Dear John,

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday at East Stroudsburg University's 26th annual celebration breakfast was a great way to kick off the week. 

Christa Caceres, president of the Monroe County NAACP and a constituent advocate in my office, served as keynote speaker, reminding the capacity crowd in attendance to honor Dr. King's life, "his fight, his bruises, his belittling, his family and his death by walking the walk for all of us."

Sharon Mejia from Stroudsburg High School won first place in the Julianna V. Bolt Art Awards. Second place was Meghan Farrelly (East Stroudsburg North) and third place was Kimani Hanson (Stroudsburg). 

Congratulations to all those who were honored, including Richermy Batista Marinez, a sophomore from Hazleton majoring in political science; Donna-Marie Cole-Malott, professor of secondary education and co-director of the Pennsylvania Education Diversity Consortium; and Bishop Kenneth Pearman of the Reaching Out for Jesus Christian Center.

And special kudos to ESU President Kenneth Long for hosting yet another impressive - and powerful - event. 

I was honored to attend the inauguration of Governor Josh Shapiro this past Tuesday in Harrisburg.

I know we’ll see great things from the Shapiro Administration and I look forward to working with our new Governor to make the Commonwealth an even greater place to live and work for all Pennsylvanians.

You can imagine how proud I was when I ran into the state champion Hazleton Area Marching Cougars just as I was leaving the venue.

Under the direction of Joe Stefanko, these gifted musicians set the tone for the new administration by opening and closing the inauguration ceremony.

Let's just say these talented teens brought down the House ... and the Senate.

Starting this week, U.S. military veterans who find themselves in suicidal crisis are now eligible for free emergency medical care at any VA or non-VA healthcare facility. 

And unlike other medical benefits, veterans don't have to be enrolled in the VA system to be eligible. 

The new policy, which the VA announced this week, includes up to 30 days of inpatient or crisis residential care and up to 90 days of follow-up outpatient care.

We have a duty to those who served and that means providing lifesaving mental health services when they're needed most.

I visited Camp Freedom in Carbondale with Dave Eisele, Director of Lackawanna County Veterans Affairs, where we met with Executive Director Matt Guedes to discuss this new program and how we can best support veterans. 

To watch WNEP's coverage of this critical new program, click here.

To learn more about Camp Freedom and its mission, click here.

Congressman Dan Meuser and I will be on hand at WVIA studios for our rescheduled television town hall on Sunday, Jan. 29th, starting at noon.

To reserve your free seats for this interactive event, click here. As a reminder, if you had tickets to the event originally scheduled for Jan. 8th, you'll need to re-register for the new date. 

Here's hoping we see you there. 

Be safe and well,