Pop and Play Day!

On Saturday September 17th, the Mayors Office of Civil Service hosted the Pop and Me Play Date Kick-Off Celebration! The event was held at the beautiful Smith Play Place located in Fairmount Park. The purpose of this event was to promote positive play between fathers and their sons. In addition to the playground, the event had food, drinks, and face painting for the families. Playworks was there to set up a few games and do what we do best, PLAY! Coaches Stephen, Aaron, Chris and Emily were in attendance at the event.

 If you have never heard of or been to the Smith Play Place, it is an incredible playground, far more than your average playground with monkey bars and see-saws. The design of this playground is unbelievable. The play structures were like nothing I have seen before. I could try to explain them in words, but my explanations would not do the structures justice. My best advice is check it out at http://smithkidsplayplace.org/ and you will not be disappointed!

 It was hard for us coaches, all in our twenties, to refrain from playing on the equipment. If we wanted to play on the structures, you could only imagine how much the children wanted to. Our job at the Pop and Play Date was to run game stations for the kids and parents attending the event. While kids were super excited to get involved with Playworks games, our biggest challenge of the day was competing with this awesome playground. Competing against a play structure on my recess yard has already been an obstacle I have been working on since the beginning of the school year.

 Today was no different, in fact, it was harder! It was a bit of a challenge to get kids to play switch and four-square when the playground from the future was staring them down. Another challenge was the space that we had. We had a small patch of grass that was a bit uneven.

 In true Playworks fashion, we worked around this obstacle and still set up some games and activities. Our biggest success was Switch! We got a bunch of great games of Switch going on throughout the day. Some of the kids just wanted to toss a Frisbee, or kick a ball around with us. Either way, we were there to help out the community by playing!

 Although we had to compete with the mega-playground, it was still a successful day for Playworks and everyone involved in the event.

 Written by: Aaron Stutz

September 11th Project with the Jewish Relief Agency

For our first service project, we worked with the Jewish Relief Agency in Northeast Philadelphia to help package and deliver food supplies to community members in need. To say the whole operation ran like a "well oiled machine" would be an understatement. Just imagine the whole operation as one big clock, with volunteers rotating around collecting food items from other volunteers then at the end giving it to other volunteers who packaged them up. All the volunteers were assigned to certain stations, making cardboard boxes or handing out food items. The Playworks team worked their way down the food assembly lines to collect items in each box. Finally, each member gave the box to the volunteers at the end of the assembly line who would package them and prepare them for delivery to the families in need.

After the Playworks Philadelphia crew was done packaging, we received our directions to the locations of apartments where we were assigned to drop off the food. This was the best part of the service project, handing out the food packages to the people. All of the people were more than thankful, and some even attempted to tip us! The majority of Northeast residents we delivered food to were immigrants from Russia and Poland who spoke little English. Although there was a slight language barrier you could still tell how thankful they all were.

Personally, I believed that September 11th was just a day for mourning and remembrance, but now after this service project I realized that we can continue to move forward and using this day to make our community and nation a better place. Written by: Alex Correa

Garden Revitalization with Teens 4 Good

For our December service project, we decided to get our hands dirty-literally.  The project we were involved with was working to revitalize a community garden located on 8th Street and Poplar, an area otherwise known as Northern Liberties.  The list of tasks we were put in charge of were as follows:

• Raking
• Weeding
• Picking up trash
• Compost turn over
• Overall maintenance of the garden    

Coaches Alexa and PJ weeding the beds.

     During our service we were teamed up with an organization called Teens 4 Good. "Teens 4 Good, a program of the Federation of Neighborhood Centers,  is a youth entrepreneurship produce and nutrition business that transforms vacant lots into urban gardens/farms, improving access to healthy food for communities, creating meaningful jobs for at-risk youth and empowering youth to become healthy responsible young adults and leaders who give back to their communities" (excerpt taken from Teens 4 Good Website).  

Coach Lisa raking leaves with volunteers.

The project leader, Jamie, supplied us with tools, water, and some delicious soft pretzels.  After exchanging greetings, we all got to work.  The coaches were divided up and given different tasks to perform for the day.  Coach Ben and I were assigned to trimming a pair of rose bushes, or rather, trying not to get poked to death by thorns.  The work was tedious, but well worth the effort.

Coach Alex (me) trimming the rose bushes!

     After the project was completed and I had time to reflect, I realized that a garden in an urban setting such as Philadelphia is vital to showing and introducing people to healthy food choices.  In addition, it can also be used as an educational tool for schools throughout the area to inform children about the importance of fresh, whole foods.  Besides that though, it is simply always fun to have the opportunity to get your hands a little dirty.

Garden beds post-weeding.  Ready for planting!

-Written from Playworks Philly by Program Coordinator Alex Correa

Girls Basketball Night at Drexel

Participants with Mario the Dragon

On November 23rd, Playworks participated in a fun filled basketball night at Drexel University! All twelve of the Playworks Philadelphia Girls Basketball Teams were present. The night started off with interactive workshops and games. This portion of the event included various tips and strategies, like teamwork and cooperation, which were relevant to the girls both on and off of the court. After the girls had a pizza party and were showered with prizes, they headed to the basketball game with their families. 

Basketball Players Ready to Answer!

The Playwroks Girls Basketball Team had front row seats to a Drexel Dragons Women's Basketball game! The girls cheered on the Drexel team while observing a basketball in action. Having exposure to a collegiate level basketball game allowed the girls to build their own self-esteem. This event was extremely rewarding for the Playworks Girls Basketball League!

-Written for Playworks Philly by Program Coordinator Felicia Mott

Check out the Drexel University  Press Release Here:

Find more information on the event after the jump break!

Veteran’s Day Service Project with The Mission Continues

In order to pay tribute to those who currently serve and have served in the United States Armed Forces, Playworks Philadelphia partnered with The Mission Continues and Target to beautify and restore the playground at the Kenderton School in Philadelphia.  The event was attended by volunteers from the local community, Target, Playworks, The Mission Continues, and local veterans.  It was a very successful and fulfilling service project that was made even more meaningful because the volunteers had the opportunity to work side by side with the men and women that keep us safe.  We were able to connect with these veterans through the wonderful folks at The Mission Continues.  The Mission Continues believes the best way to honor those who have served and continue to serve is to live their beliefs, and serve as they have.  As you will see below a lot of people have heard the call.

With our amazing team assembled we got right to work!

As always, Philly PM Colby is the man with the plan.

Coach Ben recruiting future Junior Coaches.

A freshly refurbished playground? Check.  A couple balls lying around? Yup.  Local kids willing to play with some old timers? Ok.  The Playworks Philadelphia Staff couldn’t help themselves and jumped right in. 

Coach Alex kickin’ it with some neighborhood kids and Coach Makeda dropping some shots in 4 square.

Coach Robert giving a shooter his change.

 

By the end of the day the number of people on the yard doubled in size.  There was a buzz in the air that pulled in local residents and really made it a special event.

Pictures of this event are courtesy of  Audrey Kerchner.  Check out her website!

More information on The Mission Continues. 

More information on Target’s charitable contributions.

-Written from Playworks Philly by Program Coordinator PJ Dever 

Make a Difference Day Service Project at Rose Playground

This year’s Make a Difference Day 2010 took place on October 23. Make a Difference Day is “a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors” and is the nation’s largest day of service! * For our project, the Playworks Philly crew traveled to the Overbrook section of the city – one of Philadelphia’s westernmost neighborhoods.

The day took place at Rose Playground, an expansive open space with a lovely playground structure located just off 75^th Street. We worked under the welcoming leadership and guidance of the Overbrook Civic Association, a neighborhood organization seeking to keep their surroundings “safe, clean and attractive.”

“Avoid the Ouch!” were some of the first words uttered by our project leader for the day. Keeping this important safety motto in mind, we geared up for the day’s tasks. The objective? To lend a hand in providing this neighborhood-cherished green space with a physical rejuvenation! We got down to business pretty quickly, dividing up into smaller AC/PC squads to accomplish everything from trash pick-up, sweeping, weed-whacking, branch-cutting, and, sadly, the removal of a fallen squirrel.

Though the park’s vast space necessitated us to spread out for the majority of the day, the event concluded with a heartfelt group wrap-up lead by one of the neighborhood members spearheading the project. We felt the love as gratitude and recognition were given to all of the day’s helpers – a merger of service-oriented citizens looking to Make a Difference!

*taken from http://www.usaweekend.com/section/MDDAY

-Written from Playworks Philly by Program Coordinator Lisa Frank 

AmeriCorps Launch Day

The Philly Playworks AC members were out in full-force on Columbus Day at the National Constitution Center. The event was an interesting tour through American history. Through exhibits that detailed the long, difficult process of drafting and creating the Constitution, to the struggles our country has persevered through, the Playworks AC members were given an opportunity to see how their service fits into the history of America's birth at the hands of men and women who were passionate about seeing real change occur. Our members were also given an opportunity to view the amazing "Art of the American Soldier" exhibit, which highlights paintings done by men and women in the service from World War 1 to our modern day conflicts in the Middle East.

The event was attended by AC members from all parts of Philadelphia, and it was inspiring to see how many people volunteer and sacrifice their time to make a difference in under-served and needy populations.

The day also included an impromptu field trip, led by the fearless Emily Lyons, to the Reading Terminal market, where (most) everyone enjoyed the popular Dinic's pulled pork sandwiches.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Philly, whether for vacation or to come play with us, a trip to the National Constitution Center is a must. It's an amazing, if not a bit imperfect, look at the process our founding citizens started to create a more perfect government for and by the people, that is still, for better or worse, a work in progress.