Category: Features

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Harding Middle School Teacher Awarded “A Day Made Better Award”

Ms. Weldon and the team from Office Max

Monday, October 1st, Warren G.Harding Middle School teacher Ms. Kate Weldon was surprised with almost $3000 dollars worth of supplies from Office Max.

Ms. Weldon was nominated for the “A Day Made Better” contest last year and was selected from a pool of over 80 other deserving nominees. An entire team from the local Office Max (Cottman and the Boulevard location) came to Harding Middle School today to surprise Ms. Weldon (and her class) with all of her new supplies.

It truly was a day made better for a group of wonderful students, an amazing teacher, and a great school!  Michael  Calderone, Principal, would like to thank again store manager Silvaro Rojas and all of the employees and customers at Office Max for making this day possible!

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Third Annual Art Under the Trees

The weather was cool but dry last Saturday, September 29th, for our third annual Art Under the Trees. We had 25 Children under 18 who participated in our chalk art contest. A few adults couldn’t resist grabbing some chalk and joining in.

This year our biggest group was the 13 to 17 year olds. Our winners in the teen group were Stephanie Espejo, age 15 and Salina Santiago, age 17. Our 6 and under winner was Rowan Becker age 6, and 7 to 11 winner Lazaia Moore, age 9.

The park looked beautiful filled with kids letting their inner artist rise to the surface. Color was all around. The Friends group also had a printing station where leaves were printed and bookmarks stamped. We had doughnuts in the morning and water and pretzels at noon.

Many thanks go out to all those who helped make this a fun day in our neighborhood: the Friends of Overington Park, councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, Frankford High JR ROTC, and Tony Payton’s office.

 

Our event was so inspiring that the next day more chalk art filled in the blocks around the park. This corner of our world became a creative and fun place for everyone this weekend. Thanks for coming out and and making it happen!

Our next event will be on October 20th from 10 till 1, Fall Festival! We will all come in costume, find pumpkins in the patch, make an arts and craft project, play games and have candy! Come out and join us!

Diane Kunze, president, Friends of Overington Park

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EPIC Stakeholders Gives Plaques of Appreciation

Kim Washington, Denise Fletcher, Paulette Miller, Dwight Leevy

The Northeast EPIC Stakeholders meeting on September 27th opened with the presentation of plaques of appreciation by Kim Washington and Dwight Leevy.  In appreciation for the support given by the 2nd Baptist Church to the EPIC group, the plaques were presented to the Pastor Rev. Bradsbery and the Culinary group of the church represented by Denise Fletcher and Paulette Miller.

Also at the meeting:

  • Monica Orozco-Cadena made a presentation on behalf of the Red Cross dealing with blood donations and promoting an upcoming blood drive on October 13th at the Aspira Campus, 6301 N. 2nd Street
  • Sakina Dean, Director of Divine Light and board member of the Philadelphia Association of Recovery House presented on the NARR standards for recovery residences.  The NARR has established the standards and the Philadelphia Association works with recovery houses to bring them into compliance with those standards.  As several participants pointed out, this will only apply to those houses that are working within the system.  Those below the radar can choose to ignore those standards.
  • Layra Wagner of First Home Care presented on drug and alcohol addition prevention and recovery.  She made a very good case for why it is important to keep the youth away from their first experimentation with drugs and alcohol.  Because of their physiology, they are more likely to become addicted.
  • Kim Washington discussed the EPIC ELITE (EPIC Leaders In Training & Education) program.  This program provides a stipend for people working in the community in support of the EPIC Stakeholders.
  • There will be a Hedge Street park cleanup day and plans are underway for improvements to the park.

    Kim Washington, Rev. Bradsbery, Dwight Leevy

  • American Recycles Day will see the EPIC/NAC working with the Frankford CDC on distribution of much coveted recycling bins.
  • Tree Philly is coming up again for the distribution of yard trees.

The next EPIC meeting is scheduled for October 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM and will be held at Friends Hospital at 4641 Roosevelt Boulevard.  The subject will be domestic violence.

 

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Fall TreePhilly Yard Tree Giveaway Registration Open!

Tree Philly is a tree planting initiative from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation in partnership with Wells Fargo and Fairmount Park Conservancy that directly engages Philadelphia property owners, business, and neighborhood residents to improve their communities by planting and maintaining trees. More trees mean lower costs, safer communities, and a better Philadelphia. Trees help keep homes and buildings cool during the summer and save on energy costs. They reduce runoff and flooding and increase property values.

This fall, residents are eligible to receive up to two free trees per address. Last spring, residents in Frankford ordered 100 trees.

To register for your FREE yard or street tree, please go to www.treephilly.org. Or, contact Erica Smith, Tree Philly manager, at 215-683-0217 or email erica.smith@phila.gov with your request.

Registration must be received by Oct. 19 for fall plantings

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Northwood Civic Association Nears Record Membership

Deputy Police Commissioner, Tom Wright

At the Northwood Civic Association meeting on September 18th, President Joe Krause announced that paid memberships are 93 at present.  This is up from single digits earlier this year.  This is the culmination of a membership drive conducted over the last few months.

In other news at the meeting:

  • Deputy Philadelphia Police Commissioner Tom Wright and Captain Frank Bachmayer commented on the Northwood Neighborhood Security Patrol.  They expressed some concerns about neighbors calling the patrol rather than 911 for crime situations.  Wright noted that staffing in the districts is driven by crime reports that come from 911.  All crimes should be reported to 911 since this is the only way the police are made aware of criminal activity.  Quality of life issues are just as important as major crimes and should be reported.  Even though a particular call may not see prompt police response due to higher priorities, the report itself is very important.
  • Harry Mearing of the Neighborhood Security Patrol gave a brief report on the activity since last month.  Now there are three patrol officers sharing the duties, seven days a week.
  • Nominations for the board elections will be made at next month’s meeting.  All offices are up for election and there are 3 vacant positions on the board now.  You must be a paid member to be nominated for election.
  • Tom McAvoy, President of the Northwood Town Watch needs more volunteers.  This is an eyes and ears organization.  No patrolling ins involved.  Contact Tom at nwtownwatch@hotmail.com
  • Frank Bennett noted that the last member of the board of directors of the Frankford Community Y appointed him to the board and then resigned leaving Bennett as the only board member.  He has control of the property and been in discussion with the bank holding the mortgage.  His plan is to build a new board for the Y to develop a business plan for the resurrection of the organization.  Those who would consider joining the board should contact Bennett at frank@bennettlaw.us
  • Candidates for State Representative will be invited to speak at next month’s meeting.  They were introduced:  John Taylor, Republican incumbent  State Representative in the 177 legislative district; William Dunbar, Democratic candidate opposing Taylor; James Clay, Democratic Candidate for State Representative in the 179 legislative district .

The next meeting of the Northwood Civic Association will be held on October 16th at 7PM at St. James Lutheran Church at Castor Ave. and Pratt Street.