Akyra Murray (photo from Westcatholic.org)

A West Philadelphia woman, Akyra Murray, 18, was confirmed as one of the victims of the mass shooting that happened on early Sunday morning at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fl.

Akyra graduated from West Catholic High School last week and was on a family vacation in Florida to celebrate graduation and visit her brother, according to information posted on the West Catholic High School website.

“… Akyra was a superstar who was a leader amongst her classmates and teammates,” the posting on the website reads. “She was an honors student whom graduated third in her class, and a 1,000 point scorer on the Lady Burrs basketball team. Akyra recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mercyhurst College. May God bless Akyra’s soul and provide comfort to all family and friends during this very troubling time.”

The school will be holding a vigil service on Wednesday, June 15, at 6 p.m. in the school auditorium to honor Akyra’s memory. Out of respect for those closest to Akyra, the vigil will be private to the school and family community only.

There will be a vigil for the Orlando massacre victims tonight at City Hall (meeting at the North East corner), from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. If you can please bring a candle. More information is available on the event’s Facebook page.

A University City High School graduate, Patience Carter, was wounded in the shooting and is expected to recover.

We’re very sad to report that Cheryl Roebuck, a veteran music teacher, Garden Court community activist, and wife of State Rep. Jim Roebuck, passed away last week.

Mrs. Roebuck has worked for the School District of Philadelphia for over thirty years. She has also been active in her West Philadelphia community for over twenty years. She has served as the secretary of the University City Arts League and was a board member of the Garden Court Community Association.

Funeral services for Mrs. Roebuck will be held on Friday, June 10, at Arch Street United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad Street. Visitation with the family will be from 10:00 a.m. –12:00 p.m.; service starts at 12:00 p.m.

When I walked into Youma (Facebook page), a new African restaurant at 4519 Baltimore Ave., I was glad to finally get to spend some time with owner Youma Ba. When I met with her, she was covering for a server who was out sick. It was somewhat of a homecoming for Youma, since this very location was where she got her start as a server in Philly back in 2001, when it was known as La Calebasse. She left there to open Kilimanjaro on Walnut St.

Youma Ba

She was recruited by La Calebasse to work in their New York City location and was invited to West Philadelphia when the owners expanded into the area. “I’ve been a server, I’ve been a cook, I’ve been a manager,” she recalled. A veteran of the industry, she decided she was ready to open up a new restaurant when she saw the vacant storefront.

Youma Ba never intended to work with food. Her mother, Vice Mayor of Dakar, wanted her to be an economist so she got an economics degree from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. Her mother also taught Youma to cook for her large family twice a day. As one of 12 children, Youma gained the skills that helped her open her first restaurant.  Continue Reading

A West Philadelphia 7th grader, Saif Siddiquee, participated in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, being held this week in Washington, DC. 13-year-old Saif is a Penn Alexander School student. On Wednesday, Saif competed in the Preliminary Rounds 2 and 3 (onstage oral spelling) and spelled correctly both words (“crudités” and “recrudescence”) presented to him by the Bee’s official pronouncer, Dr. Jacques Bailly.

Only 45 kids out of the 285 who entered in this year’s competition made it to the Finals, and, unfortunately, Saif wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless, we congratulate Saif on his great performance and for representing his school and Philadelphia in this prestigious contest.

We’re happy to pass along information on two local causes that support community education.

Metropolitan owner Jim Lily and PIC executive director Debbie Green (photo courtesy PIC).

The Parent Infant Center (PIC) at 42nd and Locust recently received a generous and heartfelt gift from a local business. Metropolitan Bakery & Café’s owner Jim Lily sent a touching letter to PIC’s Executive Director Debbie Green and presented a $600 donation for PIC’s Cindy Fund. In his letter, Lily wrote about his close relationship with PIC (his daughter participated in the after-school program there) and about his friendship with former executive director Cindy Roberts who passed away in February. Roberts and Lily were also neighbors; they lived across the street from each other.

University City’s Metropolitan celebrated its 12th anniversary on April 26, and a portion of sales on that day made up this donation. Read more about this wonderful gesture on the PIC website.

The Cindy Fund was established in memory of Roberts, who was passionate about children and families and believed in equal access to quality preschool for all families, regardless of income. To learn more about the Cindy Fund, go here.  Continue Reading

The Green Tambourine is now open at 711 S. 50th St. (Photo from The Green Tambourine’s Facebook page)

The Green Tambourine director Ann Schwartz at the new studio near 50th and Baltimore (Photo West Philly Local)

The popular local music program, The Green Tambourine, which started four years ago at The Rotunda, has grown out of its space on 46th and Baltimore and has just moved a few blocks west to a new, bigger location.

“The old space [at 4614 Baltimore Ave.] was great to get us started in 2012 as a designated music space,” says the program founder and creative director Ann Schwartz. “I started looking for a bigger space at the beginning of this year since our schedule was getting tight. When the space came up in March I knew I wanted to make the move.”

The program, which moved to the former warehouse building at 711 S. 50th St., now has lots more space for current and new classes, and is hiring more teachers to expand the instruments that they offer.  Continue Reading