An organization tasked with helping to settle Afghan, Syrian and Congolese refugees arriving in the city is looking for donations of everything from mentorship and language teachers to dishes and used furniture.

Jess Hinchey of the Nationalities Service Center (NSC) told the Spruce Hill Community Association Board last night that some 600-800 refugees a year settle in Philadelphia, many in West Philly.

She said that the organization is always looking for volunteer help and donations.

An SHCA board member suggested taking advantage of “Penn Christmas,” when departing students  leave behind furniture and other items on the street at the semester’s end, to provide items for refugees.

More information about volunteering and donations is available at the NSC website here. You can also email Michelle Fauber at: mfauber@nscphila.org

This dog was found on Wednesday morning, at around 8 a.m., running north on 49th Street near Baltimore. No collar or tags. He is currently in the area with the person who found him.

If this is your dog or if you have any information about his owners please call Clara at [phone number removed].

The major redevelopment project of converting the long-vacant former Provident Mutual Life Insurance building site into a public services complex, including headquarters for the Philadelphia Police Department, has been going on for about a year and a half now. Recently we checked on the site and saw that the 88-year-old building’s facade was already partially renovated.

According to this sign posted at the site, the work on the building’s facade and roof improvements is expected to be completed in December 2016.

As we reported earlier, the whole complex, which will also house the Department of Public Health and the Medical Examiner’s Office and Morgue and will include a plaza with public art installations, is expected to be completed by 2018. The complex will stretch from 46th to 48th Street and from Market Street to Haverford Avenue.

A few community meetings will be held this week – in the Spruce Hill and Walnut Hill neighborhoods – where residents can learn more and ask questions about public safety, development projects, and other important issues.

Two meetings are scheduled at Spruce Hill Community Association’s office at 257 S. 45th St this week:

• SHCA Board Meeting will take place tonight (Tuesday, Apr. 12) at 7:30 p.m., and the guest speaker is Jess Hinchey, a volunteer coordinator at Refugee Corps.

• SHCA Zoning meeting is on Wednesday, Apr. 13, and has the following agenda:  Continue Reading

Samuel Powel Elementary School students and teachers are planning a series of marches against gun violence and are inviting the community to join them.

“4th graders at Powel School… have been studying Gun Violence in our neighborhoods and city this year. They have decided that they wanted to march through our communities to raise awareness about gun violence,” writes teacher Joe Alberti.

The 4th graders at Powel will be marching through Powelton and Mantua on Thursday, April 21 from 1-2 p.m.

They will be marching up 36th St. to Spring Garden, then up 35th St. to Aspen before walking down 37th St. and back to school, located at 301 N. 36th St. The children created fliers about the march to invite neighbors. Here’s one of them:  Continue Reading

UPDATE (8:00 p.m.): Penn officials identified the student who was struck and killed this morning by a SEPTA subway train as 21-year-old Ao “Olivia” Kong. She was a Philadelphia native and a graduate of Central High School, Philly.com reports.

UPDATE (2:44 p.m.) The University of Pennsylvania has confirmed that the woman struck by an eastbound Market-Frankford line train and killed this morning at the 40th Street station was a Penn student. Penn President Amy Gutmann indicated in an e-mail to students and staff this afternoon that the student was a junior. Her name was not released. Police have said there was no indication that she was pushed onto the tracks. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that the woman was a student in the Wharton School.

An eastbound Market-Frankford Line train struck and killed a woman at about 7 a.m. on Monday at the 40th Street station, according to reports.

Service was suspended between the 30th Street and 52nd Street stations until 9:40 a.m. and shuttle buses were provided along Market Street.

There was no indication that the woman fell or was pushed onto the track, according to SEPTA.