In an effort to address hunger in the region, Repair the World: Philadelphia, a regional nonprofit mobilizing Jewish youth to help improve communities, will launch its Food for Thought Awareness Weekend on Friday, April 11.

The West Philly branch of Repair the World will host three events during its awareness weekend, which ends Sunday, April 13: a community-wide food drive on Friday, the annual Walk+Run Against Hunger 5K event in conjunction with the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger on Saturday, and a West Philly lot beautification with Cedar Park’s Jewish Farm School on Sunday. You can find details for each event below.

Repair the World: Philadelphia, which launched its fellowship program in October, is also preparing to move into their brand new office space at 4029 Market Street, according to Leah A. Silver, RTW: Philly’s fellow and social media coordinator. Silver told West Philly Local that the nearly 2,000 square foot office will likely be used for community meetings, trainings, and social events, as well as serve as the regular hub for Philadelphia’s Repair the World Fellows. There is no confirmed date for the move, but Silver said it’s mostly after May 15th. 

“We’re hoping to create a shared community space for West Philly residents to use to build community in their neighborhood,” Silver told West Philly Local. “We’re also hoping to encourage Philadelphia residents to volunteer more regularly and make community service a more integral and inherent part of community building.”

Repair the World is still looking for volunteers to staff the Walk+Run Against Hunger and the lot beautification. Interested readers can register to volunteer here.

Friday, April 11: Community-Wide Food Drive
Readers can donate non-kosher goods at the following drop-off locations. The donations will benefit the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, as well as other food pantries in Germantown:

University of Pennsylvania’s Office of the Chaplain at The Locust House (3643 Locust Walk)
Tribe Commons (201 S. Camac Street)
Society Hill Synagogue (418 Spruce Street)
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1299 Church Rd)
Main Line Reform Temple (410 Montgomery Ave)
Temple Hillel (1441 W Norris Street)
Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement & Community Service (City Hall, 15th & Market Streets, Room 112)
Germantown Boys & Club (25 W. Penn Street)
Shane Victorino Boys & Girls Club of Nicetown (4001 N. Clarissa Street)
The Waldorf School of Philadelphia (Eagles 2, 7500 Germantown Ave)
Germantown Friends School (31 W Coulter St)

Saturday, April 12: 2014 Stroehmann Walk+Run Against Hunger with The Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger 
The 5k event will take place at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and will feature live entertainment, free food, and varied activities. The walk/run will happen along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with the run starting at 8 a.m. and the walk beginning at 9 a.m. The event will help raise funds for over 100 food pantries, soup kitchens and hunger-relief agencies in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, while also benefiting the Coalition Against Hunger, The Food Trust, SHARE Food Program and Philabundance.

Sunday, April 13: Lot Beautification & Service Learning
From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Repair the World’s newest initiative, the Philly Farm Crew at the Jewish Farm School (5020 Cedar Avenue), will beautify a vacant lot at the Ahimsa House, located at 5007 Cedar Avenue. The beautification would make way for a community garden in the spring, and will include garden bed prep, fencing, and other construction projects. A service learning discussion about address hunger in your community will also take place.

–Annamarya Scaccia