Last Tuesday, September 23, was the second IgnitePhilly event at Johnny Brenda’s. IgnitePhilly is a series of speakers that give a short 5 minute presentations about the innovative and inspiring projects. I had missed the first one a few months ago when I was out of town so I’m glad that I was able to catch this event and run into some friends who I hadn’t seen in a while.
There was a brief intermission with 8static, a group of artists who bring you incredible, danceable 8bit tunes and imagery!
And we all got to make and throw paper airplanes courtesy of Far McKon! Aerogami!
If you’re looking for something to do tonight, my friends’ band, Lost Eras in Aviation, is having their hometown debut at the M Room here in Philly. Here are the details:
M Room, 15 West Girard Avenue: Right off the Girard stop on El. The M Room has a dinner menu now — make it a date!
9pm, 21+, $8
The lineup:
Last Sunday was my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. The day had come and gone…with my parents thinking that their children forgot about the milestone. aha! Little did they know…
We had a big surprise party for them on Saturday night. It took a lot of planning and hush hush, but they were surprised and they had a good time seeing family and friends…many whom they hadn’t seen in years.
Lucky for us, we didn’t need to hire a photographer. The photos from the night can be viewed here.
I never got around to posting the photos from the April 24 5K walk/run event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that benefited United Cerebral Palsy. Here are a select bunch from the night. If you would like to give a donation to United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia or if you would like to participate in one of the upcoming benefit events, please check out the UCP Philadelphia website.
I do quite a bit of volunteer work for non-profit and privately funded organizations that help to change the world that we live in to become a better place. When I was working as a biologist, I worked and volunteered to conserve natural resources and animals because I love them. But then one day I had a wake-up call and realized that I didn’t really hate people and thought “I want to help save people, too!”.
There are people in this world who are saving lives everyday, but there are also organizations that help people get their lives back on the ground or help them to develop something that we would call “normalcy”. One of my first volunteer efforts was with the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness (PCEH) where I’ve been a volunteer photographer for three years now…photographing their fund raisers and awareness events throughout the city. PCEH is an incredibly successful program in Philadelphia and it is not a homeless shelter. They help the homeless and at-risk families re-establish their lives. They have a group that goes out on the streets twice a week to talk to the homeless and tell them about the services that PCEH can offer them: re-establishing their identity and getting identity cards, getting a job interview and providing showers and interview clothes, finding jobs, and most of all…finding them a place to live so that they aren’t living on the streets. Their program SafeHome Philadelphia is a safe and privately funded alternative to the homeless shelter system. In addition to finding homes, SafeHome links these new established families and individuals to services that can help provide them with continued stability so that they aren’t living on the streets or in the same situation again. In cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, SafeHome has had an 85% success rate over the years. Here in Philadelphia, SafeHome has had a 90% success rate and has ended homelessness for 41 families (including 102 children) in just two years because of wonderful caring individuals who provide even the smallest of donations.
PCEH holds an annual art auction event that raises money for the SafeHome Philadelphia program and it is being held tomorrow night. In addition, they are also holding a Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament. This is the first year that I’ve had one of my photos up for auction as well. Today is the last day to register for this event so get to it! There’s always lots of great food, great people, and great fun. So go register now!
Below is the photo that I will have in the art auction tomorrow night! Even if you can’t make it to the event, you can still give a donation to SafeHome Philadelphia through their website.
