Bringing two world closer together - News from Chester Eastside, Inc.

Bringing two worlds closer together

One thing Lewis “Pete” Washington and Anne Pike have in common is their deep devotion to the hundreds of people who come to the Chester Eastside Food Center for basic necessities every month. Another is their exceeding modest.

“I’m just a worker bee.” says Pete. In actuality, it’s hard to imagine the massive twice-a-week operation going off so smoothly without Pete at the center of it. People readily follow his directions in assembling the food and distributing it.

When Anne was asked how much time she puts in at Chester Eastside, she said, “Just a couple of hours a week,” a classic understatement of her volunteer time in the Food Center alone. Somehow she neglected to mention the monthly meetings of the Mothers’ Club she organized, along with time spent arranging for outside speakers. And the hours involved in collecting and giving out gifts to 100 families at Christmas time. To say nothing of the seemingly endless Board and committee meetings she faithfully attends. But in so many ways, Pete and Anne come from different worlds.

Giving back to his community.

Pete Washington remembers a very different East Side community where he grew up not far from the site that Chester Eastside, Inc., now calls home. “There were houses where there are vacant lots now,” he says, “and businesses - including two dry cleaners and a movie theater.” Things began to change in the 1970s, as the closing of one major industry after another took the props out from under Chester.

One of the positive influences in Pete’s life was a loving family that made sure he stayed inline. And the warning from a neighbor that “I’m going to tell your mom” was often enough to head off serious trouble.

The other was the round of activities like Boy Scouts and the church-sponsored basketball league that did a lot more than “keep me off the streets,” in terms of education and character development. “My mom made sure I attended those things,” says Pete.

Now, with child rearing more of a challenge than ever for people, those organized activities are all the more essential, he says.

Pete went on to earn a degree with a major in music at Cheyney University. But his talent as a drummer led him into a playing at bars and club, “a bad environment for me,” he says. Then an invitation to perform at a church opened up a whole new world for him. “I haven’t played at a bar or club since.” Joining the team at Chester Eastside, Inc., was a natural step. “I knew the Lord was calling me to do this,” says Pete.   

Getting more back than one puts in

When Anne Pike drives the seven miles from her home in Middletown to Chester Eastside, Inc., it’s like entering a whole new world. “I get a lot more out of the experience than I put in,” she readily admits.

It all started when she heard an inspiring presentation by former Chester Eastside Pastor/Director Tom Torosian many years ago. Having known Chester in the days when people came from all over to shop and go to the movies, it was second nature for Anne to want to invest something of herself in this community.

Anne’s the kind of person who sees an opportunity and acts on it. She realized that people who came for food had other kinds of needs as well. That prompted her to create the Mothers’ Club. Now once a month women have an opportunity to learn new ways of coping with the practical problems of daily life - from healthy living to managing on a limited income.

It was a natural step to invite Anne to join the Board of Chester Eastside, Inc. Her hands-on experience with the people receiving the services is invaluable to the ones making policy decisions and raising the money that makes Chester Eastside possible.

This kind of commitment is infectious. Now Anne’s two daughters have caught the bug and are giving generously to the work of Chester Eastside

Together, Pete Washington and Anne Pike exemplify the special mix of gifts that make
Chester Eastside, Inc., the unique kind of agency it is.

Chester Tries to Save Historic Church - Philadelphia Inquirer

 

The 120-year-old Third Presbyterian Church may be headed for demolition. The Chester Historical Preservation Committee wants to restore it, and some officials want to find more ways to protect the city's oldest buildings. (CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer)

http://www.philly.com/philly/gallery/20141230_Chester_tries_to_save_historic_church.html?viewGallery=y

The terra-cotta roof and sprawling stone building are iconic in Chester, a sign on East Ninth Street of the city's prosperous past.The red wooden doors of the 120-year-old building are now warped, and its windows are boarded up.

 

The historic Third Presbyterian Church could face the wrecking ball - unless a local preservation group is able to save it and raise enough money to restore it.
 

To the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the building is a crumbling liability. To the Chester Historical Preservation Committee, it is a local landmark that must be restored. And to some Chester officials, it is a wake-up call that the city should consider protecting its oldest buildings.
      

A contractor was ready to begin demolition this month. But that has been put on hold. Discussions are underway for the presbytery, which owns the building, to transfer the property deed to the Chester Historical Preservation Committee.
 

Preservation would be a massive undertaking for the small preservation group. Its activities typically include hosting tours and lectures."We'll need all the luck, help, prayers - whatever we can get," said the group's president, David Guleke.The group will also need money for repairs, which could cost millions of dollars.The church was built in 1895 and has not been used for worship in about 30 years, said Lawrence Davis, business manager for the Presbytery of Philadelphia.Until last year, the church housed Chester Eastside Ministries, a social service organization affiliated with the Presbytery of Philadelphia.The Presbytery of Philadelphia found the building structurally unsound and too expensive to maintain, Davis said. "Our interest is not to prop up a building that we felt was in danger of collapse," he said.Chester Eastside moved into St. Paul's Episcopal Church across the street. This fall, the presbytery's contractor applied for a demolition permit for the old church building. "As soon as that crossed the city's desk, it raised some red flags, because that church, it's got some special history to it," said Paul Fritz, a consultant to the city's planning department. "And the architecture of it, too, is extraordinary."

But officials in the economically troubled Delaware County city had no grounds on which to reject the demolition application, and no means of saving the building.Members of the Chester Historical Preservation Committee decided to step in. Guleke said the church, which claims to be home to the country's first vacation Bible school and once drew crowds to its Sunday services, is a local treasure."It's just an amazing building," he said. "The sanctuary would be perfect for a theater or something like that."

Davis said last week that the presbytery was willing to transfer the property to the Chester Historical Preservation Committee at little or no cost.

The preservation group talks about raising money, applying for grants, and working with other local organizations to save the church.

Guleke said his organization would remain owner of the church but would hope to rent its Sunday school rooms as office space and use the sanctuary as a theater.Meanwhile, Chester will consider adopting an ordinance to protect its oldest buildings from demolition.

Approximately one-third of municipalities in Southeastern Pennsylvania require additional hearings and reviews before historical buildings are demolished, said Charlie Schmehl, vice president of the Bethlehem-based Urban Research & Development Corp.

"Most communities do something after they have a major loss," said Schmehl, who is working as a consultant to help Chester rewrite its zoning code. "More and more are adopting demolition controls."Davis said the presbytery had tried to discuss the future of the building with city officials for years but received little attention until they asked to demolish it.

Mayor John Linder said city officials had an interest in saving the church because it has "such nostalgic, historical value."

Linder said he hoped that restoration efforts could be paired with new development on empty land nearby. But for now, the church's future remains uncertain.

"It's a great opportunity for the city to preserve that building, because it's such an iconic building, so we're hoping we can get everybody on board and really make it a real success story," Guleke said. "I know that's like pie in the sky, but that's our ultimate goal."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20141230_Chester_tries_to_save_historic_church.html#SbK7rTMqirIgruEE.99

Community Briefs: Chester Eastside children get holiday tip to Franklin Institute - Delco Times

Posted: 12/11/14, 7:51 AM EST |                                        

Thanks to the generosity of one of Chester Eastside, Inc.’s long-time supporters, the children in the C.E. After-School Program will have a special treat during the holiday season: a trip to the Franklin Institute.

Congregation Beth Israel in Media is sponsoring the trip. In addition to arranging for the visit, including a meeting with Franklin Institute Senior Vice President Dr. Frederic Bertley, Beth Israel will cover the costs.

It all started the way so many good things happen at Chester Eastside — when somebody out there who wants to open up new opportunities for Chester children comes up with a good idea.

In this case, it was Elaine Wasekanes, a member of Beth Israel’s Social Action Committee, who planted the seed. She raised the possibility of the trip to the Franklin Institute with Dr. Stuart Pittel, a fellow committee member, knowing that he had connections with the Institute. A phone call to Rev. Bernice Warren, Chester Eastside’s director, got the wheels turning, and that good idea has now become a reality.

Said Rev. Warren, “The trip to the Franklin Institute is exactly the kind of experience for young people that Chester Eastside’s After-School Program is all about: education that opens up young minds to new and exciting possibilities.”

Article link: http://www.delcotimes.com/lifestyle/20141211/community-briefs-chester-eastside-children-get-holiday-tip-to-franklin-institute

Building A New Vision of Chester - Philadelphia Inquirer

Building a new vision of Chester

Debbie DeSimone stands in front of two properties that she has purchased and rehabilitated into affordable rental units on Madison street in Chester. DeSimone's Madison street properties are easily recognizable with their red doors and grey address placards. Monday, November 24, 2014. (C.F. Sanchez/Staff Photographer)

Laura McCrystal, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Friday, November 28, 2014, 1:08 AM

Boarded-up homes served as stash houses for drugs. Vacant lots were filled with trash. Children took detours on their way home from school to avoid the area.

Those images defined a neighborhood for years, making Madison and Rose Streets some of the most dangerous in the city of Chester.

Today, Christmas lights and wreaths hang from brick rowhouses. Freshly painted red doors have replaced the wooden boards that covered the abandoned properties. A park with benches and flower boxes fills a plot of land that was known as a meeting place for drug dealers.

The park, built by a private landlord on property owned by the Chester Housing Authority, is perhaps the most tangible sign of efforts to transform a notoriously dangerous neighborhood into a family-friendly one. It is also the kind of effort that could "save Chester for Chester," said Chester Housing Authority Director Steve Fischer, and allow lifelong residents of the struggling city to reclaim their own neighborhoods.

In one corner of the park, landlord Debbie DeSimone painted a message that she said was a new mantra for Chester's east side: "Prove them wrong."

With her husband and brother-in-law, DeSimone founded a real estate company called Best Homes and purchased and renovated scores of homes around Chester, including 16 in the neighborhood around Madison and Rose Streets.

DeSimone, who lives in Glenolden, said she saw an opportunity to refurbish old homes and rent them out at the same rate as other properties in Chester - but in better condition.

She was drawn to Madison and Rose Streets because the Chester Housing Authority was already working to improve the neighborhood.

The Chester Towers, between Madison Street and Avenue of the States, were demolished in 2007 and 2008 as part of a massive overhaul of the troubled public-housing agency. The last of the housing authority's new senior apartment and office buildings on the site opened in 2013.

Though it took several years and millions of dollars in federal funding to remake the agency and reconstruct its buildings, "that's, quite frankly, the easy part," Fischer said.

"So now, as we look to what surrounds us, the vision [was] that the redevelopment that happened on this site would hopefully spread its wings and have even more of an impact on Chester."

Major drug bust

He especially hoped that change would come to Madison and Rose Streets.

This fall, the neighborhood was the site of one of the largest drug busts in the city's history. In what officials called the takedown of a drug-trafficking ring that had contributed to a spike in homicides, 35 suspects were arrested in late September. Prosecutors said the drug ring used stash houses in the area of Rose and Upland Streets - just a block from the new housing authority's senior apartments.

Standing in the courtyard of a 10-unit apartment building that she is renovating on Madison Street, DeSimone grew quiet and raised her eyebrows when asked what the property looked like when she bought it.

"It was dilapidated," she said. "It was used as a drug den."

This week, she worked to complete renovations in time for tenants to move in Monday. The one-bedroom units rent for $700 per month - a typical rate in Chester, she said - and have new floors, paint, and appliances.

 'Clean and beautiful'

Cheryl Mitchell, 45, has spent her entire life on the east side of Chester. She used to avoid Madison Street. This fall, she moved into one of DeSimone's apartments there, and she looks forward to letting her grandchildren play outside.

"They really made it safe," she said. "And clean and beautiful."

DeSimone covered a vacant lot on Madison Street with gravel, built a tall wooden fence, and filled the area with flower boxes, benches, and trees. But the neighborhood has not completely transformed. The new park sits between DeSimone's apartment building and a bar.

Building a park next to a bar may not be typical, Fischer said, but the new trees and flower boxes send an important message about saving the neighborhood.

"It's a statement for the community," he said, "that we're going to preserve this, come hell or high water."

Jayson Gethers, 37, is a barber who has rented one of DeSimone's homes on Madison Street for nearly two years. He met DeSimone before his current home was renovated and heard her vision for the neighborhood. It was difficult to imagine then, he said, but he has watched it take shape.

"If you stand on this street and go maybe one or two blocks over," he said, "you can really feel the difference."

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lmccrystal@phillynews.com

610-313-8116 @Lmccrystal

 

Chester Magazine - Fall 2014 - Widener University

Magazine link: www.widener.edu/chestermagazine

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