Lawncrest teams up with PhillyRising for holiday food drive

A park cleanup and Veteran’s Day ceremony, a five-block cleanup, and a neighborhood watch walk- through were just some of the successes highlighted during a PhillyRising meeting at the Lawncrest Library Tuesday night.

PhillyRising is a program through the City of Philadelphia that targets neighborhoods that are plagued by chronic crime and quality-of-life concerns.

“During meetings like this we put together an action plan to determine what this neighborhood needs and what we can do to make that happen,” said Manny Citron, the coordinator of the Northeast division of PhillyRising.

During this meeting an action plan was set for a holiday food drive.

“Last month we received the idea for an organized food drive and this month we made it happen,” Citron said.

Citron explained that during the Lawncrest Holiday food drive, canned and dried food goods will be collected at the Lawncrest Library [map] and the Lawncrest Recreation Center [map] now until Dec. 31.

“The collected items will then be turned over to the Lawncrest branch of the Salvation Army to be distributed to the seniors within the Lawncrest community,” Citron said.

The drive is also being sponsored by the Office of Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco and the Lawncrest Community Association.

 Jessica Lopez and Lucia Volpe are students reporting for Philadelphia Neighborhoods, the publication of Temple University’s Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab.