Last weekend, we were privileged to volunteer with Journey’s Way; an organization that provides resources and programming to residents 55 and older in Philadelphia. Through the Neighbor-to-Neighbor program, PNP teamed up with Journey’s Way to help winterize the homes of elderly residents. We installed plastic window insulation that helps keep homes warm and lower utility costs and also cleaned up yards; raking tons of leaves, cleaning ponds and removing weeds from an otherwise perfect garden. The recipients of our services were grateful for the work we did, and some even gave us smiley stickers :-).

The most impressive thing about the day was the team we worked with. A group of students from the Upper Darby High School showed up on their own, with no adult supervision to be part of the effort. They were lively during the entire duration of our tasks and didn’t complain when we had to take on one more house on our route before returning to the center. These are the kinds of things we would love to see the adults and younger generations of Nigerian and Africans involved in. It was truly admirable. Here’s hoping that more of our own turn up for the next volunteer event.

Trying to weed-Fall 2014