Keeping Dr. King’s dream alive
January 17, 2007
By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer
As many local residents with the day off stayed in bed dreaming Monday morning, their fellow citizens got up and out to help keep a dream alive.
In celebration of what would have been the 78th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., young and old alike joined hands for various community service events around the Northeast.
Students at New Foundations Charter School in Holmesburg spread awareness on hunger and engaged the community in hands-on events. Dozens of students and community members gathered at the school at 8001 Torresdale Ave. to make care packages and write greetings for children living at a North Philadelphia homeless facility, Trevor’s Place. They also decorated bowls for the Empty Bowls project, to be accompanied by hunger statistics and exhibited in the school’s lobby. Shira Woolf Cohen, the school’s director of service learning, said the event aligned with King’s "missions of making people equal and having everyone be able to look at each other with respect and understanding."
The school developed a relationship with Trevor’s Place earlier in the school year when they spent the day with children at the center. The facility actually grew from the concern of one Philadelphia child who had seen a newscast about homelessness in the early 1980s and decided to start distributing food and blankets to the needy. According to its Web site, Trevor’s Place has helped 840 homeless children stay in school since its opened in 1983.
To illustrate the circumstances that often lead to poverty, sixth-grader Chelsea Smith taught classmates to juggle. Each beanbag sack used was labeled with a different type of financial hardship, like credit card debt.
"It represents that some people can recover from (poverty) and some can’t," said Chelsea, 11. "Going to a homeless shelter can happen to any of us. Someone in my grade can live in a homeless shelter. It just happens to be their situation."
The students helped stuff about 40 gift bags with coloring books, crayons, toys and hats and gloves to be delivered to children at Trevor’s Place.
Though it was a holiday, the students were happy to go to school to help those in need.
"It’s a day of service, not a day off," said seventh-grader Toriann Garver, 13. Several other Northeast schools and groups held MLK Day celebrations on Monday.
The Frankford Coalition of Neighbors convened for its 21st annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration at St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church. The free event included the theme Content of Your Character and featured the Rev. Arnold T. Evans, pastor of the 200-year-old Campbell African Methodist Episcopal Church in Frankford, as the keynote speaker.
Holy Family University sent 40 volunteers to two sites, Glen Foerd, the historic mansion on the Delaware River in Torresdale, and Clara Barton Elementary School in Feltonville. Volunteers helped Glen Foerd staff clean and do chores on the property, while the second team painted and cleaned at the school.
More than 50 students at St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls made sandwiches for St. Francis Inn in Kensington, which serves the poor and hungry. Throughout the year, students regularly serve dinner to citizens and host annual bake sales to benefit the inn.
As part of United Way’s Project Warm a Heart, staff from the Mayfair Community Development Corporation helped winterize the homes of local seniors. The group previously identified those in need of assistance at an energy conservation workshop hosted in December. More than 30 participants received information and materials from the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA).
In a similar event, the Rhawnhurst Naturally Occurring Retirement Community enlisted the help of students from Orleans Technical Institute to dispense snow removal coupons to 25 local seniors. The certificates offer each senior a free snow removal job should the season turn wintery. ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com
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January 17, 2007
By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer
As many local residents with the day off stayed in bed dreaming Monday morning, their fellow citizens got up and out to help keep a dream alive.
In celebration of what would have been the 78th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., young and old alike joined hands for various community service events around the Northeast.
Students at New Foundations Charter School in Holmesburg spread awareness on hunger and engaged the community in hands-on events. Dozens of students and community members gathered at the school at 8001 Torresdale Ave. to make care packages and write greetings for children living at a North Philadelphia homeless facility, Trevor’s Place. They also decorated bowls for the Empty Bowls project, to be accompanied by hunger statistics and exhibited in the school’s lobby. Shira Woolf Cohen, the school’s director of service learning, said the event aligned with King’s "missions of making people equal and having everyone be able to look at each other with respect and understanding."
The school developed a relationship with Trevor’s Place earlier in the school year when they spent the day with children at the center. The facility actually grew from the concern of one Philadelphia child who had seen a newscast about homelessness in the early 1980s and decided to start distributing food and blankets to the needy. According to its Web site, Trevor’s Place has helped 840 homeless children stay in school since its opened in 1983.
To illustrate the circumstances that often lead to poverty, sixth-grader Chelsea Smith taught classmates to juggle. Each beanbag sack used was labeled with a different type of financial hardship, like credit card debt.
"It represents that some people can recover from (poverty) and some can’t," said Chelsea, 11. "Going to a homeless shelter can happen to any of us. Someone in my grade can live in a homeless shelter. It just happens to be their situation."
The students helped stuff about 40 gift bags with coloring books, crayons, toys and hats and gloves to be delivered to children at Trevor’s Place.
Though it was a holiday, the students were happy to go to school to help those in need.
"It’s a day of service, not a day off," said seventh-grader Toriann Garver, 13. Several other Northeast schools and groups held MLK Day celebrations on Monday.
The Frankford Coalition of Neighbors convened for its 21st annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration at St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church. The free event included the theme Content of Your Character and featured the Rev. Arnold T. Evans, pastor of the 200-year-old Campbell African Methodist Episcopal Church in Frankford, as the keynote speaker.
Holy Family University sent 40 volunteers to two sites, Glen Foerd, the historic mansion on the Delaware River in Torresdale, and Clara Barton Elementary School in Feltonville. Volunteers helped Glen Foerd staff clean and do chores on the property, while the second team painted and cleaned at the school.
More than 50 students at St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls made sandwiches for St. Francis Inn in Kensington, which serves the poor and hungry. Throughout the year, students regularly serve dinner to citizens and host annual bake sales to benefit the inn.
As part of United Way’s Project Warm a Heart, staff from the Mayfair Community Development Corporation helped winterize the homes of local seniors. The group previously identified those in need of assistance at an energy conservation workshop hosted in December. More than 30 participants received information and materials from the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA).
In a similar event, the Rhawnhurst Naturally Occurring Retirement Community enlisted the help of students from Orleans Technical Institute to dispense snow removal coupons to 25 local seniors. The certificates offer each senior a free snow removal job should the season turn wintery. ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com
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