Spruce Hill Bird Sanctuary.

Our fine feathered friends at Spruce Hill Bird Sanctuary need more food to make it through the toughest months of the year, so Spruce Hill Community Association is organizing a Fall Bird Food Drive. Residents are asked to donate a bag of sunflower seeds, suet cakes, or good quality general bird seed. Bird food is available at pet stores, supermarkets or local garden centers and nurseries.

You can drop off the purchased bird food at the following locations: Baltimore Pet Shoppe (4532 Baltimore Ave), Milk and Honey (45th and Baltimore) and Spruce Hill Community Association (257 45th St., call 215 349-7825 for open hours).

The sanctuary has four posts that hold 15 feeders. You might see over a dozen different kinds of birds there. The entrance is next to 233 S. Melville and it is open to the public. For more information, click here.

The collaboration between Diedra Krieger, a participating artist in the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence program, and community members made it possible to create something amazing at the corner of 49th and Chancellor Streets. Plastic Fantastic is a 16-foot geodesic dome covered in over 6000 recycled water bottles collected from residents and organizations.

The project’s goal is to raise public awareness to such problems as access to clean water, the politics of water, environmental issues, recycling, self-care, and equity. The dome structure, which is a metaphor of liberated consciousness, was first built in 2007 and since then the Plastic Fantastic project has traveled to many locations, most recently to Salisbury University (in 2011).

Plastic Fantastic is a great community effort. Besides the artist and individual water bottle collectors, the installment at 49th and Chancellor is a joint collaboration among Huey School’s after school program, Portside Art Center, University City District, 40th Street AIR, Mariposa’s Food Justice and Anti-Racism (FJAR) Working Group, The Rotunda, Hector’s Metal Shop, Inciting H, Planet Fitness, Bikram Yoga of Philadelphia, and Bartram’s Garden.

The project will be on display through October 17 and this Friday (Oct. 12) everyone is invited to a public reception, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the corner of 49th and Chancellor. As part of this project, there will also be a free film screening at the Lucien E. Blackwell Library (125 S. 52nd St) on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 5:45 p.m. The film, Tapped, sheds light on the bottled water industry’s impact on our health, economy, environment and more. Please RSVP to: education@mariposa.coop

To learn more about this project, visit Plastic Fantastic Facebook page.

Huey After School Program students helped out with the Plastic Fantastic project (they got 1000 bottles onto the dome).

The Runner Stumbles cast members Isa St.Clair (Sister Rita) and Steve Carpenter (Father Rivard). Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

West Philly’s Curio Theatre Company begins its eighth season this Thursday with The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt. First produced on Broadway in 1976, The Runner Stumbles is based on a true story that happened in 1911 at a Roman Catholic parish in rural Michigan. It is a long-awaited project for director and Curio co-founder Gay Carducci.

“It’s a play about a crisis of faith, with a hint of mystery,” she says. “It’s been speaking to me since I saw it done 20-some-odd years ago. And it’s always a piece that I loved and wanted to bring back again.”

The cast features Ryan Walter, Rachel Gluck, Harry Slack and Artistic Director Paul Kuhn, all of West Philadelphia, as well as Aetna Gallagher of Wallingford, Liam Castellan of Center City, and introducing Meridian Lowe, a student at Masterman High School and one of the first students in Curio’s educational program.

The show runs October 11 to November 10 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., in the Calvary Center at 4740 Baltimore Ave. Tickets are $15-20 ($10-15 for preview performances). For more information and to buy tickets, visit this page.

Over the summer we wrote about the Future of Cedar Park survey distributed in the neighborhood by the Cedar Park Neighbors association. If you live or own a business in Cedar Park and haven’t participated in the survey yet, you are encouraged to do it this week. The deadline is Friday, Oct. 12, 5 p.m.

Neighbors’ input on the future of the neighborhood is very helpful as a committee of Cedar Park Neighbors board members is preparing for an important meeting with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission which will be convening a steering committee to create a new plan for Southwest Philadelphia and University City.

“Already, we’ve heard from 400 Cedar Park Neighbors about what they want for their community. If you haven’t responded yet, please do so today. It only takes a couple minutes and we want to make sure your voice is heard!” wrote Cedar Park Neighbors president Michael Froehlich in an email.

To access the survey online, please follow this link.

Hakim Benson (photo from Philly Police Blog).

Update: Just a few days after police released a photo of Hakim Benson, who is suspected in multiple West and Southwest Philly robberies, including the Sept. 28 robbery of CVS Pharmacy at 4849 Market St., he was captured. Benson was arrested and charged with 12 gunpoint robberies on October 6.

Oct 4, 10:06 am: Police have released a photo of robbery suspect Hakim Benson, wanted for multiple gunpoint robberies in West and Southwest Philadelphia.

One of the recent crimes Benson is suspected in is a robbery of the CVS Pharmacy located at 4849 Market Street on September 28, when a male pointed a silver revolver at the employee and told him to put all the money in his bag. He took $75 and two cartons of cigarettes and fled. For more information on other robberies Benson is suspected in, visit Philly Police Blog.

Hakim Benson is 5’5″ tall and weighs 125lbs. He has numerous tattoos on his face. If you see him, please call 911.

This female cat was found on Chester Avenue near Clark Park on October 5. She’s small, longhaired, grey with white throat and feet, wearing a clear flea collar.

If this is your cat, contact Anne at 215 485-6121 or 215 386-0274.