More trees are coming! Here’s a good chance to help make our area greener. Neighbors are welcome to help with the UC Green and The Philadelphia Orchard Project tree plantings and orchard care projects in various West Philly locations starting this week.

The first project is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School (58th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.), where you can help with the orchard care, including mulching, weeding, bulb planting and fresh local fruit.

Next week three other projects are scheduled, two for October 25 – at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd.) and Mastery Charter School and Conestoga Playground (53rd & Media) and one for October 29 at Ogden Gardens (Ogden & Preston).

For information about November projects, hours, and to RSVP go here.

A program run out of Saint Joseph’s University is looking for non-profits and social entrepreneurs who want help in designing or bolstering their online presence.

Beautiful Social is a student-run social media consultancy designed to help non-profits and other entrepreneurs with everything from market research to website usability testing to developing a social media strategy. The idea is to help grow communities and civic engagement online.

The services are free of charge. Students put theory into practice and gain real experience while helping local organizations thrive. Two professors from St. Joe’s communication studies program, which incorporates social justice into its curriculum, oversee the students.

Beautiful Social has worked with a number of non-profits, including the Philly-based Power Up Gambia and InterAct Theater Company since it began last year.

Anyone interested in being part of the program should contact Mike Lyons at jlyons [at] sju.edu.

Full disclosure: One of the professors who oversees the projects is also a co-owner of this website.
 

Do you have something super heavy in your house or garage that you want to pick up or move, but don’t know how? No worries – neighbor Douglas Pugliese has donated a heavy-duty lifting engine crane to the West Philly Tool Library. The engine hoist can lift up to a two-ton item on its hydraulic arm and can move it around on heavy-duty casters. Doug, who is a West Philly Tool Library member, used the equipment once or twice and doesn’t need it anymore.

We’re told that the crane can even lift something high enough to get into the bed of a pick-up truck.

Now many folks can use this tool through the library’s low-cost tool rental or for free if you are a member. Think about how many things you can do with it! Anyone have a cow they need to move?

Cedar Park Neighbors is hosting a neighborhood Meet and Greet event tomorrow night at Aksum (4630 Baltimore Ave.). Don’t miss the opportunity to say hello to your neighbors and spend some nice time in their company while enjoying complimentary hors d’oeuvres served by Saba Tedla, Aksum owner and Cedar Park resident.

The meet and greet will begin at 6 p.m and go on until 8 p.m., unless, of course, you want to stay for dinner. To RSVP go to the event’s Facebook page.

We’d like to spread the word we received from Niesha Kennedy, a volunteer neighborhood cleanup coordinator with Philadelphia Community Corps/United Philly. Niesha is in charge of scouting locations and taking requests for and organizing cleanups from beginning to end.

Niesha’s first cleanup is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 1, at 53rd and Delancey (between Pine and Spruce), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The block is small, with senior residents who want to help clean it. But more people are needed to make this work. All cleaning supplies will be provided. See the flyer below for more details of the cleanup.

This touching story was forwarded to us by Debby Boyd of Project MEOW, a local cat rescue organization. This is what happened yesterday to Jadee, who adopted a cat from Project MEOW a few years ago:

“I was driving home on Lancaster Ave. in the rain when I saw this tiny furball limping his way across the busy street. He made it to the edge and got washed into a flooded gutter when I stopped (without pulling over) and jumped out (without closing my car door) and scooped him up. I laid him on my lap and drove to Baltimore Pet Shoppe to get some advice from Katie. She said that I should take the kitty to a vet right away cause it looked like a car might have hit him. I called Girard Vet to see if they’d take in an emergency appointment and thank goodness they did. They took X-Rays and said that his right thigh bone was split in two and he would need a cast.

I walked around North West Philly for hours waiting for him to finish up and decided to name him Grasshopper. I got back and found him in this huge, green cast. The poor little guy!”

Jadee needs help paying off Grasshopper’s $200 vet bill. You can donate money here. She is also looking for a good home for Grasshopper. To contact Jadee email: jadee.klinger [at] gmail.com