volunteer

This past Saturday, Philly Spring Cleanup Day united 10,000+ volunteers in 248 cleanup efforts around the city. Our 34 volunteers in the 300-600 block of Washington Ave gathered more than 30 bags of trash and 8+ bags of recycling in the 5 hour event. Among the items collected were hundreds of cigarette butts, broken bottles, a shoe, silly bands, and paraphernalia that should not lie anywhere close to where children play. I was quite proud to see everyone eager to help out as they got down and dirty (with gloves, shovels and brooms, of course!) Despite our success, (find out more, after the jump!)

Hey friends & readers- Who's excited to help Philadelphia this Saturday for Philly Spring Cleanup Day? As we mentioned, Green Philly Blog is partnering with greenlimbs, in Queen Village neighborhood of 300-600 Washington Avenue. Our volunteers will help bag trash, recycle, tend trees and prepare beds for spring planting. My friend and I visited the project location on Sunday afternoon. While there were 20-30 kids playing in this park, trash litters the streets and area inside. Here are some pics of the area (click through for the slideshow courtesy of Chad Collier):

Sick of litter on the streets? Tired of Philly's dirty rep? Readers, who's ready to take some action for the 4th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup?!? As we mentioned, the City of Philadelphia announced their 4th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup, “Keep Up the Sweep Up", on Saturday, April 2, 2011 (rain date, Saturday, April 9) from 9 AM- 2 PM. Green Philly Blog is partnering with another local blog, greenlimbs. Together, we're thrilled to announce that we’ll be keeping & 'sweeping' in South Philadelphia's Queen Village neighborhood (300-600 Washington Avenue). We'll need volunteers to help bag trash, recycle, tend trees and prepare beds for spring planting - (and we'll even have a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society-trained tree tender in our group). You can sign up to volunteer with us through the Streets Department site or by emailing us directly to (find out, after the jump!)

Although living in the city is great, there are occasionally downfalls... such as endless supermarket lines, loads of Pizza options circa 2 AM and pesky leases that prohibit dogs. Don't fret dog-lovers... there's a program that allows you to "time-share" dogs... ethically. The Monster Milers is a group of runners who run the PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society) dogs to "connect Philadelphia runners with homeless dogs as running companions". Benefits for the pups are giving them exercise, time out of the shelter, and a little bit of runner's love. The running outlet for these canine pals have resulted in less frantic behavior when adopters meet them - and much faster adoptions. Founder of the group, Carrie Maria is

We hear you: readers, friends and acquaintances have said one of their goals for 2010 is to do (more?) volunteer work… UC Green - non profit organization that plants and maintains trees- is an excellent organization to get involved in! At the end of November UC Green held their annual community tree-planting event - they planted one hundred and fifty bare root trees in several blocks throughout West Philadelphia. Close to three hundred volunteers chipped in. Another event, the New Year Limb-Up,