The Calvary Center for Culture and Community, the beautiful old church building at 48th and Baltimore, needs some help. Over the last decade the building has undergone some critical restoration, which gave it a new vibrant life, but a lot of work still remains to be done. Current plans include construction of an elevator in the western section of the tower to accommodate neighbors on wheelchairs or with other physical difficulties. Several other major improvements, renovations, repairs and restorations are also planned.

The center, which hosts a myriad of activities each year and also is home to many community, art, religious, educational, social justice and other organizations, was recently offered a $100,000 challenge grant by the Wyncote Foundation. This amount has to be matched by the end of the year. The center was able to raise almost all of the match, but a few thousand dollars are still remaining. So here’s how you can help:

On Saturday, Nov. 8, come to the “Raise the Roof” Walkathon for Calvary Center. The 5 km walk around the neighborhood will start and end at the center. Participation fee is $25 ($10 for children) and you can register online here before the event or at the event itself (for $35), beginning at 9 a.m. on Nov. 8 at the 48th Street entrance to the building. The walk will be from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., followed by a celebration of its completion (12 – 1 p.m.). The event will take place rain or shine.

Here’s a reminder of what organizations are located at Calvary Center: Cedar Park Neighbors, the University City Historical Society, West Philly Mennonite Fellowship, Kol Tzedek West Philly Synagogue, Calvary United Methodist Church, Grace Chapel, Children’s Community School, Curio Theatre, Crossroads Music, and more! These and other organizations will participate in Saturday’s event and encourage their members and all neighbors to join them.

If you can’t participate in the walkathon, you can support the center by making a donation online (please go here) or by sending a check to: Calvary Center, 801 S. 48th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19143.

“Raise the Roof” Walkathon for Calvary Center
48th and Baltimore
Saturday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (registration starts at 9 a.m.)
$25 online (children $10), $35 at the event

Saturday, Oct 25

Locust Moon Comics Festival

If comics is your thing (or might be your thing or was your thing or is your partner’s thing) get yourself over to The Rotunda on Saturday for the third annual Locust Moon Comics Festival. This thing will include some fine independent cartoonists and creators, including: Paul Pope (Battling Boy), Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin), Dean Haspiel (The Alcoholic), Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales), Denis Kitchen (The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen) and Farel Dalrymple (The Wrenchies), as well as local stars like Box Brown (Andre the Giant: Life and Legend), Dave Bullock (Justice League: The New Frontier), and J.G. Jones (Wanted).

The festival will include workshops, panels and discussion on the art, history and business of comics.

Several artists will debut new work at the festival, including the Locust Moon work Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream – a kickstarter funded Winsor McKay Tribute.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Entrance is by optional donation. No advanced tickets are needed. Kids 13 and under are admitted free. Here is a schedule.  Continue Reading

An important discussion about incarceration has gained traction nationally in recent years and an important facilitator in that discussion locally is the organization Books Though Bars.

The group’s primary mission is to obtain, pack and ship books to inmates in the region, a volunteer-heavy activity they have been doing in West Philly for more than 20 years. There is a chance this Saturday to be part of this ongoing conversation, meet people from Books Through Bars and other organizations engaged in incarceration issues and raise a little money to keep their work going.

Books Through Bars is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow (Oct 18) at the LAVA Space at 4134 Lancaster Ave, beginning at 2 p.m. The event will feature free workshops and speakers (2 to 6 p.m.) from the following organizations: Decarcerate PA, Hearts on a Wire, The Center for Returning Citizens, HRC, Books Through Bars Address This!, and DreamActivist PA. After that there will be a rockers show (6-10 p.m.) hosted by MMGZ.

Please bring $5-8 to donate at the event. Also, Books Through Bars’ Business, Science and Math shelves are pretty empty right now, so if you have any books that you don’t need please bring them to tomorrow’s event or to the A-Space where the organization is located (4722 Baltimore Ave).

For more information, check out the Books Through Bars Facebook page.

Neighbors are invited to the Walnut Hill Community Day celebration on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The celebration will take place on the 4700 block of Walnut Street in front of the old West Philly High School building. This is a great opportunity to meet other neighbors, get some valuable information about the neighborhood and its organizations, and to have fun!

The event will include a lot of family friendly activities: pony rides, face painting, moon bounce, and more. Also, there will be food and drinks, raffles, a farm stand and live entertainment.

The event is organized by the Walnut Hill Community Association (WHCA). The organization was found in 1961 by a group of neighbors, led by Charles Campbell, Sr., who “were concerned about the deterioration of their neighborhood.” WHCA, which is a volunteer organization, encourages neighbors to participate in community events and in other activities that help improve and strengthen the community. New volunteers are always welcome, too. Visit this page for more information on how you can help.

Journey2home public art project, dedicated to homeless youth, opens this Friday at 42nd and Lancaster. (Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program).

The Philadelphia Mural Arts program has dedicated their new public art project, journey2home, to homeless youth in the city. According to last year’s data by People’s Emergency Center, more than 5,000 kids in Philadelphia are homeless. The project includes two murals created by artists Ernel Martinez and Shira Walinsky at 42nd and Lancaster in the Mantua neighborhood. The opening celebration will take place on Friday, Oct. 10, 4 – 7 p.m.

Journey2home is a year-long, socially engaged project initiated by the Mural Arts program in collaboration with youth enrolled in the Mural Arts Art Education Program. At the apex of a green space at 42nd and Lancaster sits a transformed shipping container, a metaphor for home. It has a front porch, an information bulletin board, a resource area, storage, and a dining room with table, chairs and bookshelves.

The two-wall mural, titled Home Safe, is located across the street from the shipping container and represents the culmination of two years of work with homeless and housing-insecure youth in West Philadelphia.

Community members are invited this Friday to a pop-up outdoor gathering space at 42nd and Lancaster where the project opening celebration will be held. The celebration will include the dedication of the Home Safe murals, as well as other art and sound installations, film, music and food.

For more details on the project, images and videos, visit the journey2home blog.

Here’s a short film about the project:

Photo courtesy UC Green.

West Philly is home to a number of great non-profit organizations that do many important things in the area. One of them is UC Green, a group of dedicated members and volunteers who make this area greener by planting and taking care of trees. On Thursday, Oct. 9, UC Green is celebrating its 16th anniversary and hosting its second Harvest Moon Social. This is a fundraising event supporting UC Green’s community tree planting and greening initiatives throughout West Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Community members are invited to join UC Green staff and volunteers at the event and enjoy a buffet and cocktail party. There will also be a raffle with some great local items, including gift baskets and certificates from the Four Worlds Bakery, Milk and Honey and Local 44.

Each year, the organization manages close to 2,000 volunteers who plant and tend hundreds of street trees and enhance public green spaces contributing thousands of hours in service to the neighborhoods. Harvest Moon Social is one of the events that helps UC Green to continue doing their work.

“I rely on the folks at UC Green as the go- to people when it comes to all things having to do with trees. They have given not only material support but moral support in helping us address many challenges we face as community gardeners working in vulnerable areas where efforts are sometimes undermined by many factors of the urban environment. Thanks to their hard work over many years, a greener, calmer and healthier landscape is unfolding in our neighborhood,” says Maureen Tate, a Cedar Park resident and block captain.

Harvest Moon Social will take place from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the recently opened Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships (3509 Spring Garden St). Tickets are $85/person, two for $150. Please call: 215-573-4684 or email: suemacqueen@ucgreen.org for more information and to reserve your ticket.