South Philly Review

Share this Story:

The holidays may be behind us but the giving season continued as a large number of volunteers including students from the World Communications Charter School, 512 S. Broad St., and members of the Church of the Redeemer, 1440 S. 24th St., rolled up their sleeves Monday to work in the soup kitchen at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, 750 S. Broad St.

“I came to volunteer today to give back to the community and help somebody out,” Diane Frier, of 24th and Morris streets, said. “This is helping the community by helping people that are in need and [it] shows that we can come together to spread the love.”

“This shows that we can come together as one community and help beautify this historic church,” Barbara Wyle, a resident of 24th and Dickinson streets, added. “Dr. King means a lot to me because he gave us the tree of life to come together as one, regardless of race, creed or color. He gave us that ticket to go ahead and show love to one another. Anytime you can see a community of people coming together is a wonderful and beautiful thing.”

A record-breaking 75,000 volunteers participated in 1,200 service projects throughout the city as part of Monday’s 16th annual Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service, which included events at a South of South church and Whitman store donating furniture to two formerly homeless brothers, who now call South Philadelphia home.

“Martin Luther King means a great deal to me,” Sherrice Smullen, Tindley’s secretary, said. “Being a person who is always looking for ways to give back, help out and make a difference, this day of service is nothing short of perfect in my eyes. Dr. King stood for equality, change, togetherness, unity and what better way to show an example of those things than by giving back to the community and the church.

“It is even more important to see the children involved and teaching them Dr. King’s legacy, educating them on working together, for each other, not against one another. We have to instill these values very early on so that projects such as the MLK Day of Service can happen all through the year, not just one day out of the year and what would please me even more would be to see our future generation making that happen.”

The 174-year-old Methodist church, which is home to the oldest existing soup kitchen in Philadelphia, is open to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“We are bigger than light on Broad Street and a place where everybody is somebody,” Pastor Elaine Ayres, who resides in Delaware but stays at Broad and Catharine streets most of the time to assist at Tindley, said.

For the King Day of Service, the soup kitchen volunteers served hot meals that included meat, vegetables, bread, cookies and punch, to their hungry guests in addition to participating in a number of different painting and cleaning projects around the church.

“The kids like to paint and whenever I think of MLK Day of Service I always think paint,” Smullen, said. “Our goal is to paint the education building of the church and several of the bathrooms, hallways, some doors. We are also doing some cleanup and throw-away projects. That project will simply be to clear all clutter, old outdated things and just make space.”

A few miles south of Tindley at IKEA, 2206 S. Columbus Blvd., a nonprofit was showing the love to five college students — including two siblings now residing near Dickinson Square Park since September.

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, OPPORTUNITIES, 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, and IKEA partnered together to support the students with a day of shopping and lunch. The young adults, including brothers Brandon, 23, and Byron, 21, who did not want to provide their last names, of Fourth and Morris streets, have successfully transitioned out of homelessness with the help of OPPORTUNITIES’ volunteers.

“It’s near my job and in a great area of the city,” Byron said of their new apartment and his job where he has been honored with employee of the month twice.

OPPORTUNITIES, founded by Justina Shaw, provides life coaching, mentoring, career training and stable housing to more than 60 youths in Philadelphia.

“The success of these students is inspiring and commendable and we’re glad that we are able to collaborate with businesses to provide support and recognition,” Shaw, the organization’s CEO, said.

IKEA provided furniture for the students’ new apartments and gave them a shopping tour of the facility. All of the furniture the students bought came already assembled by the IKEA staff.

“This is helping with youth development by showing them a way to set up furniture in their first apartment,” OPPORTUNITIES’ board member, David Cheney Sr. said. “It’s also a great life skill that shows them what to look for as adults in stores and to ask questions about the products.”

An aspiring politician, Brandon, who started college in September and is double majoring in political science and business administration, has served as a member of 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco’s youth committee. He volunteers for political campaigns and encourage his peers to become more politically aware.

His younger brother, Byron, started his freshman year of college this month with a focus in business administration. He wants to eventually study criminal forensics at Drexel University and pursue his goals of becoming an FBI forensics agent.