The Pottstown Clergy Association invites the Pottstown Community to join in a Good Friday prayer processional this Friday at 10:30.
All are invited to gather on the green between Zion’s United Church of Christ and Emmanuel Lutheran Church on Hanover Street. Children and strollers welcome! A “Time for Children” with the younger walkers will begin the processional.
Sometimes known as the “Cross Walk,” this one-mile walk is made so that the community can pray together for the peace and well-being of the community, to lift up those who offer their time and talents, and to bear witness to Christ’s love for the world.
See last year’s wonderful description of the procession written by Rosemary Keanehere. Please note that parking is available behind the churches, and in case of rain, the walk will take place inside.
Please check out Evan Brandt’smost excellent articlein today’s Mercury on the economic impact analysis that was undertaken by the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee over the past year. There will be a meeting tonight at 7 pm in the cafeteria of Pottstown High School to discuss the findings.
The Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Comprehensive Plan is a multi-jurisdictional plan that includes eight municipalities: Douglass Township, Lower Pottsgrove, New Hanover, Upper Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove and the Borough of Pottstown in Montgomery County; and East Coventry and North Coventry in Chester County. The Montgomery County Planning Commission’s website describes the intent of this plan as an effort “to ensure smarter growth in the region and better management of future development while retaining the unique historical, cultural, and natural amenities of the area.
Two consulting firms were hired to survey residents and business owners in these 8 municipalities and look at shopping habits, economic and demographic data; analyze it; and offer several scenarios to help these towns make informed policy and land use decisions about what kinds of business and residential development to encourage or avoid to improve their fiscal outlook. Come out to the meeting tonight to hear what the economic future could be for the region and to understand the issues, options, and decisions facing elected officials and policy makers as they try to keep the Pottstown region economically competitive.
A free concert of sacred hymns and other liturgical music of the Eastern Slavic tradition will be presented by the Westminster Slavic Choir at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, 301 Cherry Street, Pottstown, Pa.
The Westminster Slavic Choir features students of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J. The vocalists all are either vocal performance or music education majors at Westminster, a division of Westminster College of the Arts, a residential college of music located in Princeton, N.J. Westminster is a four-year music college and graduate school that prepares men and women for careers as professional performers and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches, and professional and community music organizations.As Westminster Choir College students, the talented young men and women of the Slavic Choir join their peers in performing with the world’s leading orchestras in venues ranging from the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York.
The chamber choir is directed by senior vocal performance major Andrew Skitko III, a native of Pottstown, Pa. Drew also serves as the cantor and music director at The Assumption of The Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church of Trenton, N.J., where the Westminster Slavic Choir performs about once a month.
The concert will include works by composers Bortniansky, Vedel, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Hurko, as well as traditional chant. Selections will be performed in English as well as Old Slavonic.
Parking is located in the rear of the church. The church is handicapped-accessible via the ramp located from the parking lot. A free-will offering will be taken. The concert is expected to last about one hour.
For further information, please contact Andrew Skitko III, choral director at 610-220-3479 or via e-mail at skitkoa@rider.edu
Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland, journalist, and blogger, will speak on the topic of food waste at The Hill School on Thursday evening, April 12th.
Bloom is the author of American Wasteland, a book on food waste. He is also journalist and the blogger who created WastedFood.com. Bloom comes to The Hill as the third in a series of speakers who visited campus this year as part of The Hill’s academic theme for the year: Community. He will raise awareness about the issue of food waste.
Bloom’s blog examines “why we waste food, why it matters and what we can do about it.” His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Variety, The Philadelphia Inquirer, TimeOut New York and Boston Magazine, among others. He lives in Durham, N.C.
To help increase awareness of the signs of domestic abuse, Montgomery County Community College and the Verizon Foundation will be presenting the documentary film, “Telling Amy’s Story,” on Wednesday, April 4, from 12-1:30 p.m. in the South Hall Community Room, 101 College Drive, Pottstown.
The community is invited to attend this free, informative program. Refreshments/light lunch will be served. For more information and/or to register to attend, please contact dkhateeb@mc3.edu.
The film documents the domestic abuse of Amy Homan McGee, a Verizon Wireless employee and mother of two who was abused and then murdered by her husband in 2001. Detective Deirdri Feshel, of the State College, Pa., Police Department, narrates Amy’s story, highlighting the steps that could be taken to stop a similar situation.
The College, through using this film, wants to inform students and the community about the warning signs of domestic violence and abuse, the importance of contacting authorities and the availability of support services and community resources.
For more information about domestic violence, visit the Women’s Center of Montgomery County’s website at http://www.wcmontco.org/index.html or the Laurel’s House website at http://laurel-house.org/. If you or someone you know needs help, contact the Women’s Center of Montgomery’s 24/7 hotline at 1-800-773-2424 or the Laurel House’s hotline at 1-800-642-3150.
Support TCN and its programs in youth development, caregivers support, environmental awareness, family literacy, homeless services, domestic violence awareness, and workforce development.
Get together with family and friends to help us, while you help yourself to some great food!
When you visit Friendly’s on the date and time above, Friendly’s will donate 10% of the proceeds to our fundraising efforts!
Enjoy great food and great fun while benefiting
TriCounty Community Network
For more information about TriCounty Community Network, contact:
Jennifer M. Doyle, MPA
Executive Director TriCounty Community Network
260 High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
Phone: 610-705-3301
Fax: 610-705-3304
The Gallery School’s signature fundraiser returns to its roots as an evening, couples-friendly event. Guests will enjoy amazing food, unlimited signature cocktail, and wonderful entertainment, from a fabulous fashion show, sponsored by Boscov’s Department Stores, to a strolling magician, a harpist and more. They will give away fun door prizes, and their fabulous silent auction will bring out the bidder in everyone.
Purchase your tickets TODAY! NO tickets will be sold at the door!
$70 for one ticket; two for $120.
Sponsors
VIST Financial
Boscov’s Department Stores
Table Sponsors
Boenning & Scattergood, Inc.
Independence Planning Group
Heartland Abstract, Inc.
Dolan & Mayerson, P.C.
Sager & Sager
J.H. White Financial
Creative Health Services
Entertainment Sponsors
Pete La Rosa Productions
513 Entertainment
Betsy Chapman, Harpist
Magical Illusions of Kyle and Kelly
Did you know that April is Family ReadingMonth? I did not know that. When my kids were little it was always family reading month! There’s nothing better than tuning out the noise of the rest of the world and settling into the world of a children’s book with your child on your lap or by your side, eager to turn the pages to find out what happens next.
The Pottstown Regional Public Library at 500 E. High Street is celebrating Family Reading Month with a chance for families to read together and win prizes! See details below. To learn more and become a library member, stop by in person, give a call (610-970-6551) or visit their website at http://ppl.mclinc.org.
Read with a family member for 20 minutes a day for 20 days until May 4, 2012. Registration opens April 1 and you must register by April 13, 2012 then… Read! Read! Read!
All books read for Family Reading Month must be borrowed from Pottstown Regional Public Library.
Read even MORE! Mark an “X” on each day you read for at least 20 minutes with a family member. Try to keep a list of titles—it’s fun to watch your list grow! You must bring your completed calendar into the library by May 4, 2012 to be eligible for prizes.
SPECIAL PRIZE DRAWING!
Each time you visit the library & check out books, you can fill out a prize drawing ticket for a chance to win a special prize.
The Pottstown Family Center is offering Dare To Be The Best, an interactive workshop for fathers.
Participants in Dare To Be The Best will be supported in being the best parent they can be through father-child interaction, case management, education, and advocacy. Information about community resources, services and programs will be available.
Dare To Be The Best will be held on six Wednesday evenings beginning April 11. Each session will run from 6:30-8 p.m. at Rupert Elementary School, 1230 South Street, Pottstown. Free child care is available.
Pre-registration is required. Registration deadline is Thursday, April 5.For more information or to register, contact Rob Gaskill at 610-326-1610 ext. 239 or rgaskill@fsmontco.org.
Established in 1993, the Pottstown Family Center offers support programs and services that help families learn, grow and achieve self-sufficiency.Family Services has served as the lead agency of the Pottstown Family Center for nearly 10 years. For more information on the Pottstown Family Center, contact Family Services’ Pottstown Office at 610-326-1610 or visit www.fsmontco.org.
Are the arts important in your life and the life of your family? Do you spend time and money to learn how to paint or play an instrument or knit a sweater? Do you enjoy going to galleries, performances, or outdoor festivals? Would you like to see a few cafes with open mics in your downtown? Does the perfect nut roll or shoo-fly pie make you want to write poetry? Does a surprising piece of whimsical art in a public place bring a smile to your face?
Car Art!
These are just some of the ways that arts and culture touch our lives, and Montgomery County would like to hear from you about what specific places and activities are important to you in your town and throughout the region. Check out the survey here.Last fall Montgomery County launched a large-scale planning process called Creative MontCo. Their website bills Creative Montco as “a bold partnership of community members and organizations developing a comprehensive cultural and creative economy plan for communities throughout the county. Creative MontCo is dedicated to making Montgomery County a more vibrant place to live, work and play.”
The beautiful thing about the arts – besides just being, well, beautiful – is that arts and culture can be an economic engine for a local economy. All over the country, there are towns, small cities and even neighborhoods within larger cities, that have discovered their identities as centers of art, culture, and history and they have generated jobs and stabilized their tax base by understanding, expanding, and promoting their assets.
The Creative MontCo Steering Committee is being led by Montgomery County Community College president Dr. Karen Stout. The County has hired some really knowledgeable planners – The Cultural Planning Group – who understand how arts and culture can be good for residents and visitors alike and can stimulate economic growth. They have have been surveying and meeting with artists, organizations, and groups ever since to find out what residents like, what they want more of, and what they envision for their towns in the way of arts, and culture, which I take to include historic and heritage resources as well as the natural environment (i.e., parks).
To me, the term “culture” gets at the history of a place and how that is reflected today in the people that live there, the work they do, the traditions that live on, and the natural and built environments that are tied to all of that. For me, “the arts” includes any creative endeavor, including, say, beautiful cupcakes or the really old mosaic tiles in many of the entryways of the stores in downtown Pottstown.
So… what arts and cultural activities and events are important to you? Please take a few moments NOW to respond to their survey here. And feel free to spend some time at Creative MontCo’s website, reading what others have to say and sharing your vision for the creative future of your county.
The Pottstown Clergy Association invites the Pottstown Community to join in a Good Friday prayer processional this Friday at 10:30.
Positively Pottstown blog 