Stanley A. Shimko

CBWS allows eligible College and University students to use their Federal Work Study award to work off campus, at a local non-profit. Students earn their wages while supporting meaningful community work and gaining real world experiences and assisting non-profits with their impacts withing the communities that they serve by providing some additional organizational capacity to the organizations.

CBWS is designed for students who want their work to matter by contributing locally to the communities that surround their Colleges and Universities. They can gain hands‑on experience in real nonprofit settings, build skills that translate directly to future careers, explore fields like education, social services, history, environmental work, and community outreach. On top of the soft skills and opportunities for applied science, they can also earn certificates that they can add to their resumes and make a positive impact while getting paid. EPCAMR encourages students can contact their Financial Aid or Community Engagement office to learn more about eligibility and placements. Students at King’s College should inquire if they have questions or need more assistance on the process, by stopping by Kelly Gibbons’ office at the Shoval Center or book an appointment with her (in person is preferable)  Book time to meet with me

Stanley shares deep familial ties with the coal region, and intends that the lands in which he was raised, may be healed from the long history and scars of past  anthracite mining. He comes from a lineage of generational coal miners in Eastern Europe around Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. He expressed interest in working (after graduation) in a field related to anthracite mining. To this end, he expressed his gratefulness and his interest in the opportunity to participate  EPCAMR’s Work Study internship program. Stanley will use his historical insight from his education at King’s to aid in EPCAMR’s preparation for its 30th Anniversary in the Fall, during his work study and for research into anthracite mining history topics that will become a part of several of our reports and watershed assessments that we are currently working on.

Stanley expressed his desire to share EPCAMR’s history at the 30th Anniversary Reception, as bringing EPCAMR’s history and past projects to the forefront of local conciseness would bring forth a greater sense of awareness to the type of work and activities involved in EPCAMR’s abandoned mine reclamation, which directly benefits the regional population centers impacted by abandoned mines in Northeastern and Northcentral PA.

Stanley tells us, “My generation does not have the constant visual reminder of anthracite
history which past generations had. I mean coal breakers, colliery buildings, washeries, shafts, slopes, and tipples which were scatted across the Wyoming Valley have been by and large, torn down. So I have noticed that my generation has begun to forget about the long, painful and oppressive history of anthracite mining, entirely”. He later said, “Despite there being little reminders of the deep mining on the surface, there are still endless catacombs of coal veins and water-filled gangways and rooms, with their pillars removed, beneath our feet that remind of of their existence when they open up occasionally during mine subsidence emergencies in our communities, revealing with that geological hazard that comes along with living in the Coal Region, the long unforgettable history of Anthracite.”

Bobby Hughes, Executive Director mentioned, ” We’re glad to have Stanley with us through the CBWS Program at King’s College, which is an invaluable program that supports non-profits like ourselves that don’t often have the funds to financially support paid internships, but have the space and can host the positions. We also are providing some valuable experiences for the students that they can get outside of the classroom and the opportunity to network and have professional mentors in the workforce that can educate them and give them firsthand chances to engage with the surrounding local communities that they are a part of while attending College or a local University. ”

Bobby joked, “As Stan and I were talking on his first day, he recalled attending a PA American Water Wonderful World of Water Camp at The Lands at Hillside Farms when he was very young and he remembered making an AMD Tie-Dye T-shirt and was first introduced to EPCAMR in his early youth. That was rewarding to hear, since I had conducted that educational event and led the workshop to create those t-shirts for the campers, which is an Environmental Education Program that we have been doing for decades with Susan Turcmanovich, External Affairs Manager, from PA American Water, both at The Lands at Hillside Farms over the years, when the Educational Center building was first constructed up on the hill, and yearly at the Valley Library, along the Lackawanna River, in Peckville.”

Stanley will be coming in to the Office twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when he doesn’t have classes, so there is no conflict with his on campus education, and providing us with 10 hours a week for 10 weeks. His Activities are outlined in the following Volunteer Activity Description (VAD) entitled, EPCAMR Coal Region History Researcher and Archivist_Job Description

He will also spend time archiving and scanning our 30 years history of news articles, projects, photos, into a digital archive for EPCAMR. We hope to have it complete to reveal at the 30th Anniversary Reception in September 2026.

Another assignment will be to research the history of coal mining towns and communities where coal breakers were once prominent as we develop our watershed assessments for a number of watersheds in the region. In particular, he will be looking at the E.S. Stackhouse Colliery and Greater Shickshinny Area as we continue to develop our Coldwater Conservation Plan for the Shickshinny Creek Watershed and both the Paddy Run and Rocky Run Valleys, along the southern tip of the Northern Anthracite Coalfields, along State Route 11, in Shickshinny and Salem Township.

E.S. Stackhouse portrait from 1886.

The majority of the colliery history is located in State Game Lands 260. He’ll be looking for maps and history on the people, landmarks, and local communities that influenced the mining industry in those areas that EPCAMR always includes in our watershed assessments and Coldwater Conservation Plans.

A transparency over a historic mining map showing the E.S. Stackhouse Colliery Breaker original location along State Route 11 just outside of Shickshinny.

He will be helping our former AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Dennis Dukinas, continue to build on our new Story Map on the Anthracite Region’s Historic Coal Mines, Breakers, and Washeries, in the Northern, Middle (Eastern), Western Middle, and Southern Anthracite Coal Fields, Geographic Information System (GIS), online, interactive map.

Screen shot of the online Story Map and Interactive Historical Coal Mines, Collieries, Breakers, and Washeries in the EPCAMR Region’s Anthracite Coal Fields

He expressed his interest in attending the EPCAMR 30th Anniversary Reception with his fiancée, and wishes for you to be in attendance as well, on September 19th, 2026 from 5-9PM, at the Sand Springs Country Club, in Drums. More details on the planning of this pivotal occasion will be forthcoming, so please SAVE THE DATE! We will be highlighting our accomplishments over the last three decades. Dinner and a Cash Bar will be provided. Registration will open soon and sponsorships will be sought from our regional partners across our 16-county region.

We look forward to his contributions to our organization over the next 10 weeks! Welcome aboard Stanley! Join us in welcoming him to this great opportunity for the both of us.

The post EPCAMR Brings on Stanley A. Shimko as a Community-based Federal Work Study student intern from King’s College as Our Coal Region History Researcher & Archivist appeared first on epcamr.org.

The project will also include an educational aspect where children are taught about the importance of growing their own fruits and vegetables along with coal mining history of the Wyoming Valley and even nutrition. Laura Rinehimer, Watershed Outreach Education Specialist at EPCAMR, explained, “This project provides an opportunity for youth to learn about plants first-hand through engaging in the process of growing vegetables from seed to table.” Rinehimer is responsible for creating a multidisciplinary, standards aligned curriculum for the project that will be provided to area teachers in the targeted school districts we would like to work with in the Wyoming Valley.  In addition to the Growboxxes^© and gardening supplies, several iPads will also be distributed to local schools so that they can share their experiences with children around the world through a concurrent project taking place in Ethiopia. Claudia Meglin is managing the project for Inquiring Systems, Inc. “We are looking forward to deepening our collaboration with EPCAMR to empower communities that have suffered under the demise of capitalistic extraction”.  Additionally, a documentary will be filmed to monitor the growth of the project, run by videographer John Welsh.

The mission of the grant is to help youth in the coal region reclaim their backyards. This region was heavily extracted for Anthracite coal for nearly 200 years. Many of the miners lived in company houses and already spent the majority of their earned income at the company store through the use of scrips. In order to become more self-sustaining people grew their own foods in patchwork gardens. In doing so, they reclaimed their freedom from the mining companies. “While EPCAMR normally focuses on reclaiming land and polluted mine water, this project will allow us to reclaim the backyards of residents located in previously mining impacted areas and provide families with an option to garden together and grow some healthy food options much like the mining families of the past,” said Executive Director at EPCAMR, Bobby Hughes.

Today, children in the region face a different type of oppression. 58% of individuals lie below the poverty level. For families with no transportation, often times, the easiest and cheapest food options are fast food or processed food options from local convenient stores. The focus area for the project can be seen as a food desert in many ways and it is difficult for people without vehicles to make trips to grocery stores to obtain nutritious, fresh fruits and vegetables. By teaching kids to grow their own food, it will help reclaim the freedom to eat healthy and make informed nutrition choices.

EPCAMR plans to partner with local Luzerne County children in the 4^th grade class in the following schools and organizations: The Graham Academy, Wilkes-Barre Area, Nanticoke Area and Hanover Area. Mt. Zion Baptists Church youth and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church youth from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area will also be involved. Staff will be reaching out to the School Districts and the Churches shortly. EPCAMR is patiently awaiting the arrival of 200 Growboxxes. If it is successful with the classrooms that we will be looking to work with, we will be making an appeal to Groasis to provide us with additional Growboxxes to get them to each of the other 4th grade classes in each of the school districts to reach even more youth and families in the Wyoming Valley. A pilot program will start in the fall with the full-blown program commencing in the spring.  For more information on the project, contact EPCAMR at (570) 371-3522.

A lemon tree in combination with melons using Growboxx technologies to flourish.

The post EPCAMR Pairs with Groasis to Provide Food Growboxxes for Youth in Coalfield Communities appeared first on epcamr.org.