After seeing the redesign plans for McPherson Square Park and Library, residents asked for more shade, and requested the library stay open during construction.
Backpack season is underway! We’ve got lots of places for you to scoop up new school supplies before classes start – plus a few opportunities to get wet and cool off on hot days.
McPherson Square Library, which has been closed since June 21st due to a broken air conditioning system, may reopen by next Tuesday in time for a meeting with the City of Philadelphia’s Rebuild program.
Many donation centers in Philadelphia are slowly reopening after months of non-essential businesses being closed as a safety measure against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
If you cleaned out your closet during that time, several local organizations are now asking for clothing donations that they can distribute to Philadelphians in need.
Broad Street Ministry (BSM) is a faith-based organization that serves people experiencing deep poverty. The organization provides behavioral health services, legal counseling, mail distribution, meals, mail distribution, legal counseling, and more.
BSM operates a clothing closet called 315 Threadz that is seeking donations of new or gently-used items: adult sneakers, backpacks, jeans, pants, shorts, and sweatpants. Men’s jeans, pants, and shorts from sizes 30 to 36 and larger than size 48 are in high demand, wrote Nathalie Cerin, clothing closet coordinator at the Broad Street Ministry, in an email to Kensington Voice.
BSM is not currently accepting donations of winter coats or dress clothes, such as button-down shirts, children’s clothing, dresses, high heels, or skirts.
You can either mail or personally deliver your donations to Broad Street Ministry’s office (address listed above) from Monday through Friday between noon to 2 p.m. If you’re unable to donate your own clothing but still want to support Broad Street Ministry, you can visit their Amazon wish list to view a complete list of items to send to them directly.
Career Wardrobe is a clothing donation service that gives people who are unemployed professional clothing for free. The nonprofit aims to empower job seekers by helping them look the part, according to their mission statement. In light of COVID-19, Career Wardrobe is open for no-contact donations on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m.
People can place their donations in the nonprofit’s bins next to the building’s side door on 19th Street. The nonprofit requires clothing donations to be freshly cleaned and packaged in a bag or box, and accessories must be sanitized with cleaning wipes or diluted rubbing alcohol.
Keep in mind that each person is limited to five boxes or less per donation. If interested in making a larger donation, you can email info@careerwardrobe.org for pre-approval and to schedule a drop-off appointment.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Career Wardrobe’s Wardrobe Resale store was open to the public to shop for reduced-price clothing. Wardrobe Resale will reopen on July 7 with new store hours from Tuesday to Saturday between noon to 6 p.m. The store will be limited to 10 shoppers at a time, and customers must remain six feet apart while wearing a mask.
Circle Thrift is a thrift store with multiple locations in Philadelphia — operated by the Circle of Hope and MCC Thrift Shop Network — that sells items for reduced prices. In addition to clothing, the store sells furniture, toys, and other household items.
Circle Thrift’s mission is to employ, build relationships with, and provide inexpensive clothing to members of the Fishtown, Kensington, and South Philadelphia communities.
Both locations are physically closed, but you can schedule a donation drop-off by emailing circlethriftdonations@gmail.com. People interested in buying items can check out the store’s Instagram to see what’s available and when there’ll be a pop-up sidewalk sale.
Green Drop is a charitable donation service that collects and sells gently-used clothing and household items to local thrift stores. You can bring your donations to Green Drop’s Franklin Mills location or schedule an at-home pickup. The drop-off location on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown is closed.
Proceeds from the thrift store sales are donated to one of Green Drop’s participating charities. When donating, you can choose to donate those proceeds to either the American Red Cross, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Federation of the Blind, or the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Main office: 1515 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19130
Sacred Heart Recovery Residence: 1315 W. Hunting Park Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140
215-232-7272
Project HOME is a nonprofit organization that serves people experiencing homelessness and people experiencing poverty by connecting them to services, such as affordable housing, education, employment, and health care.
The organization is currently only accepting brand new clothing donations, including boots, jeans, shoes, sweatpants, T-shirts, and underwear. Project HOME’s full list of priority items is available here.
You can drop off donations at Project HOME’s main office and Sacred Heart Recovery Residence, Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
If you are looking to donate gently-used clothing, check out some of Project HOME’s other services below:
The boutique is operated by Project HOME and staffed by Project HOME’s residents. The store sells gently-used clothing at affordable prices and those profits are used to pay staff members.
The boutique closed earlier this March due to the pandemic but it has reopened for donations and order pickups on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
1401 Arch St., Lower Lever Suburban Station Concourse, Philadelphia, Pa., 19102.
215-309-5225
The Hub of Hope is a daytime respite located in Suburban Station under Two Penn Center. It provides year-round services to people experiencing homelessness, such as housing placements, medical care, personal hygiene care, and recovery groups. The Hub of Hope accepts brand new and gently-used clothing donations but brand new clothing is preferred.
Retrievr is a pickup service that diverts waste from landfills by recycling or re-selling unwanted clothing and electronics. The City of Philadelphia recently partnered with Retrievr through the city’s SmartCityPHL Roadmap Program, which began on June 8.
Retrievr picks up clothing and smaller-sized electronics for free. The company does charge a fee for larger-sized electronics. You can schedule a pickup by:
Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission serves people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. Among other services, the rescue mission provides people with three meals a day all year round and operates a 30-day emergency shelter for men.
Sunday Breakfast is currently accepting clothing donations for men. You can drop off donations at Sunday Breakfast’s parking lot in the white bins that are provided everyday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Their donation request includes brand new boxers or men’s undershirts and gently-used items, such as casual pants, casual shoes, jeans, shorts, and short-sleeved casual shirts.
A full list of items the shelter needs can be found here.
Editors: Claire Wolters, Zari Tarazona / Designer: Henry Savage
Kensington Voice is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on economic mobility. Read more at brokeinphilly.org or follow on Twitter at @BrokeInPhilly.
After seeing the redesign plans for McPherson Square Park and Library, residents asked for more shade, and requested the library stay open during construction.
McPherson Square Library, which has been closed since June 21st due to a broken air conditioning system, may reopen by next Tuesday in time for a meeting with the City of Philadelphia’s Rebuild program.
The Norris Square Neighborhood Profile, released in July, explored rising housing costs and other shifts in the neighborhood. This resource list points residents to support.
A new batch of organizations will receive $2.2 million in grants from the city’s 2025 Opioid Prevention and Community Healing Fund (OPCH), after what some groups called delayed and unclear communication.
