An important discussion about incarceration has gained traction nationally in recent years and an important facilitator in that discussion locally is the organization Books Though Bars.

The group’s primary mission is to obtain, pack and ship books to inmates in the region, a volunteer-heavy activity they have been doing in West Philly for more than 20 years. There is a chance this Saturday to be part of this ongoing conversation, meet people from Books Through Bars and other organizations engaged in incarceration issues and raise a little money to keep their work going.

Books Through Bars is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow (Oct 18) at the LAVA Space at 4134 Lancaster Ave, beginning at 2 p.m. The event will feature free workshops and speakers (2 to 6 p.m.) from the following organizations: Decarcerate PA, Hearts on a Wire, The Center for Returning Citizens, HRC, Books Through Bars Address This!, and DreamActivist PA. After that there will be a rockers show (6-10 p.m.) hosted by MMGZ.

Please bring $5-8 to donate at the event. Also, Books Through Bars’ Business, Science and Math shelves are pretty empty right now, so if you have any books that you don’t need please bring them to tomorrow’s event or to the A-Space where the organization is located (4722 Baltimore Ave).

For more information, check out the Books Through Bars Facebook page.

The funeral for 8-year-old Emmeline Valadez, who tragically died after falling from a ninth story apartment building window last week, was held this morning in Hammonton, New Jersey.

Emmeline lived with her father, a Penn graduate student and single father, and her older sister at the Fairfax building at 43rd and Locust. She fell from the window at about 7:45 a.m. last Wednesday. Her obituary is here.

Neighbors and friends are taking up a collection online to help offset funeral expenses. You can contribute to the campaign here. All funds raised will go directly to the father and donations will be accepted until this weekend.

Here’s a chance to help those women who are just starting their careers. If you have a spare dress outfit (appropriate for a “business” environment) hanging in your closet please consider donating it to Dress for Success Philadelphia, a non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged women achieve economic independence.

In West Philadelphia, My Task Master is holding a 2nd Women’s Suit Drive to benefit Dress for Success and is collecting women’s fall business clothing, shoes, scarves, jewelry and handbags. The drive will be held on September 22-25 and donations can be dropped off at the My Task Master office at 47th and Hazel.

Please note that all donations must be like new, clean and current.

For more information and to schedule a drop-off please email Emily Anderson at: emily@mytaskmaster.net (please put “Dress for Success” in the subject line).

Global Citizen, in partnership with Interstate General Media (publishers of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com), Uber & 900AM-WURD yesterday launched a citywide school supplies drive to benefit some of the most underserved Philadelphia public schools. The only drop-off location for donations in West Philly is HipCityVeg at 214 S. 40th Street.

The following items are accepted through Sept. 7: No. 2 pencils, ballpoint pens, copy paper, calculators, dry erasers, crayons, rulers, hand sanitizers, and more (check out the flier below for the full list of accepted donations). You can drop off your donation at HipCityVeg every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Work in progress at the Lea School playground. (Photo courtesy of West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools)

UPDATE (8/14/14): The Greening Lea project has reached its fundraising goal after a sizable donation from the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA), West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools reports. SHCA’s gift of $1,000 completed and even exceeded the $3,000 fundraising goal for Greening Lea’s August project several weeks early!

8/7/14: Here’s a great chance to make something good out of a bad situation. The Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) has a chance to get a great playground set from the recently shuttered Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland) and they need some help.

The new playground set was built at Wilson in November 2010 through a grant from The Hamels Foundation, the charitable organization of Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. The plan is to move the playground set onto the Lea playground (near the existing structure there) at the corner of 47th and Spruce, roughly doubling the size of the school’s play area.

But the committee in charge of Greening Lea, the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools project to make the Lea School’s footprint greener and more kid-friendly, needs to raise $3,000 to help cover the costs of transplanting the playground structure. The grant will help cover costs for a new porous surface that will be built under the new and existing play structure to make it safe for kids. The new surface will also help with the Greening Lea plan to manage stormwater run-off. The current massive asphalt playground, if future plans play out, will be converted into an inviting tree-lined space.

But that’s still in the future. The goal now is to get the new playground structure in place. The work at the playground has already begun. Click here to donate. As usual, any amount will help.

Six weeks are left before kids head back to school and we are passing along information from two area organizations that are helping low-income and homeless families and children prepare for the upcoming school year. We’re sure that there will be more school supply drives and fundraising events in the area. We’ll post new information when it becomes available.

ACHIEVEability Backpack Drive, Fundraising events

Photo courtesy ACHIEVEability.

ACHIEVEability is holding a Backpack Donation Drive to support over 300 school-age kids in the area. When donating a backpack, please consider the following school supplies as well: spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, composition books, folders, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, calculators, pencil sharpeners, glue, erasers, scissors, crayons, etc. Donations can be delivered to ACHIEVEability’s administrative office located at 35 N. 60th Street. All donations should be delivered no later than August 22.

For more information about making a donation please contact the ACHIEVEability Development Department at 215-748-8809 or development@achieveability.org.

On Wednesday, July 30, from 5  to 7 p.m., all are welcome to join ACHIEVEability at Ben & Jerry’s shop at 218 S. 40th St and enjoy some delicious ice cream while helping ACHIEVEability help others. During the event, 20 percent of all sales will be donated to the organization.

Finally, on Thursday, July 31, ACHIEVEability is hosting a Coffee Happy Hour at the Creative Café @ Replica (3711 Market St)   from 5:30-7 p.m. The Coffee Happy Hour will feature the limited-edition signature drink, the ACHIEVEaJava, available to purchase for $2 along with discounted pastries and snacks. The Café will also raffle off a $25 gift card to be used for either design/print services at either Replica location, or to be used solely in the Creative Café @ Replica for coffee and pastries. No RSVP is required for this event.  Continue Reading