UC Green, the West Philly community greening organization, is teaming up with Treeken LLC, a local arborist tree care company, to offer holiday tree collection on Sunday, Jan. 10 at Clark Park and Malcolm X Park. Tree collection in Clark Park (43rd and Kingsessing) will be held from 9 a.m. until Noon and in Malcolm X Park (51st and Osage) from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

UC Green is a volunteer-run organization with a 20-year history, so please bring a donation ($5-$20) along with your tree to support this organization. Donations are also accepted online at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ucgreenphila.

Collected trees will be mulched and used at local parks. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please make sure to wear a mask and avoid congregating with others when dropping off your tree.

Information on other Christmas tree recycling opportunities can be found here.

City councilmember Jamie Gauthier is teaming up with former councilmember Jannie Blackwell and AHARI, a non-profit organization supporting veterans at-risk, to offer free food and winter gear (hats, scarves, gloves and socks) to anyone in need this Wednesday, Dec. 16 at Malcolm X. Park (52nd and Larchwood). The event is scheduled due to the winter storm expected to hit our area tomorrow afternoon.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and go on as long as food supplies last. See the flier for more information.

Due to the inclement weather and cold temperatures setting in in the area this week, the City of Philadelphia has declared the first Code Blue of the cold weather season. If you see someone who needs shelter, please call the Philadelphia Homeless Outreach Hotline at 215-232-1984.

The Cedar Park Neighbors community organization has launched their 2020 Holiday Food Drive, the event held annually since 1985. This year, the food drive and volunteer event that brings holiday meals to dozens of neighborhood families every year, has some changes due to health safety reasons for both recipient families and volunteers and the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This season, in lieu of holiday food baskets, CPN will work with their community partners to distribute grocery store gift cards safely to families.  Continue Reading

If you haven’t had a chance to participate in Indie-Life’s holiday shopping campaign that supports small and minority businesses there’s still time to do it through this Sunday. Indie-Life, a West Philly based creative agency and co-working/event space, launched the 10-day campaign, called “Black Friday Is Cancelled” (BFIC) on November 27th.

“Our BFIC campaign is solidly built on three pillars: Shop small and buy local, invest in your community, and invest in yourself,” said Rasheed Abdellah, a local entrepreneur and Indie-Life founder.

The campaign has already garnered endorsements and praise from Philadelphia’s elected officials like State Senator Anthony Williams, State Representative Rick Krajewski, and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier among others.

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City Council members Jamie Gauthier, Isaiah Thomas, and Katherine Gilmore Richardson are hosting a 3rd District virtual town hall this Thursday, Dec. 3 as part of the COVID-19 Community Outreach series. Councilmembers Thomas and Richardson are also co-chairs of the Disadvantaged Communities Task Force.

Community members are invited to participate in an open dialogue about the City’s COVID-19 response. The City Council wants to hear what you have been struggling with during the pandemic, with a goal to provide support to their communities in the best way possible.

The virtual town hall, which will be moderated by Gauthier, will begin at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held via Zoom. For more details and information on how you can join it, please RSVP by sending an email to: DCT@phila.gov.

Blue Stoop, a nonprofit organization and home to Philly literary community started by two West Philly writers, is holding its virtual winter fundraiser “Words of Revolution; Words of Solace” on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 7-9 p.m. Join Blue Stoop to hear readings from 10 of the most exciting voices writing in and around Philadelphia today: Brittney Cooper, Myriam Gurba, Anne Ishii, Airea Matthews, Trapeta Mayson, Kiley Reid, Nikil Saval, Eric Smith, Amber Sparks, and Elissa Washuta.

This is not another typical Zoom event – in fact, this will be an innovative video program produced by award winning Philadelphia cinematographer Aly Spengler.  Continue Reading