This Thursday, Feb. 7, is the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc., is hosting a special HIV/AIDS information event at Kingsessing Recreation Center (4901 Kingsessing Ave.), beginning at 5 p.m.

Confidential testing will be offered during the event and free pizza will be served to participants.

According to city health statistics, nearly seven in 10 new HIV/AIDS infections are contracted by African Americans and the 19143 zip code is one of the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS in the city.

“Knowledge is power, so come out and empower yourself,” said Williams. “Get the information you need about HIV/AIDS. Get tested – it’s free. And bring a friend. You just might save a life – yours.”

For more details about the event, please contact Desaree Jones at 215-492-2980.

The Health Behavior Research Lab at the University of the Sciences is running a study about integrated treatment for obesity and pain and offering a free clinic for adults who are suffering from these conditions. Anyone who are obese and experience pain on a regular basis are eligible for treatment and are welcome to apply.

For more information about the clinic, visit this page, or contact the Health Behavior Research Lab at 215-596-7185 or hbrlab@usciences.edu.

Thanks to neighbor Christina Hopkins for sharing this information.

OK. Here’s a way to help neighborhood kids without getting out of your chair. Neighborhood Foods is a food growing and distribution run by kids and overseen by Urban Tree Connection. You might have seen these kids selling their produce near the 46th Street El stop or elsewhere in West Philly.

The folks from this great program have a chance to speak on a very large stage. They are among the five finalists in the TEDxManhattan Challenge. The winner gets to speak about their organization at TEDxManhattan, which this year will focus on “Changing the Way We Eat.”

Here is more about Neighborhood Foods from their entry:

“This dynamic model empowers disadvantaged youth from low-income neighborhoods to run an array of food-focused programs, from urban farming production, to value-added food product development, to distribution and retail through farm stands, farmers markets and a low-income CSA program. The result is a complete local food system that drives revitalization of high-need neighborhoods by 1) increasing access to fresh and healthy foods in designated food deserts and 2) developing a local food economy that accelerates small food businesses and retains food dollars in the immediate region.”

To vote for them, go here. To see other entrants, go here.

If you have some prescription medication that you are not planning to use, here’s an opportunity to get rid of it in a much safer way rather than letting it sit in your house or dumping it in the trash.

Tomorrow, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., bring it to Health Center 3 at 555 S. 43rd St. during the 3rd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The event is organized by the Drug Enforcement Administration in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies and is being held at numerous sites throughout the nation. Nearly 4,000 state and local agencies participated in the previous two events like this one (last spring and in 2010), and collected more than 309 tons of pills.

Folks in Powelton and Mantua can drop their stuff off at the Drexel Recreation Center’s Main Lobby, 3301 Market St. For other locations please go to this page and enter your zip code.

A group of West Philly youths have decided: If the people can’t get to fresh fruits and vegetables, they’re going to get the fresh fruits and vegetables to the people.

Starting tomorrow the Youth Urban Mobile Market (YUMM) will begin delivering fresh produce from 52nd to 60th Streets in a bicycle-driven cart. The cart will launch on Friday at the first ever Youth Growers Market at Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine Streets) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  The YUMM cart will pedal the neighborhoods four times weekly, helping relieve the dearth of fresh food in many parts of West Philly.

The cart and tomorrow’s market are staffed by young folks from the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Students from a number of area schools are involved, including: Martin Luther King High School’s “Seeds for Learning;” Saul High School’s “Henry Got Crops;” the School of the Future; Pepper Middle School; the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance; Earth Keepers; and Walnut Hill Farm.

If things go as planned a lot more people in Philadelphia will see mobile fruit and vegetable carts around the city. The YUMM cart is the first of the City’s “Healthy Carts” program. Twenty carts are planned to begin operating in low-income neighborhoods in 2011-2012 as part of the “Food Fit Philly” program.

For more information on the YUMM cart or the youth growers program, write Lan Dinh at: landinh89 [at] gmail.com.

Youth from the University of Pennsylvania’s Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI) are hosting the 13th Annual “Rooted in Community” national food and justice conference this week, July 27-31. More than 100 young people from across the country have come to build a youth-led food justice movement.

The conference includes a community outreach event on Friday, July 29. Community members are invited for a potluck dinner from 6:30-8 p.m. at the University City High School garden (3601 Filbert St.). Attendees are expected to bring a dish to feed 20 people.

AUNI was created by Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships and works to improve community nutrition and health through implementing a set of programs and activities in specified neighborhoods.