When Frankie Lewoc, 18, of Gilbert was killed in a tragic automobile accident Jan. 4, many in the community mourned the loss of this young man.

He had been an officer of Pleasant Valley High School's Future Business Leader of America and a volunteer for Operation: Touch of Home. These two organizations have teamed up to honor Frankie. They will be holding a spaghetti dinner fundraiser in his honor, lovingly called, "Frankie's Italian Feast."It will be held on Sunday, March 11 from 3-7 p.m. at the American Legion Post 927 in Gilbert."We want to honor Frankie for all that he has done for all of us over the years we have known him. We want to say "Thank you" to him and show his family how much we appreciated him and loved him," says one of the organizers, Dean Green.Maria Bentzoni, an Operation: Touch of Home volunteer involved in organizing the spaghetti dinner for Frankie, says the proceeds from the event, will go to something in memory of Frankie."He was very active in baseball in his youth and in high school. I am looking into the possibility of working with Chestnuthill Township to possibly get a mobile back stop for the park that they can use when they have practice games there, and for kids wanting to learn how to play. It will be mobile so if they need to use it for tournaments, they can move it to different playing fields. We haven't committed to that idea as of yet because they are very expensive and we don't know how much money we will raise. But we are all in agreement that we want to honor Frankie somehow in the things that he cared about," says Bentzoni.Many of the Operation Touch of Home volunteers knew Frankie, especially those who worked at the Legion for its drive weekends."He was one of our PV FBLA (Pleasant Valley Future Business Leaders of America) kids that had volunteered for many of our Troop Drives. Twice a year we gather donations for care packages that we send to our troops and Frankie was there every year, at least the last three years that I can remember. We came to depend on the kids from FBLA when we packed up the products for the troops. Frankie got so good after only the first year he volunteered that he began training other volunteers and telling them what they needed to do. He made sure that everyone understood how the boxes got packed. And whenever a delivery came, he organized all the other volunteers to unpack the trucks. He was always there when we needed him. He was such a great kid, always joking with the other kids and making us laugh at his goofiness. Whenever he walked in the door, we would yell "Frankie's here!" as if the boss had just walked in. He just brightened up the room. He was a great kid, who volunteered for everything from donating blood, to Operation: Touch of Home and everything else in between. He is going to be greatly missed by our organization," says Bentzoni.If you would like to help honor Frankie, you can do so by: attending the spaghetti dinner; make a monetary donation directly at any ESSA Bank Branch, made payable to the Frankie Lewoc Memorial Fund; and they still need donations of soda for the dinner. If you choose to make a donation, you, your company or business, will be recognized at the event.If you have any questions, would like to make a donation or order tickets, please contact Dean Green (OTOH) at 570-977-1724 or

touchofhome@hotmail.com or Maria Bentzoni, 570-350-2981.