

When the couple saw the chance to take a crack at the 1900-era house just down the block from the small home that they shared with Eva’s parents, they took it. They just didn’t realize quite how much work they were in for. They needed to gut the house if they ever wanted to restore it to its former glory.

“Next thing you know, all the walls were pulled off, windows were literally just hanging and swinging,” Bruce said. “I started taking them out one by one, and I remember Eva came up to the top of the steps and started looking around and was like, ‘all there is, is holes in this house.’”

Eva admitted, while she was excited about the renovation, she just couldn’t see Bruce’s vision at first.

“I couldn’t imagine it becoming a home because it was just bare walls with holes,” Eva said. “What did we do and how did we end up in this situation? I couldn’t see it.”

But eventually she did see it, and others caught the vision as well.

Harrisburg resident Adrian Selkowitz was out and about in the neighborhood with his son when he stumbled across the work on the Kelker Street house, a project already several months in.

It just so happened that Selkowitz’s film production company, Cowboy Bear Ninja, was on the hunt for a historic renovation project to document for an episode of the television show, “In With the Old,” which is broadcast through the Magnolia Network.

Bruce and Eva considered and decided it would be the perfect way to showcase the city they love, while also showing people—you can do this too.

The next day, Selkowitz was there with his team and cameras to follow the process.

They filmed for much of the year that the reconstruction project took to complete, delivered the episode to the Magnolia Network in the spring of 2024, and the episode aired on television earlier this year.

“It was challenging, but totally worth it, to give a full image on what really happened and to show Harrisburg was just totally worth it,” Eva said.

Same Canvas, New Story

The project was a whirlwind and a team effort, and, from Bruce’s point of view, it required spreadsheets. From the contractors to the film crew to the trips to Philly to source historic doors and trips to Amish country for woodwork, everything had to be coordinated.

“Bruce, probably because he’s an architect, already had a pretty detailed schedule,” Selkowitz said. “We created a shared spreadsheet and came up with a color-coding system. And then, you know, schedules are always shifting.”

But there were also the quieter moments, like when Eva’s father dedicatedly scraped the fireplace and mantel, chipping away for hours, then days, at years of paint that concealed beautiful wood, or when the couple worked with an architectural conservator to clean the unique tile entryway.

While much of the interior of the house needed to be demolished, there were also many gems that remained as “the jewelry of the house,” as Bruce described them. There were the original front doors and hinges, upstairs stair railings and flooring. Other elements were lost or worn from time, but the Burchfields recreated them to match up—like the downstairs stair railing, the baseboards and newel posts.

“That idea of the stories that are layered over, but it’s still the same canvas, really resonated when we were renovating this because we kept thinking of all the previous families and stories that were in these walls, but we were going to write our own story,” Bruce said. “That’s what gave us hope. We could still use the canvas, which was the shell of the house, but our goal was to make this home ours so that we could write our own story on it. But the cool thing is you still see the little traces of the old.”

The couple also met with local historian Ken Frew, who uncovered stories from the house’s past. The stories of former occupants holding parties in the house, from excerpts printed in the newspaper, stood out to the couple, as they also love to host.

“Looking at the history and now looking at it here, that’s exactly what we wanted to do, we wanted to host people,” Eva said. “We wanted it to be open and welcoming for everybody that we know and love.”

Getting to that point certainly wasn’t easy, as there were scorching hot summer days, plumbing snafus and lots of busy weeknights and weekends. Bruce still worked a full-time job throughout the project, and Eva ran her Broad Street Market stand, Evanilla Donut Shop, until the market fire forced her to close in July 2023.

“It was grueling,” Bruce said. “It really was nonstop.”

However, both Bruce and Eva agreed that it was worth it. All the work left them with a light and airy primary suite, beautiful kitchen with custom cabinetry and personalized rooms for the kids.

In the episode of “In With the Old,” viewers can see the full transformation, from a gutted property, to a bright, clean, yet homey space. They can also hear from Bruce and Eva on the highs and lows of the process and see them discuss and make design decisions.

“It’s a lot to let a film crew into your life,” Selkowitz said. “There’s that extra layer that it adds of stress, and those two handled it with so much grace.”

For Selkowitz, who had filmed another episode of the show previously, working with the Burchfields was a treat, as he got to grow closer to his neighbors and friends through the process. He was also happy for the chance to give his hometown some national attention.

“When you live here and you do love your community and you know all the treasures, you know all the great things that are happening, you know all the amazing people, you do want to share that,” Selkowitz said.

Eva caught the home renovation bug and has already been nudging Bruce, trying to get him on board with another project. Bruce, on the other hand, is enjoying the less-chaotic life, for now, although he’s open to the idea in the future.

Both really want the best for their community and see the need for more houses in Harrisburg, like theirs, to be restored to their former glory.

“It’s heart-wrenching to see those beautiful homes gone or demolished or deserted. They’re irreplaceable. That’s what makes them unique,” Eva said. “We’re hoping to leave [our home] for a hundred more years for somebody else to enjoy.”

“Old Uptown Revival: The Heart of Harrisburg,” season six, episode seven of “In With the Old,” is available to watch on the Magnolia Network and can be found on several streaming platforms.

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Sweet on 3rd Street: Salted Butter Bakery opens shop in Midtown Harrisburg with homemade treats

March 28, 2025 | by Maddie Gittens

Alec Johnson & Ben Stehle

At Salted Butter Bakery, oatmeal crème pies are four times the size of the Little Debbie ones and cinnamon rolls are “like 50% butter and 50% sugar, and a little bit of flour.”

Mom’s recipe is the secret behind the brownies, and crumb cake is made New York Style—extra crumby.

Owner Alec Johnson’s baking is a labor of love. He crafts everything for his bakery by himself, sometimes even kneading and mixing ingredients by hand when they won’t fit in his mixer. For two years, his business has served returning customers, festival patrons and friends and is now excited to do the same from his very first storefront.

Salted Butter Bakery opened for business in Midtown in March, slinging cookies, cakes and other treats at their shop on N. 3rd St., just across from the Broad Street Market. The space previously housed Nyeusi Art Gallery.

“I like to keep it very simple,” he said of his baking style. “All my baked goods are simple flavors. They’re nostalgic. It seems like they remind everyone of their childhood. They’re all super buttery.”

Cookie flavors include snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, M&M, sugar, vanilla chai, lemon with white chocolate and seasonal offerings. Johnson also bakes and decorates cakes, which will be for sale in a cooler in the shop, and he makes fresh bread for sale.

The quality makes the treats shine, chimed in Ben Stehle, Johnson’s husband and the bakery’s co-owner and taste tester.

“You feel good when you eat one of our cookies or baked goods because it’s him,” Stehle said. “It’s not a machine making them, it’s him.”

Johnson learned the basics of baking from his mother, who always had something in the oven at home when he was growing up. With that foundation, he taught himself even more techniques and recipes, gaining experience in the food service industry at places like Ressler’s Bagel & Deli in Mechanicsburg and the local Dairy Queen. At home, he would bake for fun.

People always told Johnson that he should start his own business, but he never believed them, he said, even though it was a dream of his too. In 2023, nearing his 30th birthday, he made it happen.

“I was like, ‘OK, I should probably just do it,’” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘if I don’t do it before I’m 30, I probably won’t do it,’ which is not true. I just gave myself that weird timeline. I feel like I had to do that otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”

The bakery operated for two years solely out of the couple’s Shipoke home, as they fulfilled online orders and hauled cookies to festivals and events. Their first time vending was at Harrisburg’s 2024 Ice & Fire Festival and, coincidentally, during the same festival one year later, they invited people inside their Midtown store for the first time.

Salted Butter Bakery features cases of baked goods for sale, as well as a cozy seating area with tables, chairs and a couch.

“This feels and looks just like our house,” Johnson said. “We have it decorated almost the exact same way. It feels like I made my friends chocolate chip cookies and they’re sitting on my couch in my living room.”

Johnson is grateful for the support that his community has already given Salted Butter Bakery, showing up time and time again to festivals and pop-ups and placing orders for their work, school and family gatherings. Stehle loves seeing kids’ eyes light up at the sight of a colorful M&M cookie and appreciates when customers return to their vendor table just to tell them how much they liked their oatmeal crème pie.

“They’ll come back just to say how good it is. We convinced this one lady who didn’t even like sweets or buttercream icing to try it,” Stehle said of their oatmeal crème pie. “She tried it, and she loved it.”

Giving and receiving support from other local businesses is also important to the bakery’s owners, who are friends and fans of Harrisburg businesses like Raising the Bar, Radish & Rye and Anna Rose Bakery. They view their place as entrepreneurs as a chance to add to the already rich food scene in Harrisburg, uplift other small businesses and encourage more shops to open.

In that spirit, Salted Butter Bakery carries Little Amps Coffee Roasters’ Nitro Cold Brew cans and cold pressed juices from Midtown Juice Lab, and possibly additional products from Harrisburg businesses in the future. They also have hot coffee and Boxed Water for purchase.

Since the bakery originally held its soft opening in March, it has only been open two days a week on Saturday and Sunday. However, this month they expect to expand hours to Thursday through Monday.

“It feels really nice to have a space where people can sit and relax and be so close to the hustle and bustle on 3rd Street, the market, and everything else that’s going on,” Johnson said. “They can pop in here […] and decompress while they eat a chocolate chip cookie and then get back out there.”

Salted Butter Bakery is located at 1224 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit them on Facebook or on Instagram @salted.butter.bakery.

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Have Art Will Travel: Mount Gretna’s Drive-in “Theater”—MG Mercantile

March 28, 2025 | by Bob MacGinnes

MG Mercantile

The history-rich hamlet of Mt. Gretna is home to many things to do and see—biking and hiking trails, a playhouse, a lake and beach for swimming, a mini golf course, a roller rink, a tennis court, a textile gallery, an ice-cream parlor, specialty restaurants, and now, a drive-in “theater” of the most unique manner.

No car-side speakers, no big outdoor screen, and no concession stand and yet provisions and supplies are its mainstays. No movie is needed as you will be entertained, enchanted and enlightened when you pull up to Mt. Gretna Mercantile, a mere 33 minutes from Harrisburg. To think this rare jewel of a store exists in Mt Gretna is a treasure indeed, even better than buttered popcorn. Picture everything imaginable from A to Z, the absolute best outpost. Like the drive-in experience promises, this is a double feature delight.

Kismet in the Pines

Nothing in life happens randomly. “A visit to a friend’s cabin in 2022,” shared Tanya Mann, brought the store’s future owners, Tanya and Jeff Grimshaw to Mt. Gretna. Was it a crystal ball moment or just imagining the possibilities of what the property held in store (no pun intended), one will never know for sure. The property was the former home of a storied bank in Mt. Gretna lore. But first things first. Tanya imagined the site’s potential for what was to be—opening a dream destination drive-in (not literally mind you) but an emporium that is “Retail Theater” everywhere you look. When Tanya and Jeff purchased the building, major renovations needed to take place. Tanya outfitted the building’s interior and became emotionally invested in the idea of entrepreneurship, something the couple knows well. They are authors as well as consultants and motivational speakers to businesses worldwide. Her vision was crystal clear for the future, even with no retail experience, other than as a shopper. “After all, Mt. Gretna deserved a gem of a store,” she said.

Way It Used to Be

Remember when going to town to shop was a fun experience back in the day? Merchants took great pride in window displays and setting the stage inside like a movie set. MG Mercantile’s aesthetic speaks to those special times when artistic presentation greeted the customers as soon as they entered. The store’s ambience is one of a lifestyle still embraced from the coast of Maine to the Adirondacks, a “lodge of like-minded adventurers” dropping in to catch up on local news, stock up on supplies, and visit with old acquaintances. It’s a place where strangers and visitors passing through become friends before they leave the store. MG Mercantile is the embodiment of the best shopping experience imaginable as it combines presentation and product under one roof.

Page from History

“When I purchased the property in September 2022, I knew I was taking on a piece of Mt. Gretna’s history,” Tanya shared. The building that now houses MG Mercantile was constructed in 1975-76. Lebanon County Trust commissioned a recent Yale architecture graduate to design a bank that reflected the style of a Mt. Gretna cottage, Tanya said. The result was a structure that fit seamlessly into the charm of the area. Shortly after the bank opened, it became the scene of an unforgettable moment in local lore.

The bank tellers were preparing to close the morning operations when an armed bandit forced them into the wide-open vault and made off with about $25,000. “Luckily, they had already triggered the bank alarm and hastening to flee, he closed the door but did not spin the vault dial shut. The crime remains unsolved, but a few longtime residents can think of a troublemaker or two that fit the description,” Tanya revealed. That day was the most talked about in the bank’s history until MG Mercantile opened its doors mid-summer 2023. The polished bank vault is more than just a footnote in the annals of Gretna but lays claim to that surreal scene highlighted by a plaque and accompanying news article. Today, the bank’s structural components remain in place as they did when Penn Realty occupied the space after the bank closed.

Essence of MG Mercantile

The facilitator of all things magical is Tanya, who is full of ideas, imagery and inspiration. Her personal touch is felt in every aspect of the business—from the hand-carved canoe suspended from the ceiling in the main room to shelves stocked to the gills, as the fish are always running in Conewago Lake. The “MERC” is filled with supplies for day hikers, campers, bikers and residents of the village, as well as visitors passing through the wooded glens. Pulling up to MG Mercantile’s parking lot, you will find an inviting shaded patio and lovely landscaped grounds complete with a front porch downhome feel, having arrived at an oasis of warmth and wonder. Entering the store’s foyer, you step into an atmosphere that looks like a Hollywood-styled canteen of 1940s glamour. Just imagine the movie stars have already gone back to complete their makeup for the next scene, so the stage is yours. Make yourself at home, fascinated by the layout and decor and the endless array of goods before your eyes. Settle in for a while and read about “The Great Bank Heist” in black and white newsprint and that bank vault you see—it was the main actor in the real event. They play a true-to-life part of the stage set that Tanya adroitly lays out in each room, providing a theater of the mind and a feast for the eyes, whose allure is both colloquial and chimerical, balancing tradition and the zeitgeist of the day.

The shop is stocked with all the basics from ramen noodles to pasta sauces, chili crisps, a medley of condiments, a smorgasbord of cheeses, preserves, spreads, pickled foods, jams, shelf-stable nut milks, ice coffees, popcorn, crackers and specialty sodas. Mixers for cocktails provide plenty of choices for entertaining. Dry goods include kitchen items, aprons, tea towels, gardening tools, art, books and Mt. Gretna-inspired merchandise. Rounding out the myriad selections are home decor, soaps and fragrance diffusers as well as lavender sachets. Tanya prides herself on sourcing products from local suppliers. With April’s arrival, the Mercantile springs ahead with new vistas beyond the store’s motto: “curated goods, groceries and gifts.” They are expanding to include a “Canopy of Classes,” that include wreath making, creating small art mosaics, container gardening and pastel art projects. The classes started in March and will run through December with themes geared for the seasons at hand. In addition, a drive-through pickup may not be too far off in the distance as the bank had a drive-up window.

On a visit this past fall, my wife surprised me with one of the Mercantile’s featured items, a coffee table book, “Porches of Mt. Gretna: A Photo Journal” by author Kerry Royer and photographer, Shannon Fretz. As I met Kerry earlier last summer for a featured article on Mt Gretna, the purchase was all the more special as it is a signed edition. For those who love Gretna as much as we do, this is a true treasure.

Mt. Gretna is a community built on “gratitude,” something special that resides in the hearts of its residents. This two-way affair of appreciation is felt by Tanya and Jeff who are as excited about the hamlet’s welcoming support as the townspeople are thrilled to have the Mercantile’s curated contents and convenience so readily available. The shop has become a place of pride and distinction for the area. The marquee out front reads now playing: “MG Mercantile and Mt. Gretna,” the perfect double feature.

MG Mercantile is located at 501 PA-117, Mt. Gretna. For more information, visit www.mgmercantile.com or call at 717-675-9730.

Photo by Jana MacGinnes.

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April Publisher’s Note

March 28, 2025 | by Lawrance Binda

We love hearing from readers.

Each month, readers comment at length on our stories, whether they appear as part of our daily news reporting or part of our monthly magazine.

Last month, you were especially vocal on a column I wrote, “Taking Care of Businesses,” which addressed the tough time Harrisburg’s small businesses are having, now that the commonwealth no longer requires most workers to be in the office on a daily basis.

I received emails, messages, texts and, of course, the usual stream of social media comments. A few people even chatted me up in person after running into me on the street or in a store or restaurant.

Clearly, folks care a lot about Harrisburg’s businesses, and everyone seemed to be in agreement that they need to be supported and saved, even if people sometimes disagreed on how we got here.

My overall belief is—it doesn’t really matter. Sure, you can blame the commonwealth or the city or the parking situation or whatever. But let’s cast that aside and simply renew our effort to robustly patronize the city’s small businesses.

Thinking about hopping into your car and driving out to some suburban chain or market? Pause for a moment and think about a possible city substitute, maybe even in your own neighborhood. There’s a good chance that there is one, and that it’s superior in quality than the chain—and owned and operated independently.

On a related matter, several downtown businesses have asked me to pass along word about parking. Evidently, a recent social media post gave the impression that downtown street parking is no longer free after 5 p.m. It still is! You can still park for free after 5 o’clock between Chestnut and State streets, but please obey all signs. Apparently, the rumor began because some cars were in a no-parking area, so received tickets.

Well, look here—it’s April, which means many fine, long days ahead. Our current issue reflects this welcome turn to warmer weather, greater sunlight, flowering trees and lots of stuff growing out of the ground. Happy spring, everyone!

Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of TheBurg.

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Restoration & Frustration: Long after a destructive blaze, the Broad Street Market endures, abides, presses ahead

March 28, 2025 | by M. Diane McCormick

Eric Hagarty

In a charmless, cramped tent where the floor wobbles underfoot, hungry lunchtime customers formed long lines for deli sandwiches and barbecue at the Broad Street Market.

“Their club sandwich is amazing,” a Fisher’s Delights patron told his companion.

The Broad Street Market, constituting the stone building and a hard-sided tent, is open and supplying fresh, healthy and scrumptious food. As the market perseveres, its future preoccupies the minds of countless stakeholders—city officials, board members, vendors, residents—hoping to see its shattered half rise from the ashes of a devastating fire.

Brick Building

On July 10, 2023, fire tore through Broad Street Market’s brick building, the circa-1870s companion to the Civil War-era stone building.

City, county and state officials vowed to rebuild. Over 20 months later, the building looks almost like it did the day after the fire. Chain link fencing warns away the public. On brisk days, torn sheeting covering the clerestory windows flaps in the wind. By anyone’s account, progress has been slow.

The city owns both buildings and the market land. David Baker, city facilities and special projects director, confirmed a restoration timeline—which extends two years from now, or nearly four years after the early-morning fire.

Construction drawings are complete, and bidding begins June 2025. Construction starts Sept. 1. Construction is done May 1, 2027. The city will continue sharing renderings via media, social media and market-related groups, said Mischelle Moyer, the city’s communications director.

Before a standing-room-only crowd at a February town hall, city officials promised to prioritize brick building reconstruction above all market-related plans.

Plans drawn by Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects showed a building restored to its historic look on the exterior.

Note the operative word, “look.” Exterior renovations of buildings in Harrisburg’s Midtown Municipal Historic District require review by the Harrisburg Architectural Review Board and City Council approval. HARB’s standards are strict but allow some modern materials that uphold historic integrity.

The National Register of Historic Places, which lists the market, does not require historically accurate exterior renovations unless U.S. Department of the Interior funding is involved, according to Frank Grumbine, community preservation coordinator of the central region, State Historic Preservation Office, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The fire offered “a big opportunity to blend old with new,” Grumbine said. “With such a tragedy and such a loss, there’s always a silver lining on how to address the market in the future and the role of the market in Harrisburg.”

David Morrison

Historic Harrisburg Association hopes to see preservation best practices campus-wide, said Executive Director David Morrison. He recalled the 1990-era restoration of the brick building’s 42 enormous windows, which used rock maple—not “squishy” new-growth lumber—for the frames.

“That was a major expense, and it was done right,” Morrison said. “I’m hoping that that same attention to detail and authenticity and durability will be incorporated into the restoration. There are wood windows, and there are ‘wood windows.’”

Plans call for a new mezzanine augmenting ground-level seating. Small, medium and large modular units would maximize space by accommodating vendors of different sizes as they come and go. And hallelujah, the sometimes sweltering, sometimes freezing building would be equipped with air conditioning and heating.

Vivi Sterste Brandler

The Courtyard

In January, Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams threw a boulder into a still pond by releasing a proposal to erect a two-story, glass-walled enclosure in the courtyard linking the market’s two buildings.

Stressing that plans are preliminary, city officials have touted the possibilities. Shelter from the elements. Room for more vendors. Revenue generation through rentals.

The city will “need to establish funding before any further steps will be taken with the middle building,” Moyer said. In other words, a new building constructed in the current courtyard is, as of right now, little more than an idea.

Vivi Sterste Brandler, owner of nearby Vivi’s on Verbeke, doesn’t like that “idea”—at all. She is circulating a petition to retain the courtyard’s free, open-air tradition that dovetails with today’s “third space” trends.

“People have come to me and told me how some of those enclosed spaces just don’t work for the community,” she said while collecting signatures in the stone building. “We want to maintain the sun and the community space because people like to come just spontaneously.”

Some proponents of a new structure cite precedent, as a building long stood in the courtyard, from the 1860s until around the 1960s. Morrison countered that the market’s then-private owners erected the wood building hastily, before acquiring land and constructing the permanent brick building, to accommodate the pressing need for vendors.

Covering the courtyard could obscure the market buildings’ historic facades and erase a beloved third space “that’s available to the public 24/7,” Morrison said. “It makes the market more than just a shopping center. It makes the market more of a destination.”

Before the fire, Jennifer Adams and her children would hang out in the courtyard on Fridays, listening to local musicians and buying veggies from outdoor vendors. The East Pennsboro Township resident, who works at nearby Radish & Rye Food Hub, includes the market in her “little walkabouts at lunch.”

“I love any space where people can gather in the city of Harrisburg,” she said. “It was a space where we could just go. I don’t want to see that go away.”

If the city decides to build a third structure, the Broad Street Market Alliance—responsible for market operations—would request details on its business viability, vendor demand and assignment of responsibilities for operations and utilities, said alliance Chair Eric Hagarty.

“The opinion that matters is not mine but the public’s,” he said.

Stone Building

Untouched by the fire, the stone building doesn’t qualify for any of the $10 million in insurance funds going toward the brick building, but like its brick sibling, it needs air conditioning and ventilation upgrades, plus a new roof.

The city has established funding for preliminary stone building upgrades and will request funding from the Pennsylvania governor’s office toward additional renovations, Baker said. Any construction must wait for renegotiation of the agreement between the city and the market alliance delineating their responsibilities, he added.

And although city officials continue to emphasize that any stone building upgrades must wait until the brick building is complete, Hagarty could envision efficiencies gained by simultaneous upgrades, if funding materializes.

“We hope to raise money as the alliance to help contribute to the city’s efforts,” he said. “Figuring out the financing is a little complicated, but my aspirational hope is that we can leverage the activity that’s happening at the brick building.”

After the fire, market revenue plummeted, and the market alliance was facing a projected $160,000 structural deficit.

Revenue losses were just one worry. In the shockwave following the departure of market Executive Director Tanis Monroy, later charged with felony theft from market accounts, the board discovered about $50,000 in unpaid bills, plus a lack of business-loss insurance that would have covered lost revenue—“a huge mistake,” Hagarty said.

Today, with a $350,000 Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development grant plus donations, operating efficiencies, and a voluntary rate hike accepted by vendors, the market expects to close out 2026 with “well over” $100,000 in the bank, Hagarty said.

To solidify procedural reforms, the board is taking steps to adopt financial management plans, retain proper insurance coverage, create leadership succession plans, and post financial transactions on its website.

“It’s going to require the public to continue to hold the market alliance accountable,” Hagarty said. “We are setting a precedent of transparency, so that any member of the public should, in theory, be able to go to our website and ask questions. You should not need to be a board member in order to understand the health of the organization.”

Brighter Days

So, to recap. Fire. Fraud. Fiscal woes.

And still, the market abides.

“The Broad Street Market is so much more than just architecture, and it certainly matters to the community,” Morrison said.

Hagarty thanked “everyone in the community who has stepped up over the last year and a half to help save the market.” Alliance members Venus Hawbaker and Tashia James helped him manage the market as the alliance has been seeking a new executive director. The city’s Baker and his colleagues “are working every day to try to make this project move as quickly as possible.”

“It’s all a great example of the cliché that it takes a village,” Hagarty said. “I’m extremely confident that the market’s brightest days are ahead after a very dark year. Every week, I feel more and more encouraged, and it’s all because of everyone who lives here, who’s been volunteering and donating and showing up to work to help keep things going.”

The Broad Street Market is located at N. 3rd and Verbeke streets, Harrisburg. The full market is open for business. The stone building’s hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. The tent’s hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Photos by Dani Fresh.

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April News Digest

March 28, 2025 | by Lawrance Binda and Maddie Gittens

Crowded Slate for Harrisburg Mayor, Council

Harrisburg voters soon will cast ballots in highly competitive primary races for mayor and council, as the deadline passed last month for candidates to submit their nominating petitions.

For mayor, incumbent Wanda Williams faces a large field of Democratic competitors, including city Treasurer Dan Miller, City Council member Lamont Jones, community activist Tone Cook Jr. and former candidate Lewis Butts Jr., according to the Dauphin County Bureau of Registration & Elections.

Williams is vying for a second term in office, following a long tenure on city council. Miller, in his third term as treasurer, also has served on city council and as city controller. Jones is serving his second year on council. Cook hasn’t held elected office previously but is known as an anti-crime and anti-gun violence advocate. Butts has run unsuccessfully for mayor several times before.

All candidates are Democrats. No Republicans filed to run for mayor for the May 20 primary.

For city council, three incumbents, all Democrats, submitted nominating petitions for re-election for the four, four-year seats: Ausha Green, Jocelyn Rawls and Ralph Rodriguez. Three-term incumbent Shamaine Daniels did not file for re-election, leaving one seat open.

In addition to the incumbents, challengers Leslie Franklin, Lisa Glenn, Sharon Horne, Elyse Irvis, Robert Lawson, Willie Ross, Rich Sanders, Lori Saulisbury, Karl Singleton and Basir Vincent filed to run in the Democratic primary for council. Soon after the petition deadline, Singleton died, though, at press time, his name remained on the ballot.

Like in the mayoral election, no Republicans chose to run for council in Harrisburg, an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

For city controller, attorney Karen Balaban filed for the Democratic nomination. Notably, long-time controller Charlie DeBrunner did not submit for re-election. No Republicans filed to run.

The Harrisburg school board has four, four-year seats and one, two-year seat up for grabs this year.

At the petition deadline, Democratic incumbents Roslyn Copeland, Danielle Robinson, Brian Carter and Jaime Johnsen filed for the four, four-year seats, while Annie Hughes, appointed to the board last year, will run for the two-year seat. No Republicans filed to run.

Dauphin County also has elections for several row offices this year.

For prothonotary, incumbent Matt Krupp of Harrisburg is seeking re-election, running as a Republican. Harrisburg resident Antonio Carreno is the sole Democrat seeking the office.

The clerk of courts primary is competitive, as Tina Nixon and Timothy Pianka, both of Harrisburg, are vying for the Democratic nomination. John McDonald is seeking the Republican nomination for the office.

For county coroner, long-time incumbent Graham Hetrick is seeking another term, running as a Republican. John Harris Jr. filed for the Democratic nomination.

Notably, this field of candidates is preliminary, as the ballot had not been finalized at press time.

Funds Allotted for Governor’s Square

Harrisburg will help an affordable housing development in the city make improvements, following years of neglect.

City Council last month voted in favor of giving $250,000 towards assisting the Residences at Governor’s Square, a bankrupt and dilapidated complex near N. 5th and Maclay streets.

The money will go to a court-appointed receiver, who is slated to take over operations of the
development and bring the properties into code compliance.

Last October, Governor’s Square’s owner Uptown Partners, the city of Harrisburg and other parties to the bankruptcy case agreed to have the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas appoint a receiver to take over control of the property. The owners first filed for bankruptcy in May 2023, having received hundreds of city code citations and condemnations. While in bankruptcy court, the owner has struggled to find a buyer with the necessary funding and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approvals.

The money from the city will help get the receivership started, with the expectation that the funds will be reimbursed to the city eventually.

The court is responsible for appointing a receiver. The city has proposed Justin Heinly, owner of Harrisburg-based Midtown Property Management.

Also last month, council took a step forward towards kickstarting the Citizen’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board (CLEAC). Council approved the creation of the board in 2020, but the board has not yet met.

At its meeting, council made an amendment to the board, removing Mayor Wanda Williams’ two required appointments to the board. Now, council will have the power to appoint seven board members, instead of its previous five.

In March 2023, council appointed Brent Miller, Quinton Davis, Adrian Selkowitz, Gia Johnson and Lakichia Carrier to the board. The board is not able to function without all seven appointees. Once appointed, the board will select another two members for appointment.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Harrisburg resident Vivian Brandler presented council with a petition related to the Broad Street Market. The petition included signatures from around 500 community members opposed to Harrisburg’s proposal to construct a new building in the market’s courtyard, between the two market buildings.

Brandler told TheBurg that she collected signatures over four days at the market, hearing from residents and out-of-town community members who were disappointed by the city’s proposal, one of several possible ideas for the future of the courtyard.

“There’s something to be said about a third space,” Brandler said. “It’s a meeting place.”

Finally, council moved to reallocate $59,000 in the city’s budget to fund a new Harrisburg Youth Sports Association. The association, created by several community members, will help city youth pay for costs associated with local sports teams and memberships to the Harrisburg Area YMCA and Boys and Girls Club of Harrisburg.

Youth Commission Restarted

Harrisburg City Council will restart a civic educational program meant to inspire youth.

At a press conference last month, council member Jocelyn Rawls announced that council’s Youth Commission will return next school year and needs advisors.

“Myself and members of city council are dedicated to providing middle school to high school age residents with greater opportunities for leadership, community government and involvement and first-hand experience in their local government because they are our future leaders,” said Rawls, chair of the parks, recreation and enrichment committee.

Council is looking to hire a senior advisor and junior advisor, both part-time. The advisors will serve as mentors to the youth and will organize meetings and community events and work with local officials. The advisors will report to Rawls and council President Danielle Bowers and will have an office in the MLK City Government Center.

Council expects to hire for the positions in April.

The commission previously operated for a period from October 2022 to August 2023. According to Rawls, she and Bowers decided it would be best to pause the commission to have time to revamp it to reach more students and to hire advisors who could devote more time.

The youth commission will be open to Harrisburg students, from any school within the city, who are in sixththrough 12th grade. Youth must apply, interview and be selected for the board, which will meet twice a month from September to June.

To apply for the Youth Commission advisor positions, visit the city’s website.

Home Sales, Prices Higher

Harrisburg-area home sales and prices both ticked higher in February, according to the latest report on previously owned houses.

For the three-county region, 398 homes sold compared to 373 in February 2024, as the median price rose to $279,750 from $264,000, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors (GHAR).

In Dauphin County, 195 homes sold in February versus 171 in the year-ago period, and the median sales price increased to $260,000 from $220,000, GHAR stated.

Cumberland County had 179 home sales, a dip from 185 the prior February, while the median sales price rose to $315,000 from $299,900, GHAR said.

In Perry County, 24 houses sold, an increase of three, as the median sales prices dropped to $237,500 from $260,000 in the year-ago period, according to GHAR.

The pace of sales slowed a bit, as the “average days on market” rose to 34 days versus 31 days in February 2024, GHAR said.

So Noted

Crystal Brown last month was named the new vice president of equity initiatives for The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC). According to TFEC, Brown offers more than a decade of nonprofit leadership experience and a passion for making philanthropy more inclusive.

Harrisburg University and HACC last month announced a new transfer agreement in which students will be able to earn their associate’s degree while pursuing their bachelor’s degree. According to the colleges, students earning a bachelor’s degree at HU will be able to apply eligible credits back to HACC. For more, contact [email protected] or visit www.hacc.edu/transfer.

Jeff Balestrini last month was named chief consumer lending officer for Members 1st Federal Credit Union. In this role, he oversees the credit union’s consumer lending operations, including mortgage, indirect, home equity, card portfolio and lending fintech solutions, according to Members 1st.

Kala Smith Groff last month was named the new supervisor and funeral director of Marysville-based Michael J. Shalonis Funeral Home & Cremation Services. A central Pa. native, Groff replaces Tom Ford, who died in late 2024, according to the company.

Karl Singleton, a Harrisburg official, died last month in his home at age 52. Singleton served under two city administrations, most recently as chief equity and compliance officer. He also had filed to run for City Council, just days before his passing.

The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art last month announced that it had received funding for a major fungi educational and conservation project through the DCNR’s Wild Resource Conservation Program. This $30,000 grant enables it to establish Pennsylvania’s first Wild Mushroom Conservation and Education Area on 72 acres of center land between the Rail Trail and Wiconisco Creek.

Changing Hands

Bellevue Rd., 1934: D. Kessler to Breneman Properties LLC, $105,000

Berryhill St., 2424: JR Phoenix Investing LLC to S. Guaba & C. Nunez, $125,000

Boas St., 1508: K. Berhane to Saintelia Properties II LLC, $250,000

Calder St., 102: C. Hommel to M. Bachmore & T. Vanderstappen, $240,000

Catherine St., 1441: I. Colon to L. Stewart, $50,000

Chestnut St., 1810: C. Blodgett to S. Herrera, $110,000

Chestnut St., 1957: D. & K. Leader to A. & R. Hart, $94,291

Crescent St., 310: M. Olano to A Ventura Construction LLC, $80,000

Dauphin St., 605, 607, 609, 610: Dobson Family Partnership to Blue Valley Investments LLC, $125,000

Derry St., 1146½: T. Nguyen & T. Xuan to PACC Homes & Development LLC, $84,500

Duke St., 2444: C. Lozano to S. Rubinstein & J. Choi, $137,200

Evergreen St., 18: C. Morrison to Mau Properties LLC, $70,000

Forster St., 266: J. Witmer to A. Guerrero, $285,000

Green St., 2245: J. Smith to Y. & I. Martinez, $105,000

Green St., 2319: J. & Y. Guarneri to VHS Properties LLC, $73,000

Greenwood St., 2245: B. Weaver to J. Calo, $126,140

Harris Terr., 2477: G. Kroschel & K. & R. Becht to Y. Torres, $148,000

Herr St., 1839: C. & M. Early to S. Moyer, $202,000

Hillside Rd., 215: T. Watson to E. Diel, $265,000

Hoerner St., 127: D. Kessler to MAT Holdings LLC, $85,000

Howard St., 1328: J. Allan to L. & R. Brown, $99,000

Jefferson St., 2213: NA Capital Group LLC to EA Capital LLC, $95,000

Kensington St., 2032: F. Swanson to K&M Home Investment LLC, $81,000

Kittatinny St., 1116: L. Serrano to J. Perez, $99,000

Maclay St., 247: Penn Investment National Group LLC to J. Janeus, $201,000

Manada St., 1903: Willow Mill Realty Holdings LLC to A. Molina, $192,500

Muench St., 420: G. Lampley to Hillside Financial LLC, $120,000

Mulberry St., 1907: V. Rijo to A. Lewis & C. Cutting, $143,000

N. 3rd St., 1002: N. Patel c/o French Motel to Shakti Krupa LLC, $200,000

N. 4th St., 2106: I. Folkner to 2106 North 4th Street LLC, $72,500

N. 4th St., 2601: Hobbeze Inc. to N. Thompson, $95,000

N. 5th St., 2030: Integrity First Home Buyers LLC to D. Glick, $109,000

N. 5th St., 2032: South Lake LLC to Integrity First Home Buyers LLC, $77,500

N. 5th St., 2733: Integrity First Home Buyers LLC to Pioneer Path Properties LLC, $175,000

N. 6th St., 2535: S&S Property Management to Pioneer Path Properties LLC, $120,000

N. 6th St., 3140: TKO Rental LLC to C. Gittens, $160,000

N. 15th St., 521: G. Neff to Echo Propco I LLC, $85,000

N. 15th St., 1304: M3 6 Realty LLC to PKM Enterprises369 LLC, $105,000

N. 15th St., 1320: D. Whittaker to A. & S. Sharma, $155,000

N. Cameron St., 1821: S. Miller to D&S Cameron Bridge LP, $85,000

N. Linden St., 27: D. Vu to Biyaki Enterprises LLC, $99,000

N. Summit St., 24: Jaae Rental Properties LLC to SD Housing LLC, $95,000

N. Summit St., 118: Archie Group LLC to K. Laurent, $125,000

Penn St., 2153: Equitable Rentals LLC to Dvilla LLC, $100,000

Penn St., 2318: NA Capital Group LLC to EA Capital LLC, $95,000

Prince St., 713: Z. & A. Einhorn and T. Marino to Two Three Two Investments LLC, $107,500

Race St., 562: 562 Race St LLC & Commercial Loan Funding LLC to B & S. Dhakal, $308,000

Regina St., 1730: W. Quezada to J. Nugra & N. Morocho, $62,500

Royal Terr., 115: Adonis Real Estate LLC to Robert W. Kelly Special Needs Trust, $130,000

S. 13th St., 1400: I. Medina & J. Culcay to Club 87 LLC, $185,000

S. 13th St., 1529: J. Spagnolo to J. Pagan, $60,000

S. 14th St., 240: Filjo Properties LLC to I. Cepeda, $117,000

S. 14th St., 314: G. Garcia to State 1510 LLC, $115,000

S. 21st St., 957: J. & C. Aurelio to Normans Realty Services Inc., $52,500

State St., 1734: T. Stinson to Breneman Properties LLC, $232,500

Susquehanna St., 1815: PA Deals LLC to C&C Homes LLC, $74,000

Vernon St., 1421: Mau Properties LLC to Penn RM Properties LLC, $99,561

Walnut St., 1711: E. Rivera to Penn RM Properties LLC, $115,500

Walnut St., 1900: BCR 1 Properties LLC to E. Leopard, $175,300

Woodbine St., 219: J. & S. Compton to T. Carter, $275,000

Harrisburg property sales, February 2025, greater than $50,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

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Voting Values: Here’s what I’ll be focused on this campaign season

March 28, 2025 | by Lawrance Binda

Illustration by Rich Hauck.

It’s April in Harrisburg, which brings a profusion of vibrant colors to the city’s sidewalks, parks and hillsides.

But along with the daffodils and tulips, something less organic will spring from the ground—campaign signs.

The city’s municipal primary is next month, so expect to see thickets of cardboard placards for candidates running for mayor, city council, school board and other offices.

Now, TheBurg doesn’t endorse candidates—never has. This longstanding policy is based on one person’s belief (mine) that I have no right to tell people how to vote.

That said, I consider myself a high-information voter and take my responsibility seriously. So, I thought I’d share with readers a few of the criteria I’ll use as I sit in the voting booth on May 20, pondering which boxes to check with my little pencil. I hope these offer a unique take on the more traditional evaluation based on promises and personalities.

Pragmatism
When asked about my political lean, I respond that I’m a pragmatist. Yes, I like to consider myself a compassionate pragmatist, understanding that any cost/benefit calculation must include the needs of actual humans. But, in the end, I want solutions to problems, not politics, posturing or personal agendas. I’ll cast my vote for candidates who seem to understand that holding public office means hard work, long hours and a constant quest for the best, most practical responses to the city’s many challenges.

Mayor/Council
In my years in Harrisburg, there’s been one constant—the never-ending war between the administration and City Council, no matter the mayor, no matter the council. I’m not saying that the mayor and council shouldn’t check each other—they should. But the relentless, grinding, deeply personal battle between government officials is a recipe for inaction and dysfunction. If candidates have ideas on how to better work with their fellow officeholders, I’d love to hear them during the campaign.

Representation
As I’ve said before in this space, I’m no fan of Harrisburg’s governmental structure. Among other changes, I believe the city would be better served with ward representation for City Council, as opposed to the current at-large structure. However, as the old saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. So, I guess I’m stuck with what we have: one at-large mayor and seven at-large mini-mayors (council members). Therefore, I’ll be voting for candidates who seem to understand that they represent the entire city of Harrisburg, not just a slice of it. Yes, this means representing people from every neighborhood, from Uptown to Midtown, from downtown to Allison Hill. It means representing every class, every race, every age—and, importantly, not setting people against each other. It also means representing other groups, such as Harrisburg’s small businesses, its vibrant arts community, its civic associations and, yes, even its developers. Importantly, it means being present in life throughout the city. Our officials should be in our restaurants, our shops, at shows, along the riverfront, on City Island, etc. We should run into them on the street, at the Broad Street Market, at a concert or play. Officials can only understand the complexity of life here by being deeply engaged in the city they represent.

Vision
Where do you want to take Harrisburg? What’s your vision for the city? As a mayor or legislator, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of the job. However, since I’ve been in Harrisburg, few have articulated a broader vision for the city other than getting past the next meeting or maybe surviving the current fiscal year. I want to know from candidates their longer-term vision—and how they plan to move the city in that direction. Importantly, Harrisburg needs some type of long-range economic development strategy now that the commonwealth has largely abandoned its own capital city. But there are many other pressing issues that require immersive thought, planning and solutions, including housing, crime and homelessness.

So, that’s my checklist. It’s possible that, during the campaign, other issues will spring up that could influence my vote. However, I regard these four measures as vital for a well-functioning city government that soberly assesses its challenges—and then takes positive, proactive measures to do something about them.

Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of TheBurg.

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Records of Refugees: 50 years ago, Fort Indiantown Gap played a big role in resettling Vietnamese refugees. You can learn what their lives were like

March 28, 2025 | by Dan Miller

Charles Oellig, director/curator of the Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum at Fort Indiantown Gap, examines items included in the collection from when the post housed Vietnamese refugees following the fall of Saigon in April 1975.

In 1975, Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County was filled with nearly identical, nondescript, white two-story barracks buildings dating to World War II.

An abundance of these buildings, many empty at the time, led to “the Gap” playing a key role in what is considered the largest refugee resettlement effort in American history—assisting those fleeing South Vietnam and elsewhere from southeast Asia after the fall of Saigon, which occurred 50 years ago, in April 1975.

Many of these buildings have been torn down since then. But some remain, including one home to the Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum, Building 8-57, which contains a remarkable collection of memorabilia from when Indiantown Gap served as a camp for the refugees.

In the months following the fall of Saigon, President Gerald Ford and Congress authorized the evacuation and resettlement of about 140,000 refugees from South Vietnam and Cambodia.

Fort Indiantown Gap was one of just four military installations throughout the country selected to house the refugees. The others were Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Chaffee in Arkansas and Elgin Air Force Base in Florida.

“The buildings and the space were available here to do it,” said museum Director/Curator Charles Oellig.

More than 30,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees lived in the World War II-era barracks at Fort Indiantown Gap on their way to permanent resettlement during the late 1970s. They were housed in four different areas of the Gap—known as areas 3, 4, 5 and 6.

White engineering tape—samples of which are included in the museum’s collection—was used to cordon off the areas and to contain the refugees within them.

“(The refugees) were told that they were not allowed outside that boundary, and they scrupulously observed that rule,” according to Frank H. Smoker Jr., a retired major general and former commander of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard who wrote a history of Fort Indiantown Gap.

Smoker, who flew five combat missions into Vietnam, and his wife were actively involved with the refugees at the Gap. The Smokers sponsored a Vietnamese family as well as a young Vietnamese jet pilot. Smoker died in 2010 at age 85.

After arriving at the Gap, the refugees awaited processing by social service agents who helped them locate sponsors and jobs.

During this time, they attended English language classes, participated in sports, and searched for employment in Pennsylvania, according to a history of Indiantown Gap’s role in the resettlement of the refugees by Stephanie Hinnershitz, a historian and professor of security and military studies.

Indiantown Gap quickly gained a reputation as a “fast” processing center, according to Hinnershitz.

The first refugees arrived in June 1975, and, by mid-December, 22,228 had been sponsored by Americans into local communities, according to Smoker.

By the early 1980s, about 12,000 refugees had found work and sponsors in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg alone, making Pennsylvania the state with the third-largest population of refugees at the time, after California and Texas.

Scholarly, Personal

The museum at the Gap is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to know more about the day-to-day life experiences of the Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees at the installation.

The collection includes a two-volume set of “Good Land,” or “Dat Lanh” in Vietnamese, a newsletter in both English and Vietnamese published for the refugees. The museum edition is the only complete set of the newsletter that Oellig knows of.

The collection also includes military manuals, orientation handbooks and records regarding the camp at the Gap, information on sponsors, and various bits and pieces that offer insight into what life was like for the refugees, such as meal tickets and photos of weddings and other significant events.

From June through mid-December 1975, 74 weddings of refugees took place at Indiantown Gap, as well as 128 births and 10 deaths, according to Smoker.

The collection is not on permanent display at the museum, but Oellig is happy to accommodate anyone wishing to visit Building 8-57 to see the memorabilia.

Over the years, many Vietnamese and others have come to the museum to do research on the refugee camp at the Gap. The research is scholarly but at times intensely personal, as in the case of a woman who started to cry upon finding her father’s name among those who had come through the camp.

Neither Oellig nor the museum were at the Gap back then—the museum was dedicated in 1986. But Oellig’s personal connections with refugees who passed through the Gap extend beyond just those coming to do research.

While getting hearing aids not long ago, Oellig noticed that the woman who tested him wore a badge with the last name of Tran.

“I said, ‘That looks like a Vietnamese name,’ and she said, ‘My grandparents came over from Vietnam,’” Oellig said. “She wasn’t 100% sure, but she thought they came here through Fort Indiantown Gap, because they settled in this area.”

Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum is located at Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville.
To arrange to see the collection of artifacts from the Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee camp, contact Charles Oellig at 717-861-2402, or by email at [email protected].

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Decades of Aid: This month, Respect Together marks 50 years of helping sexual abuse survivors

March 28, 2025 | by Phyllis Zimmerman

Respect Together team

It took a lot of searching before Amanda* found the help she needed as a sexual assault survivor.

She finally found it through Respect Together, comprising the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect, or PCAR, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, based in Harrisburg.

“Through googling, I found PCAR,” Amanda said “Trying to find the resources to help you is the most challenging. Navigating the system is really difficult. It was by the grace of God that I found them.”

She reached the organization just days before an initial 36-month protection order against her sexual abuser was set to expire. Three years later, she was at a loss about how to attain further protection. Through Respect Together, she was assigned to an attorney for PCAR’s Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Program.

“Respect Together helped me through a very difficult time when it seemed hopeless,” Amanda said. “[They] just helped me in court this week and got my protection order extended for another three years.”

This month, Respect Together celebrates its 50th anniversary in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). This year’s theme is “Together we act, united we change.”

Besides fundraiser events, the organization relies on private donations and local and federal funding to maintain operations.

“The goal behind SAAM is for everyone to have a better idea of what sexual assault is,” said Yolanda Edrington, Respect Together CEO. “It takes everyone to bring it up and talk about it at their table.”

A Union

The roots of Respect Together lie in the formation of PCAR, originally called the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, in 1975. PCAR’s mission is “to support and advocate for the collective needs of rape crisis centers throughout the Commonwealth,” according to the Respect Together website.

PCAR began as one of the first state sexual assault coalitions in the United States and one of few with a dedicated line item in its state’s annual budget. Today, PCAR supports more than 26,000 sexual abuse survivors through 48 rape crisis centers situated in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, according to Joyce Lukima, COO of PCAR.

“Sexual assault is a comprehensive term,” Lukima said. “It can mean violence, abuse and harassment.”

In 2023, PCAR was rebranded as Respect Together with the tagline, “united to end sexual abuse, assault and harassment.” The new name represented a union of its main divisions, providing resources and prevention strategies at a national level.

“The coalition was renamed in August 2023 to better reflect the work that we do,” Lukima stated.

Healing Journey

In July 2000, PCAR created a National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) with funding from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since then, the NSVRC continues as a “leading nationwide provider of information and tools” with the “largest resource library in the world” dedicated to sexual violence and prevention, according to Respect Together’s website.

In 2024, NSVRC provided information and resources to more than 1,300 clients and training to upwards of 11,000 individuals, according to Jennifer Grove, the director/COO.

The non-lending library at 2101 N. Front St. has a searchable online base with materials limited to online or onsite library access only. Appointments are required for onsite research.

Respect Together also shares partnership with the National Sexual Assault Conference, a 2½-day advocacy event offering advanced training with sexual violence intervention and prevention information. The annual event is organized on a rotating basis between Respect Together and Valor US, a national organization serving as California’s sexual assault coalition.

The organization also partners with RALIANCE, a multimillion-dollar seed investment by the National Football League started in 2015 with a stated mission of “ending sexual violence in one generation.” RALIANCE awards grants for advancing related research, policymaking and other pertinent causes.

Today, Amanda said she’s committed to helping other sexual assault survivors. She now volunteers for RISE, a domestic violence services firm, and Team America, with further plans to do more in the social services field. She agreed to share her story in this article as part of her “healing journey” and to help others.

She advises other sexual assault survivors to “turn to people to help you and to navigate the system.”

“One of the most difficult parts is feeling that there really isn’t anyone out there to help you,” she said.

*Amanda’s name was changed to protect her identity.

Respect Together’s 50th anniversary fundraiser gala is scheduled for April 30 at 6 p.m. at Hershey Country Club, 1000 E. Derry Road, Hershey. Tickets cost $195. To register and for more information about the event and the organization, visit www.respecttogether.org. For general inquiries, call 1-800-692-7445 or 717-728-9740. For victims of sexual assault in Pennsylvania, call 1-888-772-7227.

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