True to the holiday spirit of helping and giving, some local businesses and politicians are leading efforts to support various charitable causes this month. Here are more details on who’s doing what and how you can help.

Holiday Food Drive at Mariposa Food Co-op (49th & Baltimore)

Mariposa Food Co-op is accepting donations of canned and packaged non-perishable food items through Dec. 31. You can drop your donation into the donations box at the store. All donations will be taken to Pathways PA, an organization providing services for women, children and families in the Greater Philadelphia region, or to State Representative James Roebuck’s office for redistribution to neighbors in need. For more information please email outreach@mariposa.coop or stop by at the store.

“ACCT Out For The Holidays!” Holiday Supplies Drive at Baltimore Pet Shoppe (4532 Baltimore Ave)

The Chester Avenue Dog Association and Baltimore Pet Shoppe are organizing the “ACCT out for the holidays!” holiday supplies drive in the neighborhood. Baltimore Pet Shoppe will be accepting donations until Dec. 20 for the Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia (ACCT) to help the homeless cats and dogs that will be staying in the shelter over the holidays. ACCT is in need of many items on their wish list. Baltimore Pet Shoppe is offering a 10 percent discount on all mylar balls, canned pate cat food, stainless steel bowls, and Kong L & XL dog toys that are getting donated to the shelter. The shop has a donation bin where you can drop off any items from ACCT’s wish list. You can also purchase these items online. For more information, visit Baltimore Pet Shoppe’s Facebook page.

Cafe Renata (43rd & Locust) donating a portion of all gift card sales to local charities

Katie Steenstra, the co-owner of Cafe Renata, which opened at the beginning of the year at 43rd and Locust Streets, has let us know of her business’s effort this month to give back and “help keep West Philadelphia as vibrant as ever.” Through Christmas, 15 percent of all Cafe Renata gift card sales will be donated to local West Philadelphia charities. The cafe owners also want to hear from you and let them know, on Facebook, Twitter, or right in the shop, where you think the donated funds would be most needed. On Christmas, they will announce where the raised funds will be donated.

December 13 – Support Kingsessing Library with The Gold Standard Cafe (48th & Baltimore)

Friday the 13th has a bad reputation, but Roger, Vince and Joey of The Gold Standard Cafe decided to “buck tradition by putting our bucks where our words are,” and make it a lucky day by donating a full 1/3 of their total proceeds on December 13 to their neighborhood (Kingsessing) library. Your donation will go to serve the reading and educational needs of the library.

Roebuck’s office a ‘Socks for Seniors’ drop-off point

The office of state Rep. James Roebuck, who currently serves as Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee and represents the 188th Legislative District in West and Southwest Philadelphia, is serving as a drop-off point for the “Socks for Seniors” drive. Residents are invited to bring pairs of new adult socks for nursing home residents by Friday, Dec. 13 to Roebuck’s office located at 4712 Baltimore Ave.

We hope that most of you have emerged from your Thanksgiving food coma now and are getting excited for more upcoming holiday events. You better be because we have a lot of things to tell you about this month. This weekend alone, there are tons of exciting things going on in the area, including holiday gift shopping opportunities, a visit with Santa, book sale, and music, art and theater events for children and adults alike. Here’s our roundup and check our Events Calendar for more upcoming events.

Thursday, Dec. 5

Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

8 p.m. – Curio Theatre’s World Premiere of Gender Comedy: A Less Stupid Twelfth Night Gay Fantasia – Preview shows: Dec. 5, 6, 7 & 12; Opening night: Dec. 13; Closing night: Jan. 4.

Curio Theatre Company continues its season with a “very low-brow look at a rather high-brow play.” The show is written by company member Harry Slack, who set out to “turn Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night tale on its head” and make it more absurd, “more fun to watch.” The approximately one-hour play contains people struggling with gender identity, sexual identity, and the complications of love. All performances run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. This show will be performed in Curio’s Black Box space at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community at 4740 Baltimore Avenue. Tickets are $15-25 and are available online at www.curiotheatre.org.  Continue Reading

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the fifth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Angie Coghlan / Photo by Lori Waselchuk.

It’s the trees that keep Angie Coghlan busy these days.

Angie has planted hundreds of trees in West Philadelphia and she wants to plant more. A retired nurse, Angie has been the block captain of 4800 Springfield Avenue for 32 years. During that time, she was also active in Cedar Park Neighbors and in the revival of the Firehouse Market. Mostly, though, she’s had trees on her mind.

Angie co-founded Cross Baltimore Tree Tenders with her friend and neighbor, Johanna Fine, 20 years ago. “We were losing the tree-cover in our neighborhood and we tried to do something about it,” Angie remembers.

At first they acted informally, planting small trees in the lawns near the curb. “We called ourselves guerilla tree planters,” because they didn’t seek permission from the city, says Angie. For their first project, they planted two plum trees on a corner of Windsor Ave. and 48^th Street.

Over time, Angie and Johanna met the city’s requirements of having permits and formal permissions. “We developed a really good relationship with the arborist from our district and count him as a friend to this day.”

Angie and Johanna have partnered with UC Green since its inception. Angie has been a board member as well as an advisor to the organization. “Angie is one of UC Green’s pillars,” says Susan MacQueen, director of UC Green. “She is always thinking about what to do next.”

One of Angie’s long-term projects has focused on 47^th St. and 48^th St. corridors between Woodland and Baltimore Avenues. In 2005, she organized a one-day campaign to plant 47 trees on 47^th St. To pull it off she met with residents, coordinated volunteers and gathered donations of supplies, tools and trees. In 2008, she led a similar drive at 48th and Woodland Avenue Recreational Center, planting 50 trees.

This week, Angie and Johanna are going back to 48^th and Woodland to check on the trees they planted nearly six years ago. “We are finding that some of the trees are stressed. The roots are all tangled up,” says Angie. She worries that they will not survive. “We’ll see if we can save them.”

Much of Angie’s work is behind the scenes, identifying trees for removal. Just last week, the city responded to one of her reports and removed two giant sycamore trees near the corner of 45^th St. and Baltimore.

Johanna and Angie also assist homeowners who need to get rid of dead trees. “Larger trees pose a big problem for homeowners,” says Angie. Knowing that tree removal isn’t cheap, they collect donations to help residents pay for the removal.

– Lori Waselchuk

As always, we here at West Philly Local aim to keep neighbors abreast of community news and inform you of updates to that news. For today’s installment of updates, we’ve rounded up news about three big projects we’ve featured in the last three months that verge from the exciting (tacos!) to the conflicting (another expensive development!). And, of course, if there are other updates you’d love to know, we’d love to hear them in the comments.

Groundbreaking for Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral’s $110 Million Development

Photo by West Philly Local.

Tomorrow, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral and Radnor Property Group (RPG) will hold a groundbreaking for 38Chestnut—the $110 million mixed-used development at 38^th and Chestnut Streets that will see the razing of two historic brownstones (pictured) formerly used as the Cathedral’s parish house. The demolition will make way for a three-prong 326,000 square-foot project (owned by 3737 Chestnut, LP and developed by RPG) to be completed in 2015, and will include the construction of an allegedly “state-of-the-art” 25-story apartment building targeting professionals and grad students, as well as the Episcopal Cathedral Center that features a three-story office building with ground floor retail, a community center, and an early-learning childcare center. Additionally, as part of a settlement with the Preservation Alliance, the development will also see the renovation and maintenance of the cathedral itself. The groundbreaking starts at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral, located at 13-19 South 38th Street.

As we reported in November, the demolition to the two 19th-century brownstones has been nothing but contentious since it made news last summer. In an 8-2 vote, the Philadelphia Historical Commission approved the Cathedral’s hardship application to bulldoze the two historically-sanctioned houses, which were on the list of Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The Preservation Alliance appealed this decision almost immediately, but came to an agreement with the Commission in March, in which a 50-year preservation and restoration plan is implemented and maintained by the Cathedral, with project funds set aside for immediate work on the house of worship.  Continue Reading

There are some spots still open for this great free event, where you can learn how to make your home more cozy for the winter. Many of the materials demonstrated are given away to participants in tonight’s Weatherization workshop (see details below) free of charge. The workshop is presented by the West Philly Tool Library in partnership with the Energy Coordinating Agency, who will teach you how to weatherize your home and save money on your energy bills. Participants will also receive kits to take home to weatherize their own homes.

What: Weatherization Workshop
When: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 6:30 p.m.
Where: West Philadelphia YMCA, 5120 Chestnut Street

To sign up, click here.

The University of Pennsylvania’s community outreach office is hosting a community meeting on Thursday morning, Dec. 5, to discuss public school initiatives, including its program at the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust).

The meeting will run from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Walnut Street West Library (40th and Walnut). Representatives of Penn’s Graduate School of Education, Lea School University Partnership and Netter Center for Community Partnerships will be there to talk about their programs.

Thursday’s meeting is part of the regular First Thursday Community Meeting series that Penn routinely hosts.