Operation Warm Hearts!

The article noted below was found online and I thought that you might be interested in it.

".........WHY? Its going to be a long, cold winter...where will you be? Think of how many folks living on the streets of Philadelphia who may not be as fortunate...

Operation Warm Hearts has teamed up with Opportunities PA to do a Blanket Drive.

With the economy as it is, joblessness at an all time high, and many not for profit and community based organizations are downsizing. There is a CRISES. Shelters, which cater more to families, are running at capacity with 20 percent more beds than five years ago, city statistics show.

Philadelphia's homeless system cannot keep up with the magnitude of today's problem. There are going to be some crowded city streets, back alleys and some back yards. "Efforts to find new emergency shelters and longer-term assisted-living units have been blocked for more than two years by a lack of resources and crippling neighborhood opposition. Even if all the homeless in Philadelphia wanted to come in off the streets, the city would have no place to put them, said Dainette M. Mintz, who has run the city's homeless housing program since 2006"."

The Blanket Drive Began: October 1, 2010

Last Day for Blanket Donations: March 31, 2011

What is needed:

Covers, Comforters, Duvets, & Quilts will be appreciated and accepted. All items must be CLEAN and new or gently used.

FOR INFORMATION ON VOLUNTEERING, DROP OFF LOCATIONS and PICK UPS CALL: 267-243-1468.

Sponsored by

Operation Warm Hearts

OPPORTUNITIES-PA

OPPORTUNITIES is a nonprofit organization that Educates, Equips, Empowers, and Encourages homeless and other at risk youth and young adults to achieve their academic potential and professional goals by offering them supportive services and stable housing.




"In any given year, there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care throughout the United States. Of these, about 20,000 age out* each year and are at risk for a variety of problems, including homelessness, un or under employment, criminal activity, and a lack of education."



CREATING OPPORTUNITIES:

OPPORTUNITIES was established in April 2008, to bridge the gap homeless youth experience transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Ms Justina Shaw and Nijah Famous states that a lack of local organizations providing supportive services to homeless adolescents ages 16 to 25 motivated them to create a solution. In November 2009, Ms. Justina Shaw became the Chief Executive Officer and a board of 12 members was formed. This team is the driving force for OPPORTUNITIES success.



OPPORTUNITIES provides mentoring, life coaching, educational assistance, career counseling and housing to homeless and at-risk youth ages 18 to 25. Through mentorship, goal setting, and financial literacy training, OPPORTUNITIES residents will be equipped with the skills necessary to become self sufficient adults.

The Philadelphia Inquirer Is On Twitter!

Actually I really shouldn't be surprised that the Philadelphia Inquirer is on Twitter but when I got an email that said that they were following me I was quite surprised!

You see since I work from home I do a lot of my work online so I am online quite a lot of the time!

If you don't know what Twitter is it is sort of like a social networking site. People sign up (it's free) and they post messages so that the whole world can see them. You can visit my own Twitter site by clicking here.

As far as the Philadelphia Inquirer goes they post the latest news headlines from their paper and if you want to know more you can click on the links in the Twitter posts and that will take you to the full story(s). That way you will know what the latest news in Philadelphia is.

If you're interested in following the Philadelphia Inquirer on Twitter you can visit their site:

http://twitter.com/PhillyInquirer

What Happens If You Don't Pay Your Real Estate Taxes (in Philly)?

What Happens If You Don't Pay Your Real Estate Taxes In Philly?

The city of Philadelphia uses a law firm to collect delinquent real estate taxes. If your real estate taxes go unpaid then civil tax actions can be filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia to enforce the collection of delinquent real estate taxes.

Unfortunately this means that your property can be sold at a Sheriff's sales if your real estate taxes are not paid. Also interest and other fees will be added to the amount that you owe!

In order to prevent a civil tax action from being filed against your property you must send your payment to the city of Philadelphia.

If you reside in the property and are unable to pay the amount due in a lump sum then you should contact the law firm to discuss the possibility of entering a payment agreement to pay the amount due in installments. (Proof of a financial hardship may be necessary to enter into such an agreement.)

Also see if you can obtain a copy of the "Philadelphia Taxpayer Assistance Brochure". For help or assistance in arranging a payment plan, you can call any of the Housing Counseling Agencies listed on page 5 of this brochure.

Did you know that there are millions of dollars owed to the city of Philadelphia. According to the mayor of Philadelphia these taxes are needed to support police and fire fighters plus the money also supports new schools, senior centers, recreation centers and playgrounds.

Real Estate taxes are due once a year, on March 31st of the tax year. If the taxes are not paid by March 31st of the tax year, a penalty charge will accrue on the principal amount of the tax, up to a maximum charge of 15% of the principal amount due. If the taxes remain unpaid after December 31st of the tax year, the 15% addition is added into the principal, and tax liens are filed against the property. Penalties and interest, as well as attorney fees continue to accrue until the tax is paid.

You may be able to postpone a Sheriff's sale of your home one time for 60 days.

You can petition the Philadelphia Tax Review Board to try to reduce the amount that you owe.

Philadelphia Magazine

I have a copy of "Philadelphia Magazine that I purchased some time ago. Usually I don't buy this magazine because it is just too expensive for me but I decided to buy a copy this time.

In this issue:

• an article about philadelphia-native Kevin Bacon
  
  
• Philadelphia Facts and Trivia:
  
  
  • "Tons of trash removed from Fairmount Park in an eight month period? 3,608 tons!
    
    
  • Total number of hockey pucks used in a Flyers season - 75,000 hockey pucks!
    
    
  • Coldest day on record in Philadelphia was -11 degrees Fahrenheit on February 11, 1943
  
  
  
• a small article about a feud between WMMR and WYSP
  
  
• I didn't know that Philadelphia has a charity circuit?
  
  
• "Why are New Yorkers coming to Philadelphia for plastic surgery?
  
  
• according to one of the articles "Why Philly is still America's best college basketball town?
  
  
• I do have to say that Philly surely does have a lot of nice-looking stores and restuarants that I would love to investigate!
  
  
• I was looking at the classified and advertisement section near the back of the magazine and I noticed that Philly seems to have quite an S & M and "fantasy" market!
  
  
• it was quite interesting reading the personals section just to see what people are interested in.

I see that the magazine has a lot of advertisements in it so hopefully that means that the magazine is well funded. I don't knw how many people subscribe to "Philadelphia Magazine but it would be interesting to know.

All in all I can't say that the Philadelphia Magazine is such a bad magazine. It just seems to be targeted to a higher-income/class of people.

I do have to say that I enjoy looking at the pictures - especially the pictures of the products that some of the "higher-end" stores are selling!

We must have some very rich people here in Philadelphia!

"Getting Out The Vote!"

From my own personal perspective, Election Day was a beautiful day to behold!

Here is an excerpt of a recent email I got:

Hello Friends While I can only speak for myself, I'm always glad when Presidential campaigns are over. I know that sounds funny coming from a guy who serves in the Pennsylvania Senate, but the endless commercials, analysis from pundits and opinions from talking heads is almost more than I can stand. If it weren't for the Phillies, I would have unplugged the tube. The news that always brightened my day was to see young people turning out in large numbers at campaign rallies for both Democratic and Republican candidates. Whatever your political leanings, the growing interest of young Americans in our political process is exciting to watch. Observers say the large voter turnout we saw November 4th reflects a surge in the number of younger voters casting ballots. That's good news for our country. In recent decades, young Americans were largely indifferent, voting well below their 17 percent share of the population. That may have been due to both the candidates and their political parties ignoring the opinions and issues important to young people. As candidates become more in tune with voters between the ages of 18 and 30, we've seen the number casting ballots rise. In 2000, 18 million people under the age of 30 voted. Four years later, over 20 million did. In Pennsylvania, of the more than 218,000 new registered voters since January 2008, over 70 percent are between the ages of 18 and 35. Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama worked hard to win the vote of the more than 50 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 30. (There are an estimated 1.9 million young people in Pennsylvania who are eligible to vote.) From registering new voters through Facebook to texting supporters to get out the vote, both presidential candidates spent enormous resources to curry favor with younger voters. While still to be dissected, returns show that young voters supported Barack Obama by a more than 2-1 margin. Here in Pennsylvania, I believe more needs to be done to reach out to this newly invigorated electorate. As public servants, we must do more to extend a hand to young voters and address the issues that matter to them. For example, it is estimated that 71 percent of students who left Pennsylvania higher educational institutions in 2007 owed money. The average debt load was $23,613, the sixth largest in the nation, yet Pennsylvania is doing little to address this issue. As importantly, we must do more to keep Pennsylvania's young people in Pennsylvania. Between 1990 and 2000, Pennsylvania lost more young people than any other state in the Union. Since being elected to the state Senate, I have heard from interest groups from almost every aspect of our society -- groups that represent everything from dry cleaners to ice cream vendors to egg producers. And that's a good thing. People voices should be heard. But Pennsylvania's young people have no such voice to represent their interests or concerns. It may be because they are too busy with school or starting new jobs to lobby the halls of Harrisburg, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be listening. After all, in 10 or 15 years, these people will be running things. One of my objectives for the coming year is to become an advocate for advancing youth issues within the state legislature. The first step in this effort is to meet November 19th at the Harrisburg Area Community College to hear from stakeholders and lawmakers about what we can do to support our state's youth. While our overall goal will be to make Pennsylvania a premiere state in which young people can live and be heard, I am focused on three driving principles: education, entrepreneurship, and empowerment. I am confident that improving these "3 Es", will make Pennsylvania a leader among states where young adults can successfully live, work and start a business. The event is open to anyone with an interest in these issues. Pennsylvania has the potential to be one of the best places in America to go to school, start a career, and raise a family. It's important we start listening to our state's youth and work with them on developing a plan for the future growth of our Commonwealth in the 21st century. By Pennsylvania Senator Rob Wonderling (R-24th)

New Cellphone Plan? No Thanks!

I got a text message on my cellphone today from Verizon. They want me to "upgrade" to one of their newer plans where you get unlimited nite and weekend minutes BUT you pay $2.99 a day when you use your cellphone during the day.

Since I use my cellphone everyday that would come out to roughly $90 a month and I don't think that includes text messaging as well!

'No thanks' I'll just stick to my little old monthly cellphone plan thank you.

It's bad enough with all the advertisements that we are subjected to but now they are on the cellphones as well!

Unfortunately My Brother Is Back In The Hospital Again

It just happened within the last few days!

Ironically enough he was going for a regular doctor's appointment and while he was there he told his doctor that he wasn't feeling well. They checked him out and thought his condition warranted him a longer stay at the hospital so that they could take some tests to see what is wrong.

My brother is a veteren and he's currently at the VA hospital.

I talked to him a few hours ago and he said that he is feeling better as long as he doesn't over-exert himself.

So while the hospital is taking tests he will be there for a while.