The Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), along with the family of late Mayor Bob O’Connor and First Commonwealth Bank, will present Pastor Sue Hutchins of Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood with the second annual Bob O’Connor Award on Thursday, May 1st, 2008.
The award will be presented at PCRG’s Annual Meeting at 6 PM at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association in Oakland. Over 200 representatives of community groups, financial institutions, charitable foundations, colleges and universities, and government agencies are expected to attend the meeting and award ceremony.
Pastor Hutchins will receive the award in recognition of her volunteer efforts leading the Hilltop Health Ministry Consortium. The Consortium, which is comprised of five churches, works to improve public health by providing access to medical services in the Hilltop area of Pittsburgh’s southern neighborhoods.
The Bob O’Connor Award is given annually to a volunteer living in the City of Pittsburgh who exemplifies former Mayor O’Connor’s dedication to and passion for improving all of Pittsburgh’s ninety neighborhoods. In 2007, the first award was given to community leader Angelique Bradford of Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover area, in recognition of her volunteer-driven public beautification work.
“This award recognizes individuals who, like Bob, dedicated their lives to improving their communities,” says Judy O’Connor, wife of late Mayor O’Connor. According to Eric Renner, Executive Vice President of Consumer Services for First Commonwealth Bank and title sponsor of the award, “We can all learn a great deal from Pastor Hutchins. She is a role model on how residents can improve their lives and their communities.”
Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG) is a consortium of community leaders working for economic justice, equitable investment practices, and sufficient financial resources to revitalize communities throughout Allegheny County. For more information, visit www.pcrg.org.
Author Archives: Gene
PHCA Launches New Website
The Polish Hill Civic Association has launched our new website. The site has been updated with PHCA’s new logo as well as images from the Polish Hill neighborhood.
The site has several new features. One of the most important is E-Flea, PHCA’s free neighborhood classifieds. Here, you’ll find listings for events, garage sales, services and listings for real estate and rentals in Polish Hill. The classifieds are accessible from the main site.
A community calendar is embedded in the site so that anyone can access an updated list of events happening in the neighborhood. Our neighbors are encouraged to submit not only events that are happening in Polish Hill but those of interest to the neighborhood because of general interest or participation by one of our talented residents.
The Polish Hill Voice has been published by the PHCA for several years. Some past issues as well as all upcoming issues are available in downloadable form from the site as well as from BLOGSKI.
PHCA is a member organization. For the first time ever PHCA is able to register members online through the Membership page. Membership is $5.00 a year and payment is accepted online through a PayPal account.
There are several community organizations in Polish Hill. The Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails and Project 53 both make their homes in Polish Hill. The PHCA invites you to get acquainted with the neighborhood through its Directory page.
A comprehensive page of resources for the neighborhood and the city is included in the suite of pages on the site. Links and contact information for government officials is available. PHCA has also provided a convenient list of links to homeowner and business owner assistance in the city of
PHCA extends our heartfelt thanks to the individuals that have made the initiation of the new site possible. Jake Peterson of EyeFlow spent days designing the site with all of its components and features. Terrance Doloughty donated domain registration and site hosting. PHCA would like to acknowledge Michael Knobil and Ron Donoughe for allowing the organization to use their images on the website.
Spaghetti Dinner Bingo
There will be a Spaghetti Dinner Bingo at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church to benefit the Handicapped Committee.
The dinner takes place on Tuesday, May 13 at noon in Rosary Hall. Tickets are $8 each. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Call Eleanor at 412-621-7491 . Get your tickets by Sunday May 4.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church
Rosary Hall
3058 Brereton Street
Pre-order to:
(412) 621-7491
Rebuilding Day in Polish Hill
Polish Hill saw a lot of visitors on April 26, When Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh brought volunteers to the homes of four Polish Hill residents for some repair and refurbishing work. Dwight White was one of the volunteers that worked on Sharon W’s house on Wiggins.
David Lyle took a few moments out of his duties as House Captain at the project on Harmar to talk to us about the project —
Our godd friend Brian Seklecki at Pittsburgh Greenhouse has posted some great images from the kick-off in the Hill District. And Diana Nelson Jones has a nice article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, quoting PHCA’s President, Terry Doloughty. Go check it out.
We took lots of pictures ourselves. The PHCA office was open and ready for the many visitors yesterday and a team of volunteers, including Josie Ramsey and Jim Stawski were working on planting projects during the day in several Polish Hill locations. Special thanks to Colleen Helwich, who was on hand at the PHCA office to assist visitors.
New PHCA logo
PHCA wishes to extend our congratulations to Jake Peterson, who designed our new logo. Big round of applause for Jake — well done.
Iron City Times
Ask an intern…
Wanna know something… anything?
Email: scole@ironcitybrewingcompany.com
That’s an offer you can’t refuse!
And here’s another —
(Click on the image for.pdf)
Even more good stuff on this week’s IC Times
Community Rebuiding Day in Polish Hill and beyond
This Saturday, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh will be working in Polish Hill, enhancing the homes and lives of a few of our residents. The project focuses its efforts on assisting seniors and handicapped individuals with maintaining their homes. The Community Rebuilding Day program extends to the Hill District as well as other Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
You can read more about what is happening in Polish Hill on Pop City.
MAYOR WRAPS UP EARTH WEEK CELEBRATION WITH FREE TREE GIVE-AWAY
Mayor Ravenstahl announced today that on Monday, April 28, he will partner with Giant Eagle and Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest (FPUF) to hand out 1,000 free Frazier fir tree seedlings.
Residents are encouraged to attend the “Great Tree Giveaway” held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Construction Junction, one of the City’s recycling drop-off centers, at 214 N. Lexington Street in Point Breeze. Residents may obtain up to 10 free trees, and may drop-off any recyclable item, in particular, unused phone books.
“I encourage all residents who haven’t already planted a tree to make Monday the day they unearth ground in their communities,” Mayor Ravenstahl said. “Whether it’s digging dirt in your very own yard, or recycling an unused phone book, let’s enhance our quality of life now and for future generations.”
The seedlings, donated by Giant Eagle and Kraft Foods, are ideal yard trees and easy to plant and maintain.
“Through the great work of Treevitalize Pittsburgh, and generous donations from the private sector community, more trees are being planted in our City than ever before,” Mayor Ravenstahl said.
Green education materials, including a comprehensive analysis indicating the importance of trees to the City’s infrastructure, as well as information on the City’s new recycling initiatives, will also be distributed at the give-away.
“It is our goal to educate citizens on how important trees are to the environment, and to the health of our City’s infrastructure,” said Danielle Crumrine, executive director for FPUF. “Citizens will leave with educational information that will show in dollars and cents the value we receive by doing our part to plant just one tree.”
The Pittsburgh Comicon
This looks like it it is going to be an absolutely terrific conference. One of Polish Hill’s own is going to be exhibiting at the Comicon this year —
I’ll step back and let Malcolm Gittins for himself —
Its funny how one small event can change your whole life..for me it came when I was five years old and saw King Kong vs. Godzilla, and i havent been the same since!!! Its been so much fun growing up and watching classic monster and scifi flicks..going to conventions and really enjoying Halloween!! Its been the most fun working on my artwork.
Check out his MySpace page.
PITTSBURGH COMICON
ExpoMart
“Pittsburgh’s Preferred Convention Complex”
105 Mall Boulevard
Monroeville, PA 15146
APRIL 25, 26, 27, 2008
Fri 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sat 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sun 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Earth Day in Polish Hill
April 19 was a VERY busy day here in the PHCA office. We were distributing paint to neighbors from those wonderful people at Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and Valspar Paints. An, in preparation for National Arbor Day, the PHCA had seedlings available. There are still several left, so contact us at 412-681-1950. You can get more information here.
But, that wasn’t all that we did, was it? Oh no, not by a long shot! April 19 was one of the clean-up days in Polish Hill. That’s the crew, in the top image, standing in front of the PHCA office.
I only made it out with my camera for a little bit on Saturday. I started on Heron Street.
Here’s one of the crews that worked throughout Polish Hill last Saturday. They concentrated on the city steps that run between Heron and Dobson Streets.
It was a lot of hard work from a lot of hands. We had nearly thirty people out with bags, wearing vests and gloves, stripping the streets and lots of trash and litter.
Many thanks to our many volunteers, more than can be named. It was nice to meet so many new residents in the neighborhood, too. A special thanks to West Penn Recreation Center for bringing along the extra hands and equipment.
