< Previous%Locally SourcedLocally Sourced Melissa Laughlin of Moon Township has always had a heart for people, and now she has a way to put that into action. Her nonprofit, Blessed Home Project (BHP), exists to help those going through times of illness, loss or other challenges by gifting them with a free house cleaning, prayer and some smiling faces. Laughlin has owned a cleaning business for nearly 20 years and founded Blessed Home Cleaning LLC in 2017. Over the years, she dreamed of partnering with a nonprofit to help others. Little did she know she would end up starting her own nonprofit in the middle of a pandemic. Laughlin credits her faith in God for the vision of starting BHP. “We want to help others in a personal, yet practical way by giving them a free house cleaning during difficult seasons of life - recently losing a loved one, recovering from surgery, having a baby in the NICU, receiving cancer treatments,” she says. “It can really offer relief for people to know that their home is clean in times like these and gives them one less thing to worry about.” Over the years, Laughlin has offered free cleanings to friends and family as she saw a need, but as she began to see these situations arise more frequently, she knew it was more than she could do on her own. That realization led to the birth of BHP, which has already helped local families and is gaining momentum every week. Anyone can request help from BHP or nominate someone else by visiting blessedhomepgh.com, clicking on the Blessed Home Project tab, and filling out an application. The BHP Board of Directors reviews every nomination to determine eligibility and prays for any prayer requests submitted through the site, which remain confidential. The only requirements for eligibility are that the individual or family is experiencing hardship and located in BHP’s service areas of Moon Township, Robinson Township, Oakdale, Imperial and South Fayette Township. As with any nonprofit, donations are welcome and needed. Monetary donations can be made at blessedhomepgh.com. Cleaning items can also be purchased from their Target registry to be used in cleaning recipients’ homes. Blessed Home t-shirts are available through their Etsy shop, with all proceeds benefiting BHP. Spreading the word about BHP and how they’re helping Pittsburgh by liking and sharing their posts on Facebook and Instagram is also helpful. “Everyone is given at least one gift to share with the world,” shares Laughlin. “I was given the ability to clean and I believe I can use that to help others who are in need, especially during a time like this.” STORY SUBMITTED Melissa Laughlin Local nonprofit cleaning homes for those experiencing hardship 10 • Allegheny West Magazine • April/May 2021% New in Town New in Town Just like a lot of people, Rachel Thacker of Findlay Township found herself with a lot of extra free time on her hands last March. A physical therapist by trade, Rachel had just come off of maternity leave and only been back to work for three weeks when COVID-19 shut down the country. To consume some of her extra free time, Rachel threw herself into baking, which has always been a creative outlet for her. In between caring for her two young daughters, Lily and Kenzie, she experimented with making various breads, cookies and cakes. She started sharing these treats with neighbors and friends. Initially, she only asked for feedback in return. Rachel says she’s long had a knack for baking. She’s been doing it since her 20s and, for years, she’d even batted around the idea of opening up her own bakery. She’d put off the idea as the family moved from state to state to follow her husband’s work. Now that they were settled in Clinton and homebound due to the pandemic, she decided to pursue the project and formulate some new ideas. These included several different types of bundt cake recipes. Her first bundt was a rum cake and, after she got tired of cooking traditional banana bread loafs, she tried baking a banana bundt cake. Soon after, she came across a pan for making mini bundts. The niche idea opened up a whole new world of possibilities. “I started turning every cake, breakfast treat and dessert into mini-bundts,” she says, “and people loved them because they were an individual treat and great for sharing.” As Rachel’s mini-bundts grew in popularity, she and her husband decided that if she was going to scale her idea into a business they would need a commercial kitchen. With family time in mind, they converted part of their basement into a fully functioning commercial kitchen and received health department approval. That gave her the ability to bake in larger quantities and with no limitations. Thus, L&K Bundt Shop, which is named after her daughters, was born! Soon, Rachel was marketing her mini-bundt cakes on social media. People would buy a dozen and share them with friends and family. Then those contacts started reaching out to her with their own orders. She started taking most of her orders through Facebook Messenger and email. She’s continuing to take orders via those means and by phone for now and hoping to open a brick and mortar in the future. More recently, Rachel has also been exploring shipping options and hopes to have a website up and running soon. L&K Bundt Shop’s current rotation of flavors include red velvet, chocolate ganache, lemon, banana bread, apple, blueberry and cinnamon roll. In addition, she’s introduced a bundt of the month and so far her flavors have included pistachio and carrot cake. Next, Rachel is looking forward to marketing her bundts for events such as birthday parties, baby showers, office meetings and even weddings. “Everyone gets their own personal bundt cake and there’s no need to cut anything, plus it’s a change from traditional cupcakes,” she says. Rachel is working on partnerships with local small businesses to sell her mini-bundt cakes and looking to grow her business with local food trucks and farmers’ markets as well. To find out more and to order, reach out to Rachel via email at lkbundtshop@outlook.com or Facebook Messenger. Follow L&K Bundt Shop on Facebook to watch for their latest news, events and next flavor of the month. L&K Bundt Shop serves up sweet treats LEFT: Rachel Thacker, owner of L&K Bundt Shop, is pictured in her kitchen with a batch of her blueberry mini-bundts. RIGHT (from top): Rachel’s regular rotation of flavors include chocolate ganache, chocolate chip and red velvet cake. STORY SUBMITTED PHOTOS BY JAIME FAVRO PHOTOGRAPHY April/May 2021 • www.awmagazine.com • 11%Locally SourcedLocally Sourced In April of 1973, the Findlay Township Board of Supervisors made the decision to hire an assistant to help then township supervisor and secretary-treasurer, Lawrence Bolind Sr., in the office. That’s when Cheryl (Stover) Rinehart, a hometown girl from Imperial, was hired to work part-time in the evenings and cover public meetings. After graduating from West Allegheny High School that same year, she had also accepted a civil service position working full time for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare in Pittsburgh. She worked both jobs until January of 1974, when township supervisors offered her a full-time position. “I quickly accepted after realizing that, while it was exciting for an 18-year-old to travel to the city every day, this was not what I was really wanting to do with my life,” she says. “Little did I realize that my career would begin and end working for Findlay.” In April of this year, 48 years later to month when she first started, Rinehart retired from her duties as secretary-treasurer. It’s a position she was promoted to in 1985, after she was named assistant township secretary in 1979. During her tenure, Rinehart witnessed drastic changes across the area. She recalls how, after the county acquired vast acres of land for the expansion of Pittsburgh International Airport, it wasn’t unusual to see a house being relocated to another part of the township. The township’s first housing development, Westbury, was also developed during her tenure. Throughout, she recalls how Imperial maintained a small-town atmosphere, with a mixture of Main Street businesses and residences. Rinehart says her mother would often reminisce about growing up in Imperial with its small, family-owned eateries and clothing stores. Recently, the township began planning a revitalization program for the Imperial area and now has exciting plans to bring life back to the town. Clinton, meanwhile, was known to consist of mainly family farms and open space when Rinehart first started. At that time, the area now known as Westport - which will soon be home to two Amazon distribution centers and other major companies - was being strip mined by Aloe Coal Company. Trains transporting coal ran daily on the Montour Railroad, which is now the Montour Trail. Before Rinehart graduated from high school, she worked at White Swan Park, which she recalls being “the” place to work for area teenagers. For years, Rinehart was the only face in the Findlay Township office. Until the office moved to the former Clinton Elementary Building, it operated out of a very tiny office on Main Street in Imperial. As the township grew, more departments - including planning and parks and recreation - were added. Even now, after all that growth, there is still that one person who answers the phone or greets you when you visit the office. During her tenure, Rinehart also witnessed the election of the township’s first female township supervisor, Cathy Schienle, and had the privilege of working with the township’s first manager, Gary Klingman. He was hired in 1991 and retired in 2015, when he was succeeded by Chris Caruso. “When I think of all Cheryl has done, I would say she is the first lady of Findlay,” says Caruso. “Her knowledge of the township and its workings is endless.” During her retirement, Rinehart plans on sharing quality time with her husband, Rick, of 41 years and to continue serving on the committee of the Western Allegheny Community Historical Society. It’s an organization she has served on since its inception in 2015. She and Rick have two children: Rachel, who resides in North Carolina, and Kira. After a recent Facebook post about her retirement, some users commented that not many people stay at one company or organization for 48 years. Living in the most beautiful and diverse part of the county, however, and working with wonderful people and having the ability to help residents made the job enjoyable, says Rinehart. “I will certainly miss my co-workers who have become my second family and the residents, both old and new, who I have come to know,” she says. Findlay secretary-treasurer retires after dedicating almost 50 years to township WA alumna recognized by Marines on social media The U.S. 1st Marine Division recognized West Allegheny alumna Capt. Barbara Lesko on its official Facebook page March 3 with the hashtag #WarriorWednesday. The account posted a picture of Lesko along with some information about her service. According to the post, Lesko is currently piloting an MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft with the Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) in Kuwait. When Lesko graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy she was only about the fourth West Allegheny graduate to do so. She is the daughter of Jesse Lesko, who recently retired as Findlay Township’s police chief, and Gail Lesko. Capt. Barbara Lesko PHOTO BY GUNNERY SGT. MELISSA MARNELL CONTENT SUBMITTED West Allegheny High School alumnus Nathan Dragisich has started his sophomore season with the Duquesne University men’s soccer team on a strong note. The midfielder currently leads Duquesne in assists and, at the time of this writing, has thus far assisted on two game-winning goals. One was in a 1-0 overtime win over fifteenth-ranked St Louis University. During Dragisich’s freshman season, he was named to the Atlantic-10 Conference All-Rookie team and was also on Top Drawer Soccers Top 100 Division 1 freshman list. At West Allegheny, he was a member of the 2018 state championship team his senior year. Dragisich has also committed to play this summer for the Dayton Dutch Lions Soccer Club in the USL2 League. Dragisich shines at college level Nathan Dragisich Cheryl (Stover) Rinehart 12 • Allegheny West Magazine • April/May 2021CAround Your Town Around Your Town When Jesse Lesko first joined the Findlay Township police department in April of 1987, the township was a much different place than it is today. Many of the corporate and private industries that have been responsible for its exponential growth over the past couple of decades were still a long ways off from coming to the area. Lesko recalls how, when he joined the force, the township’s police cars ran on propane, radio reception only reached so far and officers were sometimes asked to wait until Monday to cash their paychecks. “The township has come so far in that amount of time,” says Lesko, who was later named chief in 2007. “I think it’s just good leadership and management.” On April 8, 34 years to the day when he joined the force, Lesko officially retired. The longest tenured officer at the department, Lesko has been succeeded by the department’s second longest tenured officer, John Hart, who now has 30 years with the department. In retirement, Lesko says he is looking forward to working on his golf game and pursuing his woodworking hobby. He and his wife, Gail - who also just retired from her position as a cafeteria worker at West Allegheny Middle School after 22 years - are looking forward to traveling to see their two children, Barbara and Jesse. Barbara, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, is now a pilot in the Marine Corps. Jesse followed in his father’s footsteps to become a police officer in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he is also a captain in the National Guard. Both children graduated from West Allegheny High School. Lesko says he feels good about where he has left the department and he credits his predecessor, Paul Wilks, with putting the department on the right track before he took over. He says it was Wilks who first pushed the department to obtain accredited status. Until Lesko retired, he says he was the last officer to join the department before it attained that accreditation. Lesko says that, when the department did first gain accreditation, it was one of the smallest agencies in the county to do so. It is still only one of two departments in the county and 10 in the state to be dually accredited through both Pennsylvania and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Over the years, much of Lesko’s work has also been dedicated to keeping pace with the area’s dramatic growth and scaling the department accordingly. During that time, the department’s force has gone from six to 18 officers and seven dispatchers. In 2019, the township opened a new police station and Lesko oversaw development of the building as a member of the design team. In 2007, Lesko became an assessor for other departments and, in that role, was able to learn what he could bring back to Findlay’s department. “You saw what other departments were doing and the problems they were encountering,” he says. “A lot of times, it was good information. You learn from other peoples’ misery.” He says that the department has long been utilizing modern techniques such as de-escalation and shoot-don’t-shoot exercises. He again credits Wilks with putting the department ahead of the curve in regards to confronting issues that have plagued other departments. Asked what he’ll miss most, he says that’s easy: the people. “Right now we have a wonderful staff, from parks and rec to road department,” he says. “We have a good mix of people who complement each other and do the job well. I want to say I had a hand in hiring a majority of our officers and dispatchers. I think that’s what I’ll miss the most.” Moving forward, Hart says he feels good about where the department is positioned. He reiterates that many reforms being proposed to policing consist of the kinds of things that Findlay’s department has been doing for years. That is thanks in large part to the significant man hours it dedicates to its accreditations. He says those practices will aid the department going forward as the township continues to grow both in terms of business and residential development. Similar to Lesko, Hart recalls Findlay being a small, bedroom community when he began in 1991. He points out that, at that time, Pittsburgh Intentional Airport had not yet been completed and the township didn’t have a single traffic light. “What’s unique is the police department has maintained a level of service to the community and business owners, and it still has that community mindset to serve the people,” he says. Findlay Township supervisor Ray Chappell, who was on the board when both officers were hired, says that both have a come a long way. He says Lesko left a positive mark on the department and that Hart will continue what he started. “Chief Lesko brought this group of officers together,” says Chappell. “They’re a very cohesive group and he will be sorely missed. Chief Hart will continue that work. They’re a great group.” Findlay’s Chief Lesko retires after 34 years Jesse Lesko (pictured above) recently retired as Findlay Township’s police chief. He has been succeeded by John Hart, who is pictured below shortly after being sworn in as the department’s new chief. STORY BY DOUG HUGHEY PHOTOS SUBMITTED April/May 2021 • www.awmagazine.com • 13CAround Your Town Around Your Town When members of the Imperial VFD get a call about a fire or a vehicle accident, they know they could have a lot of ground to cover in a hurry. That’s because the department’s fire district doesn’t just end at the borders of Imperial, as its name may imply. Rather, it encompasses the entirety of Findlay Township, from Westbury to communities like The Reserve at Twin Lakes and Maronda Farms in Clinton. In total, it operates three stations across the township and, at just under 33 square miles, its fire district is the largest in the Allegheny County suburbs. The department even responds to calls in North Fayette, Moon, Independence and other neighboring townships. To continue serving that large area and the thousands of additional residents expected to move to Findlay in the future, the department has taken a number of measures over the years. In 2014, the department opened a new station in Imperial and, most recently, it took delivery of a brand new fire truck. The new truck, a 2020 Sutphen Pumper Rescue Truck, replaces the department’s 29-year-old apparatus. The new truck provides fire fighters with a number of additional capabilities, including a 1,000-gallon water tank, which is about 40% larger than the one on its old truck. It is also outfitted with a 2,000-gallon pump and will be able to carry more equipment. Department president Bob Lambert says that the vehicle will Fundraisers help Imperial VFD purchase new truck and service growing township The Imperial VFD’s new fire truck is a 2020 Sutphen Pumper Rescue Truck and has replaced the department’s 29-year-old apparatus. STORY AND PHOTOS BY DOUG HUGHEY 14 • Allegheny West Magazine • April/May 2021primarily be used to respond to vehicle accidents and other rescues where specialized equipment is needed. The vehicle should also help the department lower its ISO fire insurance rating, which will in turn save Findlay Township residents money by lowering their home insurance rates. What’s perhaps even more impressive, though, is that the department paid for the new vehicle in full and did so in part through years of fundraising efforts. Community- supported initiatives run entirely by department volunteers all helped the department save enough to make the purchase. Those efforts, such as fish fries, boot drives, craft shows, fairs and mailers soliciting donations, help the department purchase equipment and upgrade its facilities, as needed. “We rely heavily on our fund drives,” says Lambert. “It has taken us a long time to save that amount of money.” To organize and pull off those fundraisers, the department leans on its volunteers. Those volunteers stuff envelopes, make coleslaw, collect money at intersections and operate the fish fryers. Lambert says those volunteers are just as vital to the department’s operations as the ones who run into fires. He points out, though, that departments in general have seen a falloff in volunteers over the years and that his department is no different. “It’s not just here, it’s everywhere,” he says. “Volunteerism in the fire service has dropped dramatically over the years and we need all the help we can get.” He says that volunteers don’t all have to fight fires and that departments need people who can help maintain facilities, do administrative work and help with events. “Don’t be bashful to volunteer,” he says. “It’s not all fighting fires. We don’t make anyone go into a fire that doesn’t want. We have firemen who don’t like to climb a ladder but they still want to volunteer.” Like all departments, the Imperial VFD’s fundraising efforts have been impacted by COVID-19, as large gatherings have either been prohibited or limited. As a result, the department’s annual craft fair - which department chief Bob Bradburn says has been among its biggest fundraisers in recent years - was cancelled late last year. He says the money the department usually makes off of fried fish sandwich deliveries to work places during Lent was also down, as many people are continuing to work from home. However, he says the money they raised from their pickup format did well and that the department is grateful for the community support. Still, he says that it’s important for people to consider returning their mailed solicitations with donations. Those donations will assist the department as it weathers the pandemic and looks to future improvements, including a new building for its Clinton substation. For more, including ways to donate and volunteer, visit www. findlaytwp.org/164/Imperial-Volunteer-Fire-Department. April/May 2021 • www.awmagazine.com • 15CAround Your Town Around Your Town West A grads pursue YouTube fame as Grub Guys STORY BY DOUG HUGHEY When Michael Priddy and Logan Malatak were West Allegheny High School students, they did what a lot of teenagers do at that age. They drove around and ate fast food. To eliminate the decision making of where they wanted to eat, they’d sometimes use an app on their phone that would choose for them. They’d load a bunch of restaurants into the app and spin a digital roulette wheel that would choose one at random. While for most people, deciding between McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Arby’s wouldn’t be all that difficult or even consequential, for Priddy and Malatak it wasn’t that simple. Fast food - and food in general - is a subject that they could debate endlessly. In fact, they’ve been doing just that since middle school. So, when the two launched a YouTube channel last April dedicated to them driving around the country and reviewing fast- food restaurants, it was only natural that they’d go back to using that same app. When they used it at the beginning of their very first video, the wheel landed on the Texas-based fast food chain What-A-Burger. When Malatak looked it up in Google Maps, he found the closest location 12 hours away in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time, their schools and places of work were shut down due to COVID-19. As Malatak says at the start of that video, “We love food and got nothing else to do.” The two hit the road and, after driving through the night, arrived at that What-A-Burger. They ordered a couple of double-meat meals and vanilla milkshakes, then posted a TikTok video about their trip. As it turns out, the idea of them driving 12 hours for a fast-food meal at an iconic southern restaurant was enough to grab the attention of people surfing the Internet during those early days of the pandemic. The video has since gotten 1.7 million views. “We just kept running off that and didn’t stop,” says Malatak. In the year since then, the Grub Guys, as they call themselves, have recorded and posted over 80 YouTube videos and attracted 2,750 subscribers. They also have over 88,000 followers on TikTok. Their most viewed YouTube video, with 8,000 views, is of a subsequent trip they made to a What-A-Burger in Texas. They’ve also driven as far as Los Angeles, California to review an In-and-Out in its home state and as close as Akron, Ohio to review a Swenson’s, which also happens to be where Lebron James used to like to eat when he was growing up. “The whole thing was, we just love food and wanted to try all these different places,” says Malatak. “There was all this hype out there and we just wanted to see for ourselves.” Over time, their videos have evolved and Priddy says he learned from other YouTubers how to infuse the right kind of energy into them. Viewers love to comment on their videos and a lot of the places the Grub Guys have subsequently visited have come from those viewer comments. “We read pretty much every comment on YouTube,” says Priddy. “If there’s a comment on there, we’ve read it. Maybe not TikTok so much because there are thousands of them, but if it’s on YouTube we’ve seen it.” Those comments were what led to the two visiting that Texas What-A-Burger and, much to the delight of Texans who were more than happy to chime in, the Grub Guys concluded it blew Florida’s What-A-Burger out of the water. Currently, that What-A-Burger sits at third among their national favorites, right alongside Habit Burger in Los Angeles. They found that one after driving 45 hours to visit In-and-Out, which has since become their second favorite overall. For the moment, their top fast-food burger restaurant in the country is Pal’s Sudden Service out of eastern Tennessee. The quality of the burger, the fry seasoning, the milkshake flavor and consistency, and fry integrity - yes, fry integrity - all played into that ranking. They even factored in the hustle of the workers, the landscaping and the restaurant’s unusual façade. In that video, it seems clear that nothing could match Pal’s but, in reality, Priddy says it’s not always so clear-cut. “It is hard because all these burgers are amazing and it’s tough to rank them,” he says. Those factors mentioned and others are important, however. “The three main factors we use are the burger, fries - or sides if they don’t have them - and shake,” says Malatak. “Those are our three main focus points, then if they have a good sauce or good presentation of the food. It’s the little things that people take for granted on their typical fast food trip that we pick up on.” Some restaurants, like Swenson’s, might also have unfair sentimental value. It was at a Swenson’s, after all, that the two came up with the idea for the channel, after Priddy drove up to visit Malatak while he was playing baseball in junior college. Logan Malatak shows off a burger from Pal’s Sudden Service in Tennessee. He and Michael Priddy (at right) have created a YouTube station called the Grub Guys, which features videos of them driving around and reviewing food. They’re also on TikTok. 16 • Allegheny West Magazine • April/May 2021 The two played baseball together throughout school. “It’s close to our heart,” says Malatak. “Swenson’s is where we came up with idea of Grub Guys, where we’d go around and review regional fast-food places. Then we slowly started moving into [non fast-food] restaurants and fish fries. We’re just trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.” Swenson’s is currently their fourth favorite nationally. Lately, the Grub Guys have been staying closer to home and reviewing local foods, including pizza, which they say is the most competitive in Pittsburgh. Around the start of Lent, they reviewed fish sandwiches and in March they released a March Madness-style donut review comparing shops from different parts of Pittsburgh. Priddy, who can spend upwards of 12 hours editing videos on a laptop using DaVinci software, says he feels it’s one of their best. They’ve also recorded videos reviewing barbeque, pancakes, fried chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and more. With the pandemic still limiting seating at many restaurants, they’ve continued the format of reviewing food right from their car. The two say they are continuing to explore new ideas and have a lot of content that they haven’t even posted yet. When they’re not working on the channel, Malatak works at a local pizza restaurant while Priddy is earning his pilot’s license from the Community College of Beaver County. They say they would love to take on the channel full time and are trying to continue to build their exposure. On March 11, they got a leg up in that regard when they were invited to appear on Pittsburgh Today. For more, check out the Grub Guys on YouTube and TikTok. April/May 2021 • www.awmagazine.com • 17CAround Your Town Around Your Town While it’s often said that good things come in small packages, the opposite was the case for the Eaton family of North Fayette when they suddenly found themselves evolving from a family of three to seven. Dave and Niki Eaton, owners and operators of Angelia’s Pizza for the past 16 years, always dreamed of a large family. They married when they were just 21, within a year after meeting each other. Dave is a North Fayette native and Niki is from Greenville, Pennsylvania. Several years after the couple married, Niki suffered back-to-back ectopic pregnancies, a condition where the fetus gets stuck and begins to grow in the fallopian tube instead of in the uterus. It bursts and damages the tube, which is what happened in her case. When fallopian tubes are removed, so is the possibility of getting pregnant naturally. Niki recalls, “We had no choice but to use in-vitro fertilization (IVF). It worked on our first try and we were blessed with our first child, Lacey. After that success, I had no doubt that my next IVF would work. I’ll never forget the moments when I received the calls each time saying, ‘I’m sorry, you’re not pregnant.’ The emotional impact is just as overwhelming as the loss of a pregnancy. We had to make the heartbreaking choice to stop trying to get pregnant with IVF.” Niki continues, “I couldn’t stop dreaming about having more children. Letting go of the hope for a biological child and the experience of pregnancy is life altering.” She says that Lacey is a joyful and loving child, their miracle baby. Lacey wanted siblings, too, especially after seeing her cousins’ families grow. Dave suggested looking into adoption, but they learned that it could take years to adopt an infant because so many people were trying to adopt one. Undeterred, he began exploring the U.S. Foster Kids website. “Let me tell you, once you look at that, you are hooked! How could you not be?” he says. “There are pages and pages of children in need of a family! It’s very sad and very hard to turn away. Just like the movie ‘Instant Family.’ They casually discuss adopting and then once they look at the website full of children in need of a family they are hooked!” According to the Pew Trust Organization, 50% of foster care children who were adopted in 2018 were under age 5. More unusual is the percentage of siblings adopted by a family who keeps the siblings together. That percentage, as noted in Family Connections Christian Adoptions, is only 18%. Niki further adds, “The foster care system is the invisible crisis in the United States. According to the most recent federal data, there are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the United States, of which 15,000 are in Pennsylvania.” During their certification for the foster/adoption process, Dave recalls, “You hear the worst stories, everything that these kids could have been through - being ripped out of their homes, suffering abuse, moving from foster home to foster home.” He continues, “In many cases, they were being separated from their siblings, and we couldn’t imagine that.” The couple quickly shifted their focus to adopting a sibling group. Immediately after their certification was complete, they found a group of four natural siblings in search of a home. They learned that the siblings had been in foster care since 2016. The children, ranging in age from 5 to 11, had lived for two years in different homes within an extended family. Niki says, “It was a huge decision because we knew it would be a total life- changing effort for the three of us.” At their initial visit, the siblings - Allie, 11; Mike, 8; Brian, 7; and Maya, 5 - immediately started calling them mom and dad, much to their surprise. “With each visit, we became more attached to each other,” Dave notes. “Regardless of our concerns about their problems, they were so desperate for us to be their mom and dad, and so desperate to be back together, in need of a stable home. We took little time making the decision that we would bring them into our family.” Fortunately for both Dave and Niki, a big family is not unusual. Dave grew up in a family of three siblings and Niki grew up in a family of four, plus four more when her mother and father both remarried. “Our family is huge and then with our new addition we made the family really huge!” she exclaims. Such a strong support system has been extremely helpful, Niki says. “The chaos commenced! It was a crazy transition period for us, an overwhelming time but so beautiful,” she recalls. “We got through those difficult first few months with the help and support of our amazing families and friends. It definitely takes a village.” Everything in the Eatons’ life changed once they became a family of seven. They moved to a bigger house, got a bigger car and experienced an expanded grocery budget. Laundry never ends and daily life is a whirlwind. Dave explains that there have been challenges with each of them, but most often no different than with any other child. With children comes energy and noise. Says Niki, “Things are livelier, louder, and busier…and did I say… louder?!” She says it takes a lot of work to stay organized enough to be sure everybody’s needs are met. “Homeschooling during lockdown was absolute chaos!” she says. “Chromebooks and assignments everywhere!” She and Dave are grateful the children have been in school full time this year at West Allegheny School District. Add in the different sports and activities among five kids and it can get quite chaotic. Dave says, “It’s a good thing we own a pizza shop because pizza for dinner is a regular occurrence!” Good things come in bigger packages North Fayette family embraces adoption Lacy, David and Niki Eaton celebrate adopting four siblings Nov. 21, 2019. PHOTO SUBMITTED STORY BY PAT JENNETTE 18 • Allegheny West Magazine • April/May 2021 Challenges are expected with a family this size, explains Niki. “Each of these kids spent most of their lives severely lacking in adult attention, supervision and love,” she says. “They grew up without many rules or with typical family bonding. They fended for themselves, so we are always adjusting to accommodate everyone’s needs. One challenge specific to our family is that the kids didn’t live together in foster care. When we moved them in with us, they had to learn how to blend with our family and live with each other.” Lacey’s reaction to suddenly having four new siblings has been inspiring. Says Niki, “Lacey has been a wonderful big sister. She loves them all so much! She has also had to experience some major life changes and we are so proud of her and how she’s handled everything. This has had a profound impact on her because she often says that she would like to adopt when she is older.” The kids love to help with the family business and be involved since it’s such a big part of the family’s life. Last year, they helped deliver pizzas to families in need for several weeks when the pandemic first started. Dave says they are a “take it one day at a time” family now. “To willingly step into the brokenness of another family is a high calling. If it were easy or simple, everyone would do it,” he says. Niki adds, “Fostering and adopting is exhausting in so many ways, but it is also the most selfless, worthy, and beautiful thing we have personally experienced in our lives. We have worked hard to become the family we are and feel joyful for all the happy memories we have created thus far.” Explains Niki, “I hope people understand that as dark and difficult as infertility is, it’s not the end. There are other options if you feel strongly in your heart that you want to be a parent. There are many kids waiting for a family.” “We hope others may be inspired by what we did and will want to do the same. There are beautiful children out there who want to be loved and have a place to call home,” Niki notes. April/May 2021 • www.awmagazine.com • 19Next >