Frankford Community Blog | Local News, Events, Community Resources
A very active year so far for Frankford High’s Jr ROTC color guard. On Veterans Day, November 11th, they were the Philadelphia Vietnam Memorial.
Hajdack-Moran Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Association Color Guard presenting the colors with the Frankford High School Color Guard mirroring them in the background at the opening ceremony. Photo by Joe Fraioli
Great turnout for Art Under the Trees on September 17th. The Frankford ROTC once again volunteered and 25 kids had a great time.
photo credit Joe Fraioli
Volunteers are needed to keep the fun rolling as the Friends of Overington Park plans for the future. Come out to the next meeting at Friends Meeting House at 1500 Orthodox Street at 7 PM on October 4th (First Tuesday of every month).
Love Your Park day in Overington Park was a big success! Last Saturday November 14 from 10 till 1 we came out to take care of our park and get it ready for winter. 28 people came out to lend a hand keeping Overington Park beautiful. We planted a Yellowwood tree, now called Greg’s tree after one of our volunteers that’s been coming out to work in our park for years. We lifted 7 crates of tropical Cannas bulbs to be stored for the winter in members homes. 60 brown bags of organic material were removed and taken to be composted for next year. 10 bags of trash were picked up. Daffodils and crocus were planted for Spring color around our shed and our new tree. The sidewalk along Leiper St. was cleaned up to make walking around our park a positive experience. We managed to accomplish everything on our to do list. It was a cool day that keep us from sweating but not from working hard to improve Overington Park.
The lions share of our help came from the great students from Frankford High School’s JR ROTC program. Our frantic call to Sargent Joe that we had few volunteers sent him scrambling to collect his charges and bring them to Overington Park. We couldn’t have done it without them! A few new neighbors, Franklin and Joy, came out and worked hard all day to make our park shine. As always the Friends of Overington Park put on their winter coats, rolled up their sleeves and worked their buts off!
Our refreshments were made possible from funds supplied by our councilwoman, Maria D. Quinones Sanchez, and the word was spread thanks to the printing help from our State Representative Jason Dawkins. Our thanks also goes out to the Fairmount Park Conservancy and Parks and Recreation for the constant support they give to our Friends group.
All in all it was a very good day in Overington Park. Our park is ready to face Winter and come out blooming in Spring!
By 1SG Joe Fraioli
Frankford High School Army Junior ROTC participated in this year’s Philadelphia Civic Flag Day Celebration on Friday, March 27th at City Hall. Over 1000 people were in attendance as everyone celebrated the Philadelphia City Flag birthday and the presentation of the Maneto Awards.
Frankford High School JROTC color guard members Christopher Gallicchio, Windmond Tan and Marshall Hogue present the national colors.
Student/cadet Jeremyah Durand speaks with Mayor Nutter.
Overington Park hosted our Love Your Park Day this past Saturday November 10th from 10 till 1. We had 52 volunteers come out and help clean up our park.
For the first time we had a great group from St. Hubert’s High School come out and work their tails off. The girl power was going strong on Saturday. They planted a Black Gum tree in our park and cleaned their hearts out picking up leaves and debris that surrounded the park after Sandy came through 2 weeks ago.
The JR ROTC, from Frankford High School felt the challenge and worked hard to keep up with the Hubert’s girls. As always the ROTC delivered a spectacular job, moving giant tree branches into a central location for pick up, planting a River Birch tree, planting daffodils, and winterizing our Cannas beds.
We removed over 80 bags of debris from in and around the park, planted two trees and 200 daffodils! Friends of Overington Park worked and supervised crews around the park. Neighbors came out, that use the park, and wanted to join in and help make the park a better place. Some rain dropped down for a few minutes at the beginning of our day but we had work to do and we would not be stopped. We left the park in great shape to go into winter.
Our thanks go out to all the good folk that came out on Saturday, and everyone who supports the fine work that our community is doing in Overington Park. We truly Love Our Park! Thanks, Diane Kunze, president, Friends of Overington Park
