Volunteers are needed in West and Southwest Philadelphia to help drive cancer patients to treatment. You need access to a vehicle, a valid driver’s license and current insurance. That’s it. For more information call 1-800-227-2345.

West Philadelphia icon Miriam W. Crawford, who along with her husband Bill were stalwarts of the political left in the city for decades, died on Saturday in a Germantown nursing home. She was 94.

Crawford retired as the director of the Temple University archives in 1986. She is the former coordinator of the Philadelphia chapter Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She marched against the war in Vietnam and was active in causes up until last year, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Miriam and her husband Bill Crawford, who was the great grandson of an escaped slave, were well known in West Philadelphia for their commitment to leftist causes. Both were committed Marxists and their dining room in the Parkside neighborhood was a gathering spot for social activists. The dining room walls were covered with political memorabilia that spanned generations. The walls were so intriguing that curators removed the political art work when the Crawfords moved and recreated it for a Philadelphia Folklore Project an art exhibition in 2005. Bill died in 2002 at the age of 91.

Bill Crawford ran the New World Book Fair bookstore at 113 S. 40th St. from 1961 to 1974. The store specialized in Marxist and African American books.

Miriam and Bill were married in 1949. They are survived by a daughter, Fanny Jean Crawford, a son, Douglass Barnes Crawford, and three grandchildren.

UC Green is teaming up with the Philadelphia Orchard Project to raise money to plant fruit and nut trees along the streets of West and Southwest Philadelphia. They hope to raise enough money to plant about 100 trees by the fall. The fruit and nuts from the trees would be available to everyone. But don’t worry they are not going to choose trees that will leave a big mess on the streets and sidewalks.

The project has a page on the fundraising site Kickstarter.com. Here is the link. Donations start at just $1.

Here is their video pitch…

Demolition crews knocked down the last couple of walls at the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut Streets on Saturday. Fire devastated the building on January 10 and led to a protracted battle between residents, the building’s owners and the city. A class action lawsuit against the building’s owners, David and Sam Ginsberg, was filed in February.

There has been no announcement about plans for the half-block lot where the buildings once stood.

West Philly residents fanned out across the neighborhoods today to pick up trash, rake leaves and sticks and even clean up a stop sign or two as part of the spring cleanup activities around the city.

Organization is in the works for a cooperative cleanup of Cedar Park (50^th and Baltimore) on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Cedar Park Neighbors is sponsoring the event with help from the West Philadelphia Cooperative School and the University City District. Free coffee, juice and snacks will be available for those who help out.

Organizers would love it if people RSVP’d on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198483680174195.