The
Pennypacker
AThe Voice of the Friends of Pennypack
Vol. 28 No. 02
215-934-PARK
MONTHLY MEETING
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 7:30 P.M.
AT THE LAFAYETTE-HOLY REDEEMER CENTER
8580 VERREE ROAD (NORTH OF RHAWN STREET)
SPEAKER: PArK rAngErs gEOrgIA
And
BArry
wILL sPEAK
ABOut wILdLIFE In thE PArK InCLudIng hAvIng LIvE snAKEs, LIzArds
And OthEr CrEAturEs tO shOw us At thE MEEtIng.
www.friendsofpennypackpark.org
February 2015
January Meeting - Presentation by Cindy Masiejczyk
– written by roland williams and Carol Arita-williams
winter’s cold keeps many of us from enjoying nature out-of-doors, but nature was brought to
us at our January meeting by our own Cindy Masiejczyk.
Cindy has long been one of our most active members, having worked countless volunteer
hours in our park cutting, uprooting, and removing invasive weeds in order to encourage regrowth of native wildﬂowers. this hands-on ﬁeld work backed by diligent research makes
Cindy something of an expert on our park’s ecology. that’s Cindy – the naturalist. But she is
an artist as well, with a keen eye for things of special interest and beauty. with her skills as a
videographer, Cindy has captured living images of rare and amazing things.
In a series of short videos, Cindy presented a wide range of subjects. these were scenes of
various species of caterpillars feeding on native plants, and Cindy had captured the action as
a pair of the park’s elusive ‘Pileated woodpeckers’ chiseled into a tree’s deadwood and bark
in search of insects.
we watched candid and amusing scenes of a ‘starling’ family at home in a tree hollow. A
scene featuring the spring mating calls of frogs called ‘Peepers’ was followed by the absolutely
hilarious sight and sound of a mob of ‘American toads’ leaping and tussling in a shallow muddy
pool, so bursting with the reproductive urge that they seemed to be simultaneously mating
and engaging in mortal combat. scenes of belligerent ‘sunﬁsh‘ facing oﬀ in the creek and a
‘wild turkey’ in a treetop added to the variety and interest of Cindy’s presentation.
In her talk accompanying her presentation, Cindy related her experience in capturing these
scenes on video, and shared her extensive knowledge of the lives of the wild things shown on
screen.
Cindy’s work illustrates the beauty and interest any of us can ﬁnd when we learn not to hurry
blindly along park trails but slow down and take time to listen and observe. thank you Cindy
for this lesson and for sharing your knowledge, talents, and experiences with us.
Images courtesy of Cindy Masiejczyk
Hind end of the Saddleback caterpillar (Top)
and proﬁle of Shizura caterpillar (Bottom).
Both are examples of camouﬂage in nature
that protects insects from predators.
**********
Attention FACEBOOK users. FOPP now has a FACEBOOK page.
Please visit our FACEBOOK Page and Like us.
( https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfPennypack?ref=stream )
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
1 | Page
The Pennypacker
2014 ‘The Year in Trash’ – by nance Kerns
Before we begin a new Cleanup year let’s reﬂect back
on the Cleanups of 2014. For our bean counting
buddies, the statistics rattle along like this:
9 cleanups (in July and August the rain didn’t stop us
and maybe that was not such a good thing)
192 diﬀerent people (our stars and the reason we
were able to get anything done this year. thank you!
thank you!)
803 volunteer hours total (the equivalent of about
twenty 40 hour work weeks or 100 days of work)
9 city workers on the job and their job included
helping us in one form or fashion (includes CLIP, the
Parks & rec trash truck guys, and our wonderful
friends in blue)
392 bags of trash (and an assortment of other stuﬀ –
228 diﬀerent kinds reported by our volunteers)
Along the way we met a bunch of really great people;
some of whom belong to really great groups. we had
some regulars retire and one retire to heaven.
Of the 192 diﬀerent volunteers some came more
frequently than others. those coming to half or more
cleanups were: Bill henderson, Alan Ostrow, Jim ryan,
roland williams, Louise Kopena, Karen Kaczorek,
robert McMunn, george scholl, Joyce Ferrero, Kevin
sweetra, rich glaser, and nance Kerns.
Our pretty much retired, retired, and retired to heaven
who were indefatigable and inspirational include:
Florence Brodman, norma rudolph, and Jim smyth
(although rumor has it, Jim might return – stay tuned),
and the newest Angel watching over us in the
Pennypack – Jim ryan.
Cleanup Finds
we now turn to the reason we have to
go out and clean the park in the ﬁrst
place (and believe us, as much fun as
it can be, we’d really wish there not be
a need to have to do it at all) – the
trash. this year we removed 192 bags
and a mountain of “other” stuﬀ. due
to space limitations we can’t list each
of the 228 diﬀerent kinds of trash that
was reported, however, we can hit the
highlights. there were two main
groups of these: the things we kept
running into and the things that we
wondered why we found them in the
ﬁrst place.
the things we kept running into
included:
• 392 bags of trash
• 16 bags of cans
• $6.08
• 8 shopping carts + a few pieces
• 8 tires (with and without rims, luckily
mostly without)
• 3 milk crates
• 8 hubcaps + 1 broken one
• 8 baseball caps
• 5 ﬂip ﬂops
• 11 pairs of pants (also, should
probably be on the “why?” list)
• 7+ t-shirts
• 8.5 wooden boards
• 15 chairs (includes: director’s,
folding, kitchen, resin, wicker, woven
strip, and outdoor dining) + a few
pieces of resin chairs
• 3 American ﬂags
• 3 kitchen knives
• 26 + bricks
• 7.5 cinder blocks
• 3 basketballs
• 4 bikes + 2 bike frames
• 6 golf balls + 0.5 golf club
• 0 wiﬄe balls + 3 wiﬄe ball bats and
• 3 sledding disks
The “why” list included:
• infant car seat
• seat belt
• green duct taped wallet (repurposed
now as a business card holder)
• bunny tail from a halloween costume
• coﬀee table
• folding door for a closet
• garage door opener
• 2 mattresses and a box spring
• bathroom plunger (because it’s the
best way to unclog the creek???)
• vanity table (critters have to look their
best when Cindy comes by to take their
pictures)
• tv
• 30 MPh speed Limit sign (newsﬂash:
throwing the sign in the park because
you got caught speeding on holme
Avenue will not invalidate the ticket you
got)
• no Parking sign (for the fool who can’t
ﬁgure out why you shouldn’t park your
car in the creek in the ﬁrst place)
• 12 Lego pieces
• sleeping bag
and ﬁnally
• the ironic – 2 “1-800-gOt-JunK” signs
(yes, and these signs were part of it.)
• the head-scratching – a registered
boat missing a motor and a steering
wheel (reported to neighborhood
services and removed)
• and the historic – a wagon wheel that
roland thinks was from the 19th
century.
the great groups that put a park cleanup on their “to
do” list were: Augusta-westland, Cub scout Pack 252,
holmesburg Christian Academy, Engineers without
Borders, holy Family university, and the delaware
river City Corporation (the people that were
instrumental in getting the land that is now Pennypack
on the delaware added to our park and then very
nicely turned around this year and helped us clean it
up). holmesburg Civic and holme Circle Civic sent
their presidents to help us when our cleanup took us
to their neighborhoods. Additionally, we want to
thank the following schools and churches for
recommending that their students do community
service with us: Father Judge, Central, disston, st.
david’s Lutheran, Arts Academy at Benjamin rush, st. hubert’s, Maternity BvM, Archbishop ryan, and st. John’s Lutheran.
the city workers who didn’t have to be so nice but were instead simply amazing include: Mike Beutenmeuller and Jim McCarthy from CLIP
and their crew, Jim huntsburger of Parks and recreation who always brought along our favorite piece of equipment – the trash truck (we want
to also give a shout out to Pat Crossan of district #1 and her staﬀ for being so responsive to the concerns we had to pass along to her oﬃce),
and sergeant Mortimer of the 15th Police district and Oﬃcer Loizos of the 8th Police district for checking up on us while on patrol and
demonstrating what “community policing” is all about.
2 | Page
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
The Pennypacker
we want to stand up and cheer for shoprite Corporation and their Earth day Challenge which kindly supported our eﬀorts by donating gloves
and bags for the entire cleanup year. Also, we appreciate the gloves (in large and small sizes) and bags thoughtfully provided by Keep
Pennsylvania Beautiful. we never had to worry about having enough supplies for the crews that came out, making our eﬀorts a whole lot
easier.
well, that closes out 2014. thanks again to all who protested littering in the park in 2014 by helping to remove it from our favorite park-Pennypack. Just think next month, March, begins our 2015 Cleanup year. Our ﬁrst stop is the Ballﬁeld on holme Avenue behind nazareth
hospital on saturday, March 28th from 10 am to 1 pm weather permitting (too hot, too cold, too wet, too bad, to check call 215-934-PArK or
215-934-7275). If you have any questions or concerns about Monthly Cleanup, please call us at 215-934-PArK or send an e-mail to
[email protected]. we hope to see you in 2015!
**********
MONTHLY CLEANUP NEEDS YOUR HELP
People’s Choice 2015 ‘Bird for the Earth Day Button’
Our wonderful FOPP Earth day Button artist, roland williams, has drawn two diﬀerent birds for the 2015 Earth day
button -- a ‘white-throated sparrow’ and a ‘grackle’.
we can’t decide which bird should be on the 2015 Earth day button. therefore, we are asking you to vote for the ‘Bird
for the Earth day Button’ on our Facebook page. there you will be able to see all the buttons for previous years except
for years 1999 and 2001. those of you who have a button for one of our missing years, kindly call us at 215-934-PArK or
email [email protected]) .
voting is open from now until st. Patrick’s day (March 17th). the new button selection will be unveiled and handed out
free to those who come out to volunteer at our Earth day Cleanup on saturday, April 25th at Little City (aka the rhawn
street park entrance just east of holmehurst Avenue).
now, get on our Facebook page and exercise your right to choose the “Bird for the Earth day Button”!
Attention FACEBOOK users. FOPP now has a FACEBOOK page.
Please visit our FACEBOOK Page and Like us.
( https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfPennypack?ref=stream )
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
3 | Page
The Pennypacker
FOPP BOUTIQUE
Item, Color, Price, and Available Sizes
Size
Qty.
$ Amount
Short Sleeve T-shirts
Yellow with Green FOPP logo
Black with White logo
Grey with Green logo
Khaki with Yellow logo
Jade with White logo
(out of Size M now)
Sizes: M, L, XL -$9.00 each
Size: XXL - $10.00 each
Long Sleeve Sweatshirts
Yellow with Green logo
Black with White logo
Grey with Green logo
Khaki with Yellow logo
Sizes: M, L, XL -$15.00 each
Size: XXL - $17.00 each
Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Grey with Green logo
Khaki with Yellow logo
Size: XXL - $15.00 each
Hooded, Zippered Sweat Jacket
Grey with Green logo
Sizes: M, L, XL -$24.00 each
Size: XXL - $26.00 each
100 Year Anniversary Short Sleeve T-Shirt -$8.00 each
White
Sizes: S, M, L, XL
Baseball Cap (adjustable) -$12.00 each
Natural with Black logo
Soft Brimmed Hat 100% Cotton -$11.00 each
Natural with Green logo
Tote – 100% Cotton Canvas with Handles -$7.00 each (2 for $13.00)
Natural with Green logo
Size: (17 ¾ ” wide) x (15 ¾” high) x (6 ¼” gusset bottom)
New!
The 2003 -2015 Earth Day Button Collection
Earth Day Buttons (years 2003 - 2015)
Non-Members $2 per button
Members $1.50 per button
(available for pickup only at Monthly Meetings or
Monthly Cleanups - no deliveries)
Non-Members $25.00
Members: $19.00
Book “Exploring Pennypack Park” by Roland Williams -$5.00 each
Send your order with a check or money order payable to FOPP. Mail to: FOPP, P.O. Box 14302, Philadelphia, PA 19115
Save on postage and handling by picking up your order
call 215-464-7181 for details
Postage & Handling: TOTA L:
$5.00 for first item +
$1.00 for each
add’l item
Name:
Address:
City, State, Zip:
Phone:
4 | Page
Revised: February 3, 2015
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
The Pennypacker
February Events:
Membership Committee:
(2nd Monday, monthly)
Home Sugaring Workshop:
PEC Open House
(hosted by Pennypack
Environmental Center)
Monthly Meeting:
(3rd Thursday, monthly)
Recycling:
(3rd Saturday, monthly)
March Events:
Maple Sugar Day:
(hosted by Fox Chase Farm)
Membership Committee:
(2nd Monday, monthly)
Snow Clues:
PEC Open House
(hosted by Pennypack
Environmental Center)
Monthly Meeting:
(3rd Thursday, monthly)
Recycling:
(3rd Saturday, monthly)
Science for Seniors
Spring Edible Greens:
(hosted by Pennypack
Environmental Center)
Monthly Cleanup:
(4rd Saturday, March-Nov.)
- schedule on the FOPP website -
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, February 9
saturday, February 14, 1:00 PM
homeowners with maple trees can join us to learn what you need to know to make your own syrup or
sugar in your own kitchen.
Pennypack Environmental Center, 8600 verree road, Philadelphia, PA 19115. Contact 215-685-0470
or email [email protected].
thursday, February 19, 7:30 PM
at the Lafayette-holy redeemer Center, 8580 verree road (north of rhawn street).
speakers are Park rangers georgia and Barry who will speak about wildlife in the park including having
live snakes, lizards and other creatures to show us at the meeting.
saturday, February 21, 9:00 AM till noon, rain or shine
ryan Ave. and sackett st. parking lot at Lincoln high school
Call the park line, 215-934-PArK to check for any cancellation.
saturday, March 1, 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Learn the process of maple sugaring, watch the making of maple candy, and sample pancakes with
pure maple syrup. Crafts & storytelling. Maple products will also be for sale.
Admission: $3.00 Adults and Children.
Fox Chase Farm, 8500 Pine road, Philadelphia, PA 19111. Call 215-728-7900 for details.
Monday, March 9
saturday, March 14, story and walk at 11:00 AM
Is cabin fever setting in?? “Big tracks, Little tracks,” by Millicent E. selsam, a book showing animal signs
in winter. story will be followed by a walk into the nature sanctuary to uncover animal tracks and other
clues to see who has been out and about this winter. the center will also be open to explore from 9:00
AM to 3:00 PM. Contact 215-685-0470 or email [email protected].
Pennypack Environmental Center, 8600 verree road, Philadelphia, PA 19115
thursday, March 19, 7:30 PM
at the Lafayette-holy redeemer Center, 8580 verree road (north of rhawn street).
speaker to be announced.
saturday, March 21, 9:00 AM till noon, rain or shine
ryan Ave. and sackett st. parking lot at Lincoln high school
Call the park line, 215-934-PArK to check for any cancellation.
thursday, March 26, 2:00 PM
Program designed for adults 50 and older with a desire to learn more. there will be a walk to Id spring
greens with some samples to taste as well. registration requested. Contact 215-685-0470 or email
[email protected].
Pennypack Environmental Center, 8600 verree road, Philadelphia, PA 19115
saturday, March 28, 10:00 AM till 1:00 PM
Ballﬁeld at holme Avenue, behind nazareth hospital. wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and
sneakers/work boots/hiking boots. volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. due to
weather, some cleanups may be cancelled. If in doubt, call 215-934-PArK.
The new Recycling Schedule and Cleanup Schedule are out and can be
picked up at Recycling events or the Monthly Meetings. They are also
available on the website at www.friendsofpennypackpark.org
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
5 | Page
The Pennypacker
January Recycling – by Alan Kaminsky
two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? FOPP,
FOPP, go FOPP!!
I give a cheer because when I arrived at the parking lot it was packed!
there was a cheerleading competition going on that day. I was able
to set up along the curb in the incoming driveway of the lot. It was
wide enough for 3 vehicles so on the right we placed the truck and
book table, the middle lane was our drop oﬀ lane and the left lane
allowed for incoming traﬃc to pass. It worked out ﬁne, though it was
diﬃcult for our volunteers and recyclers to ﬁnd parking.
Fortunately we had nice weather for January with 13 volunteers
helping out:
Alan, Andrew, Bernard, Bob, george, herb, John, Karen,Melanie, Mimi,
nance, norma, and rus. Our streets department driver this month
was Jimmy.
Electronics Recycling:
you can bring most small electronics including tvs and computers to
Best Buy stores for recycling (take them to the Customer service area).
Best Buys also has bins for rechargeable batteries, Cds, Cd cases and
used plastic gift cards. tvs and computers can be brought to the
sanitation Convenience Center on state and Ashburner streets (no
charge) during their business hours of 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Monday
through saturday. Life Cycle solutions Inc 8701 torresdale Ave stE O,
(on Pennypack st side of the building) takes various electronics. (215)
882-8161. they are open Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
**********
When?
Every third saturday of each month, between 9:00 AM until
noon rain or shine. If bad weather does occur please call the
park line, 215-934-PArK to check for any cancellation.
Where?
Lincoln high school parking lot on ryan Ave at sackett st
WHAT TO BRING:
Aluminum Cans - crushed or whole
Batteries - button type and rechargeable batteries only
Cell Phones, MP3, digital Cameras, and gPs - any type
Clothing (including towels, linens, draperies), shoes, bags,
belts. Place clothing, belts/bags and shoes in separate bags.
Crayons - donation of $1 per pound requested to defray
shipping costs
Magazines And Books - for our book table where you can
browse a wide assortment of books and magazines and other
items (you never know what you’ll ﬁnd) and take what you
want for FrEE (donations are appreciated)
Packing Peanuts and Bubble Wrap - all types
Paper/Cardboard - all types of paper and corrugated
cardboard.
Printer Cartridges - all types
Scrap Metal - aluminum, brass or copper
Toys - hard and soft toys no bigger than a large microwave.
Must be in good condition. Board games and puzzle boxes
must be taped shut. stuﬀed items must be clean and dry.
Oﬀ the Cuﬀ
The NO List - nO glass, steel cans, plastic, block styrofoam
packing material other than peanuts (block styrofoam is
accepted at the sanitation Convenience Center on state rd.).
wE'MI n'ELunhO' MAh we are all related.
- Lenape
A wise old owl sat in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke, the
less he spoke the more he heard. why can't we all be like that wise
old bird? - Old Proverb
we could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty,
some are dull, while others are bright, some have weird names, but
they all have learned to live together in the same box.
- Author Unknown
we recommend that you place a cloth or plastic sheet over the
items in your trunk that you don’t want us to take so that we
can clearly determine what to remove.
Any proﬁts from recycling are used to support the park for the
purchase of trees, and to pay for park improvements and
maintenance. Additional information on recycling can
be found at our web site at:
w w w. f r i e n d s o f p e n ny p a c k p a r k . o r g .
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou
ARTICLES FOR THE PENNYPACKER ARE DUE BY:
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23
ALL SUBMISSIONS WELCOME. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE ANY SPECIAL AND UPLIFTING STORY ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE YOU’VE HAD
WHILE VISITING PENNYPACK PARK, PLEASE SEND THEM TO [email protected]
6 | Page
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
The Pennypacker
FOPP OFFICERS
President:
V-P Legal Affairs:
V-P Trees & Trails:
V-P Ways & Means:
V-P Public Affairs:
V-P Environmental Affairs:
Founder:
Treasurer:
Corresponding Secretary:
Sponsor a Tree Program
Linde Lauff
Harvey Cantor
Joyce Ferrero
Kathy McCrea
Nance Kerns
Alan Kaminsky
Ben Cohen
Corinne Stobbe
Norma Rudolph
PENNYPACKER STAFF
Editor: Caroline Nelson, Distribution: Norma Rudolph,
Bobbi Buckley, Mary Ellen Cebula, Ruth Galpern,
Gil Galpern, Florence Brodman, Sol Stark
HOW TO CONTACT US
Sponsor’s Information
Phone:
215-934-PARK (7275) – 24 hours a day message center
– listen to our announcements or leave a message.
2. Written Correspondence:
Friends of Pennypack Park, P.O. Box 14302,
Philadelphia, PA 19115
3. Email Contacts:
Name:
@friendsofpennypackpark.org
General Questions and Correspondence:
Address:
info@
Newsletter E-Notice Serviceand Membership:
membership@
Phone Number:
Monthly Cleanups or Trash Issues:
Note: If you would like to dedicate the tree to someone special,
please ﬁll in the blank below. We will forward to you a nonpermanent label to be afﬁxed to the protective sleeve on the
tree.
cleanup@
Submission of Articles for the Pennypacker:
newsletter@
Recycling Issues and Information:
recycling@
4. Re-forestation Cards:
Applications can be found at
www.friendsofpennypackpark.org or order from:
Mary Ellen at 215-722-0184 or
Barbara at 215-342-9331
5. Moved?
Let us know by checking the box marked ‘Change of
Information’ on the Membership Form in this newsletter
and send it in or send us an e-mail at:
[email protected]
FOPP’s United Way Donor Choice Number is: 9948
Thank you to all of our United Way supporters!
A copy of the official registration and financial information
regarding Friends of Pennypack Park may be obtained
from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll
free within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration
does not imply endorsement.
Number of trees:
__________
Donation Enclosed: __________
($100.00 for each tree to beneﬁt the Restoration Fund )
Make check Payable to:
Friends of Pennypack Park
Send check and this form to:
Friends of Pennypack Park
P.O. Box #14302
Philadelphia, Pa. 19115
Attn: Joyce Ferrero-Trees & Trails Committee
Check here if you would like to participate in the planting of
the tree.
We will let you know the proposed planting date.
Date may change due to weather conditions.
Yes, I would like to help ______________
No, I’m not able to at this time ____________
If you have any questions, feel free to call the Park phone
#215-934-PARK (7275)
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
7 | Page
The Pennypacker
FIRST CLASS MAIL
P.O. Box 14302
“Leave only footprints-Take only memories”
Philadelphia, PA 19115
215-934-PARK
FRIENDS OF PENNYPACK PARK
MEMBERSHIP FORM
You get a discount of $5.00 / year membership if you receive your newsletter via email
Type of Membership: (email address required if selecting emailed newsletter option)
Annual Membership
Sr. Citizen (62+) or Student
Additional Contribution
$20/yr
$15/yr
email newsletter discount
$15/yr
email newsletter discount
$10/yr
Change of Information ONLY
Total number of persons at this household: _______
NAME:
HOME PHONE:
ADDRESS:
CELL PHONE:
CITY, STATE, ZIP:
EMAIL ADDRESS:
If you would like to volunteer in some way, please let us know:
Please return this form with check payable to:
Friends of Pennypack Park, c/o Corinne Stobbe, Treasurer, P.O. Box 14302, Philadelphia, PA 19115
THANK YOU for your support.
8 | Page
Friends of Pennypack Park • February, 2015
REV. 10/2014