By Julia Lowe and Gabriel Donahue Nature lovers, mark your calendars for Love Your Park Week 2026. One hundred forty park friends groups care for the city’s parks year-round and are calling for volunteers to join the cleanup and beautification days hosted from May 9-17. “I think it’s a great way to be outside with
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Elise Greenberg wasn’t expecting many people at the Philly Queer Birders’ first meetup at The Woodlands Cemetery in West Philadelphia this past April. “I honestly expected two to four people to show up,” she recalls. Greenberg had launched the Philly Queer Birders as an Instagram account just a few weeks earlier, seeking community in her
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When you don’t have a home, you likely don’t have access to a laundry room, or a basket and quarters to go to the laundromat. A mutual aid group has stepped in to provide for this need, which is not addressed through most charities or organizations. It began as a tent and table atop muddy
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On a small plot of land just on the edge of Southwest Philadelphia sits a yellow school bus. A year ago the gutted vehicle wouldn’t have warranted a second look. But now the bus has been rehabilitated, with reinforced windows and flooring, and sits under a blue tarp to protect it from the rain. The
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In 2005, soon after my mother died, I spent 17 days hospitalized with ulcerative colitis during the holidays. Instead of champagne, I got two units of blood on New Year’s Eve. I lost 30 of my usual 142 pounds. After discharge, I lacked the strength to stand up and cook, much less go to the
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Last fall labor organizers at the National Audubon Society began asking non-managerial staff at the 116-year-old environmental organization whether they would like to form a union in partnership with Communications Workers of America (CWA). A majority of staff, including workers in Philadelphia, voted yes, but Audubon has yet to recognize the group as an entity
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When you think of historic Philadelphia, images of the Liberty Bell, the Declaration of Independence and the Betsy Ross House might come to mind. Now add the genesis of the vegetarian and vegan movements to that list, says the American Vegan Society (AVS). On June 15 the national nonprofit held a soft opening of the
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Covid-19 has slammed all teachers with change. Some have held classes online while others have taught in person—sometimes willingly, sometimes grudgingly, and often tired. “When this is over, we’re going to have collective PTSD,” says Gena Lopata, 48, who is comfortable teaching in person two days a week at The Crefeld School, a small private
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Sometimes it takes a village to stop a youth from having a criminal record. “Two friends, [ages]17 or 18, got into a fight over a girl,” explains the Reverend Donna L. Jones, 64, founding pastor of the Cookman Beloved Community Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. “One guy hit the other with a pistol,” says Jones,
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When it comes to horse-drawn carriages in the city, the idyllic clip-clop of hooves on black top may be what comes to mind for most. That, and watching tourists take in the sites in Old City as everyone else on the road tries to get past on our bikes or in our cars. What most
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