Garden Court Community Association hosts its Winter Stroll & Holiday House Tour on Saturday, Dec. 29, from 5-8 p.m. and invites you to come out and spread holiday cheer in the neighborhood.

The stroll begins at 4603 Cedar Avenue and continues to other festive homes in the community. There will be music, theater and fun and light refreshments will be served. The event will take place in rain or snow.

Cost is $10 with advanced registration; $15 at the door. Children under 12 are free. RSVP to Mary-Knight Young at maryknightyoung@gmail.com or 215-779-3692.

We’re sad to report that this afternoon a fire destroyed Algernong Allen’s Elena’s Soul, a popular restaurant and bar on the 4900 block of Baltimore Avenue. Fortunately there were no injuries in the fire, which damaged all three floors of the building at 4912 Baltimore Avenue.

The fire, which started at about 1 p.m., reportedly caused some damage to the Cedar Park Cafe and Gary’s Nails, the two businesses on either side of Elena’s. The cause of the fire has not yet been reported.

We’ll report more details as we get them.

Neighbor Shenid Bhayroo sent the video below. It was shot at about 2:45 p.m. A reader named Ashley sent the photo. Thanks Shenid and Ashley.

The Philadelphia Recycling Office sends a reminder of importance of recycling this holiday season and urges residents to recycle their holiday gift packaging and party supplies. It is also an easy way to rack up more Philadelphia Recycling Rewards points that can be redeemed for holiday gifts and store discounts.

“The Philadelphia Streets Department and Recycling Office invites residents to recycle all of their holiday packaging this year and help divert more waste from our City’s landfills,” said Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Clarena I.W. Tolson.

A variety of holiday items or packaging can be recycled, including wrapping paper, paper and cardboard boxes, paper shopping bags and plastic packaging. Also, don’t forget to recycle year round items, such as cartons, glass bottles and aluminum cans. For a full list of recyclable materials, please visit www.philadelphiastreets.com/holidayrecycling.aspx.

The City of Philadelphia will also hold its Christmas Tree Recycling Program again this year, in which residents can drop off their trees for composting and mulching. The Streets Department will be accepting Christmas trees at sanitation convenience centers from Monday, January 7, 2013 through Saturday, January 19, 2013. Last year, nearly 22 tons of trees were collected through the program, which translates into 1,757 trees.

In addition to the Streets Department Christmas Tree Recycling Program, there are several other Christmas tree programs being offered by partner organizations. We’ll post more information about other ways to recycle your trees in West Philadelphia very soon.

Here’s an opportunity to share your vision of the Spruce Hill neighborhood this upcoming Thursday (Dec. 13). The Spruce Hill Community Association is hosting a Community Visioning Workshop and all are welcome to come and offer their thoughts on what kind of a place you would like Spruce Hill to be. The workshop will be held at the Spruce Hill Christian School (42nd & Baltimore), beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Community input is needed for the planning process as the Philadelphia Planning Commission is working on a new District Plan and Re-zoning for West Philadelphia neighborhoods (University/Southwest District Plan). Many West Philly residents participated in the first University/Southwest public meeting on November 13 at the Enterprise Center. More details, including the summary and presentation from that meeting are available here.

For more information on the workshop, contact Barry Grossbach, chair of the Spruce Hill Community Trust, at b.grossbach@gmail.com, or leave a telephone message at the Spruce Hill Community Center, 215-349-7825.

Many kids in the Philadelphia area will be cold this winter because their families can’t afford heat or warm clothes. To help local children stay warm, neighbor Jeannette Bennicelli is organizing a winter coat drive for Cradles to Crayons, a local non-profit that provides children living in homeless or low-income situations with the essential items they need. If you have new or used winter clothing or coats for children aged infant through 17 years old that you would like to donate, please email Jeannette at: jbennice2@gmail.com to arrange the donations.

UPDATE: Jeannette sends many thanks to all those who responded to this post and donated coats and says that she welcomes more donations (deadline is Monday, Dec. 17).

Spark, an award-winning national nonprofit that provides professional 10-week apprenticeships for at-risk 7th and 8th graders to “spark” their engagement in school, is partnering with three West Philly schools – Lea, Mastery Shoemaker, and McMichael – to serve approximately 60 7th and 8th grade students. The programming starts in late February 2013, and currently, Spark is seeking mentors – local businesses and organizations in West Philadelphia and Center City.

Jim Schroder, the Program Launch Director and a West Philly resident, is particularly hopeful to recruit mentors from the West Philly community. “One of the things I love most about Spark is the bridges it creates for professional adults to work with at-risk students in a specific and relational way. I think our neighborhood in particular has a ton of professionals who really care about the community but who often don’t have a natural way to productively support a struggling student, especially a way of doing it that’s so integrated with what someone is already good at and passionate about,” Schroder said in an email.

Here’s how mentoring works:

Over the course of an eight-week session, students meet with their mentors once a week for two hours and work on a project for a culminating Discovery Night graduation ceremony held at the end of the program. A mentor does not have to have previous experience working with youth. Training and support before and throughout the apprenticeship will be provided.

Spark Philadelphia is seeking to recruit 60 mentors by January 1. After that, mentors are expected to attend preparatory events, such as an orientation to get to know Spark and a match day to get acquainted with their student.

For more information about the program, visit www.sparkprogram.org. If you’re interested in mentoring or have questions, call: 267-519-4591 or email: philadelphia@sparkprogram.org