UPDATED 8/20/13 at 9 a.m.: Last Friday, NBC Philadelphia reported that Indiegogo reinstated Meyers‘ campaign as it “is indeed in compliance with Indiegogo’s terms of service,” according to a statement issued to the media outlet. According to Meyers, the crowdsourcing site only returned donations made through PayPal to both campaigns, totaling about $1,500, and waived all fees associated with the fundraiser. “I’m happy, but frustrated, it took them 20 days to respond and I do not get all the donations I lost,” she told West Philly Local.

7/29/13: A week ago, Jessica Meyers went from squatter to homeowner.

The 28-year-old Syracuse native landed the winning bid for her makeshift West Philly home at 52^nd and Funston Streets during Philadelphia Housing Authority’s July 16 auction. The legally abandoned PHA-owned site was one of 196 properties the housing authority was selling off at First District Plaza, 3801 Market Street, and there was no way she’d let possible ownership slip through the cracks. After all, Meyers has squatted in that house for eight years, and has spent countless time and energy refurbishing it into a livable space shared with friends and traveling punks.  Continue Reading

We recently published information about two school supply drives in West Philadelphia to help local families in need get ready for the new school year. Here’s information on two other back-to-school drives and fundraising efforts happening in the area.

The Nehemiah Davis Foundation (NDF), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that works hard to serve our city through efforts such as the Back-to-school Book Bag Giveaway, annual Thanksgiving dinners for veterans, seniors and homeless, an annual Christmas toy drive for youth, and more. On Sept. 1, 2013, NDF will be holding its Fifth Annual “Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway” at Malcolm X Park (51st and Pine). Community volunteers will help to distribute donated book bags filled with schools supplies and clothing to over 300 local children.

During the event, NDF will also provide entertainment, free food and haircuts for all of the families who attend (see flyer for more information).

NDF would appreciate donations of school supplies, book bags, or clothes for the giveaway. Book bags are especially wanted so if you can donate one it would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be dropped off at Myra Herbal Wellness, 666 N. 52nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19131. Monetary donations are also accepted at: www.gofundme/neodaviso.

Families Forward, a local organization that assists homeless families and runs 75 transitional and permanent family residential units in West Philadelphia, is working hard on preparing their children for school as the school bells ring in 2013-2014. In the past, the School District of Philadelphia provided school uniforms vouchers to homeless children and children in transitional housing, but this year they have cut that funding dramatically, according to Families Forward’s Director of Fund Development Grace Hightower. Children K-8 will only receive $20 (previously it was $50) and students 9-12 will only receive $30 (previously it was $75).

Gifts of $50 can help Families Forward purchase two uniform pants, two shirts and a pair of shoes to help a child have a great start to the school year. Gift cards to Forman Mills are also a great way to help with purchasing school uniforms.

Typically, used items are accepted at Families Forward, but this is not the case with back to school. Donors are asked to collect NEW:

• Backpacks (youth and teen)
• Black and white composition books (MEAD)
• Plastic scissors
• Crayons (basic colors)
• Markers (erasable)
• Glue sticks
• Pencils and pencil cases
• Ink pens (Blue or Black)
• Highlighters
• Rulers
• 3 Ring Binders and dividers
• Loose leaf paper
• Folders (with side pockets)
• Index Cards/poster board
• Flash Drives
• Calculators
• Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Tissues/Hand sanitizer

If you would like to organize a drive or have any questions please contact Grace Hightower by phone at 215-240-4828 or email at: ghightower@taphilly.org. Donations can be delivered until August 30, 2013 to 111 N. 49th Street; Philadelphia, PA 19139. Gifts can also be made at www.familiesforwardphilly.org.

Editor’s Note: This week we received a classified ad from neighbor Jena Laske, who was looking for a musician to take ownership of her father’s prized 12-string. We asked Jena to tell us more. She sent the note below.

Hi West Philly Folks,

I’m giving away my father’s 12 string Yamaha guitar. Just to let you know a little bit about my dad, his name was Thomas. He had a mass of curly red hair. When he was a teenager, he was quite a heartthrob and played and sang at small town bars around the Adirondack mountains where my grandparents had a cabin on Seventh Lake. He was only 22 when I was born and I have memories sitting on the floor as a youngster listening to him sing Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name” and an old folk song, “Froggy Went a ‘Courtin’.”

I remember going with my Dad to pick out this guitar. It came with a case that was bright red and furry inside. Unfortunately, the stitches rotted a few years back and I left the case on 49th and Cedar for someone else to refurbish – so the guitar does not have a case.

My father died from cancer at 30 around 1979 or ’80. Although I have wanted to play his Yamaha for a long time, I just never learned to do it well.  I would like to offer this guitar to someone who really loves to play. It still resonates well, although there are slight issues with the neck which make the strings tight and hard to hold down.

If you are interested, please write me a short essay about why you want this guitar. You agree never to sell it, but to pass it on to a musician should you decide to part with it someday.

As my father would say, Sat Nam

Jena

The new school year is scheduled to start in a month, Sept. 9 (fingers crossed that the budget crisis is resolved soon) and there are some efforts in the area to help many local families get ready. So far we’ve heard of two school supply drives to help West Philly families with school children. If you know of more school supply collections/drives, please drop us an email (editor@westphillylocal.com) or leave a comment below.

ACHIEVEability’s Backpack and Book Donation Drive

Photo courtesy ACHIEVEability.

You can help ACHIEVEability to support more than 250 school-age youth and community residents by donating to their Backpack and Book Donation Drive. If donating a backpack please consider including the following school supplies: spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, composition books, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, calculators, pencil sharpeners, glue, etc. If donating a new or gently used book, please ensure that it is appropriate reading material for school age children (K-12).

Donations for the backpack and book donation drive can be delivered to ACHIEVEability’s administrative office located at 35 N. 60th Street (between Market and Arch Streets). If you have questions, please contact ACHIEVEability Events Manager Brian Hoskins at brian.hoskins@achieveability.org or 215-748-8814.

Penn School Supply Drive

Through Friday, Aug. 16, multiple locations across the University of Pennsylvania campus will serve as drop-off points for the Penn Volunteers in Public Service’s annual back-to-school drive.

The school supply drive collects basic back-to-school items such as binders, dividers, dictionaries, staplers, glue, tape, calculators, crayons, pencils, pens, paper, rulers, notebooks, book covers, markers, folders, lunch boxes or bags, school bags or backpacks, umbrellas and blank CDs or DVDs. The preference is for new items, but they would also accept “gently used” items like book bags (they have to be in really good condition).

The supplies will be distributed to nearby schools, after-school programs and other organizations in West Philadelphia. One of the schools in West Philadelphia that will receive a portion of the collection is the Henry C. Lea Elementary School.

There are a lot of drop-off locations, so please check out this link for more information.

Dear Readers,

Thanks to your efforts we raised $744 to help the family of Ja’Briel O’Connor, who died tragically on Saturday. Ja’Briel’s funeral will be held Friday at The Church of Christian Compassion (6121 Cedar Ave.). The viewing is from 9-11 a.m. and the service will begin at 11 a.m.

Your contributions went to help offset funeral costs and other expenses – things like clothes and food for the services –  Ja’Briel’s mother, Aisha Watson, incurred. Ja’Briel also has three brothers and sisters who range in age from 9 to 14. The youngest in the family, Ja’Briel was a first grader at the Henry C. Lea School and often helped neighbors on Melville take their garbage out and weed their gardens.

We would also like to thank Katie and Yasser from Café Renata, who lent us a table in their shop as we collected dollars from people ranging in age from 5 to 75. Katie and Yasser also donated Café Renata’s the money from their sales during the period that we were there.

If you want to contribute but haven’t had a chance to yet, there may be additional collections from folks connected to the Lea school. We will let you know.

 – Mike Lyons

Community members who would like to contribute a few dollars to defray the funeral costs for 7-year-old Jabriel O’Connor, the boy who died Saturday after being found unconscious in a Cobbs Creek pool, are asked to stop by Cafe Renata (4305 Locust St) this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

West Philly Local will set up a table outside the cafe to accept cash contributions that will be passed along to Jabriel’s mother, Aisha Watson, who lives at an emergency shelter for homeless families run by the program Families Forward Philadelphia near the corner of Walnut and Melville Streets in the Spruce Hill section of West Philly.

Gloria Guard, who runs Families Forward, said Aisha is “hanging there.”

“She is in the process of making arrangements,” Guard said. “I think she would really appreciate it. Be sure to write down that you are neighbors.”

Collections will be taken from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday). Any contribution would help. There will also be a card to sign and you can pass along your own note to Aisha if you like. If it’s raining, the table will be inside.

All of the money collected will go directly to help with Aisha’s expenses.