The world meeting of families will bring hundreds of thousands of people to Philadelphia.
“It takes a lot of coordination. You have to be incredibly organized and we have a lot of people working on it.” Said Executive Director Donna Crilley Farrell
You may recognize three of the event leaders – they all have connections to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
“I loved Northeastern Pennsylvania. I loved working at WBRE. I loved the people.” Donna Crilley Farrell worked at Eyewitness News – covering Northeastern Pennsylvania – for about nine years in the 1990’s.
Donna on air she compared the adrenaline rush of reporting to her fast paced work as executive director of the big event “It is 24/7.” She told us she has a great team supporting her – it includes Bob Ciaruffoli – who is serving as President.
Donna tells us “Bob is the first and best volunteer.”
“It’s a phenomenal experience. I mean, there is so much going on. You meet so many different people.” Bob is from Swoyersville – he grew up with nine siblings in the Scranton diocese.
“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think of something like this. In fact, I joked all the nuns at Holy Trinity School in Swoyersville that taught me, if they knew I was doing this they’d roll over in their grave.” Bob says he had fun in school, he could not confirm or deny reports he may have had a few encounters with a nun’s ruler.
Danielle McNichol is working with Donna and Bob. She’s a lawyer who is originally from Orwigsburg — and is now serving as the World Meeting’s Director of Human Resources and in house counsel.
“As a person of faith, the most amazing part of this is an opportunity for everyone, not just of the catholic faith, but of all faiths, to be able to come together and just celebrate family.” Dani told us recently.
Celebrating families around the world – with leaders from our own Northeastern Pennsylvania Family.
