The PHCA has a number of initiatives and projects that depend on volunteer effort. There’s something for everyone, whether you like being outside and doing strenuous labor, or if you’d prefer to just pick up some trash now and then. If any of the possibilities below appeal to you, please get in touch with us by calling 412.681.1950, or emailing phca@phcapgh.org.
(Above: a group of neighborhood volunteers gather for a cleanup day)
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The PHCA Green Team
The Polish Hill Civic Association’s Green Team is always looking for volunteers to help clean and maintain the public green spaces around the neighborhood. This might include weeding and planting, knotweed removal, or even creating new green spaces. There are also regular clean-up days in addition to flower plantings and maintenance in the spring and fall. Email or call us at 412.681.1950 to be added to the contact list.
(Above: volunteers helped to create Mały (“little”, in Polish) Park, at the corner of Dobson and Herron Streets.)
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The Polish Hill Arts Festival
The 2012 Arts Festival will be held on Sunday July 8 from 12 – 9 pm. Care to lend a hand? We are looking volunteers to:
Spread the word about the festival by distributing flyers
Help out with set-up, registration, and booth-sitting
Clean up
Let us know if you’d like to be on the contact list for the festival, and indicate if there is something in particular you’d like to do. You will receive notices and updates about the festival when planning starts in the early spring of 2012.
(Above: 2010 Arts Festival volunteer John McClure. Photo by Leslie Clague)
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Snow removal
In the aftermath of the snows of 2010, the PHCA started a shoveling team, a loose network of concerned residents and committed pedestrians dedicated to ensuring that our sidewalks, crosswalks, and stairs remain clear and safe. If you have a shovel, a strong back, and an interest in helping, please get in touch. Team members stake out an area that they keep clear, usually around where they live. We also try to be aware of elderly or disabled residents who might need help.
Polish Hill is the proud site of a pilot City program, Stair Stewards, which started in the fall/winter of 2009/10. The Stair Stewards program provides locked salt boxes at each heavily-used stairway and enlists resident volunteers to keep the stairs swept and salted. Stair Stewards register with the PHCA and Public Works and are given a key to the salt box (the boxes are locked because in the past, unlocked salt boxes were raided by people who took the salt to use for personal use).
The Stair Steward program was deemed a success, and now four of our City stairs have stewards. These are: the extra-long steps from Downing Street down to Herron Avenue, Dobson to Herron; the Apollo steps, which run between Melwood and Bethoven, and the steps between Bigelow Boulevard and Harding Street.
Although only one person can hold a key, any additional help in keeping stairs clear would be welcome.
(Above: Jen Kirk and Patrick Singleton, stair stewards for the Dobson – Herron City steps, 2010. Photo by Mark Knobil)
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And here is the simplest way you can volunteer: pick up trash! As noted above, the PHCA Green Team has regular neighborhood cleanups, which are announced in our weekly e-news blasts and here on Blogski. Many residents take it upon themselves to pick up trash whenever they are out walking, combining neighborhood beautification with exercise!
(Above, Josie Ramsey at a neighborhood cleanup, 2009. Photo by Leslie Clague.)