Licenses keep lunch trucks clean

For complete coverage of the 2008 Lunchies, click here.

The food trucks on Temple’s campus have been a fixture for many years. On Main Campus, students and professors are seen buying wraps, cheese-steaks or fries for a quick fix before rushing to their next class.

Lunch trucks are a part of students’ experiences at the university, and truck owners work hard to maintain their businesses.

According to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the guidelines for mobile food vendors regulate the size of trucks, as well as the food preparation surfaces.

Many students have their favorite trucks to go to for meals.

“I always have cheesesteaks,” said Farhiya Tifow, a sophomore political science major.

Tifow said her favorite truck is Ernie’s.

“I prefer the trucks better than the [Student Center] because [they] are cheaper,” she added.
Sophomore psychology major Joseph O’Haire agrees with Tifow that trucks are less expensive.
“I have a meal plan at the [Student Center], but when I do use the food trucks, I use the Green Truck,” O’Haire said.

Temple does not assume the responsibility of monitoring the trucks.

“The codes for the trucks is not something the university gets involved in because all of them are on the streets of Philadelphia,” said Richard Rumer, the university’s vice president for business services.

“They are required by law to go to the Department of Licenses and Inspections to get a license to be a food vendor in the city of Philadelphia. Once they have that, they are then licensed to vend food service within the city,” Rumer said.

The city has numerous requirements for food trucks to be considered safe. Issued by the Office of Food Protection, the Mobile Food Vending Unit-Plan Submission Guide requires vendors to maintain controlled temperatures for food storage, clean water supply, and safely dispose waste. These codes are a part of the 13-page document that determines whether a food establishment passes inspections.

According to the Food Establishment Self-Inspection Checklist from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, owners have to self-inspect their trucks for rodent infestation, food contamination and maintain sanitary utensils and cooking equipment. Owners also have to monitor employee hygiene, such as the washing of hands.

Fortunately for the students, faculty and administration at the university, there have been no critical code violations for the last two years among the food trucks on campus, according to a report released from Environmental Health Services.

Some students are aware of the risks, but say their favorite trucks are ones they trust the most.
“It’s like a game of Russian Roulette,” O’Haire said. “You take risks.”

Anthony Myers can be reached at anthony.myers0001@temple.edu.

Two Philadelphia Police officers shot, one fatally, blocks from campus

Shots were fired shortly after 1:30 p.m., about five blocks northwest of Main Campus near 17th and Dauphin streets, injuring one Philadelphia Police officer and killing another, police said.

An officer from the Public Affairs division of the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed at 3:50 p.m. that one officer was fatally wounded in the incident and the other is in stable condition at Temple University Hospital. The Philadelphia Police are not releasing any more information at this time.

Officer Patrick McDonald, 30, was killed near 17th and Colorado streets, about a half a block from 17th and Dauphin streets, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer story on philly.com, and Officer Richard Bowes, 36, was shot in the leg. The Inquirer also reported that police recovered a large-caliber handgun near the scene.

Lt. Edward Woltemate of Campus Safety Services said that both officers were from the highway patrol division and that Campus Police responded to the incident to aid Philadelphia Police.

“We do have officers respond [for] emergency calls,” he said. “But we weren’t involved in any apprehension or gunfights.”

According to the TU Advisory e-mail sent to the university community at approximately 3:15 p.m., one suspect was shot and another is in police custody.

Woltemate said that Campus Police have not received any further details, but more information should be released tomorrow.

The officer killed in this incident is the third Philadelphia Police officer shot and killed in the line of duty in the past 11 months.

Stay with temple-news.com for continuing updates on this developing story.

Morgan Zalot can be reached at morgan.zalot@temple.edu.

Early mornings, hectic lives for truck owners

For complete coverage of the 2008 Lunchies, click here.

To get the Take 5 lunch truck opened by 6 a.m., Gokhan Bati wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every weekday. He unloads supplies from a van and gets the grill ready by 6:15. At 6:40, the truck is fully open and the customers start coming.

“We get lots of regulars – some high school students and construction workers,” said Bati, the truck’s main cook. Take 5, located near the corner of Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue, is busiest between 7 a.m. and 12 p.m., although he keeps cooking until the truck closes at 6 p.m.

Take 5 keeps Bati busy on the weekends. He shops for supplies on Saturdays and cleans the truck and to prepare it for the week.

Bati also likes talking to his regular customers.

“You have to like the business to work here,” he said.

Long hours are common for lunch truck operators. Selim Zeka, works for the Sexy Green Truck parked outside the Student Center. The truck is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. On Saturdays, the Green Truck is open from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Lunch truck operators also deal with busy spurts and large orders.

“Sometimes you can’t even walk through here,” said Evgjeni Goxha, as she takes orders at a truck on Montgomery Avenue while her husband Adritik cooks.

Bati said his staff is alert when dealing with customers.

“We’ve got to pay attention to complaints so nothing goes wrong. We’ve got to be accommodating,” said Bati, who advertises his phone number on the truck so customers can call ahead with their orders.

“When they get here, it’s ready,” he said.

For trucks to remain on the street throughout the school year, owners have to obtain a permit from the city.

Trucks are also required to be inspected by the Department of Public Health each year.

Cooks and cashiers working at the lunch trucks need to set up and take down their supplies every day.

Zeka starts the day by opening the truck, cutting, marinating and grilling fresh chicken, as well as preparing fresh vegetables. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and spinach are prepared every morning.

“Standing up all day sometimes gets to me,” he said, while leaning on the counter. “That’s all I can do. We have no chairs in here.”

Early mornings, while necessary, aren’t popular with lunch truck employees.

“Getting up early is the worst part,” Bati said. “You’ve got to dedicate yourself to the job.”

Zeka said the mornings are one of the things he does not like about his job, particularly in bad weather.

With customers placing orders, picking them up and paying for food, the owners try to keep everything running smoothly.

Goxha said both she and her husband need to pay attention all the time so that customers are served properly.

“The goal is to keep everyone satisfied,” Goxha said.

Despite the hardships, lunch truck workers seem to love their jobs.

“I like everything. I like seeing people where I work,” Goxha said.

Zeka, on the other hand, enjoys the atmosphere.

“I have no boss over my head,” he said, smiling. “I also like to cook.”

The lunch trucks are very much a part of Temple’s community. Dedicated owners and workers keep the trucks running smoothly and students satisfied. Bati said he works with several people who take customers’ orders, including several Temple students.

“I try to get students in here,” he said, “because I know it feels good when they make money.”

Jared Silfies can be reached at jared.silfies@temple.edu.

Grand theft auto: food fight

For complete coverage of the 2008 Lunchies, click here.

Ernie Arsenlis, the owner of Ernie’s Breakfast Truck on 13th Street and Montgomery Avenue, is a lot of things.

He’s proud, hardworking and compassionate, but lately Arsenlis has been agitated. Don’t get him wrong, he loves his job. He’s been serving Temple students for nearly 27 years, but he has a sneaking suspicion that someone is taking advantage of him.

“The Student Center has been stealing my menu and charging higher prices to the students,” Arsenlis said. “I’m upset. They don’t like us being here.”

Arsenlis, a Greek American from a poor family, said he and his wife are happy that they can help underprivileged students eat a cheap meal. The Student Center, he said, has been mimicking his menu and selling the same items at a premium.

“I noticed a man sitting outside my truck asking students which items that I sell they like best,” Arsenlis said. “I like having variety for the kids, but every time I put out something new, they have the same thing [in the Student Center] two months later.”

Arsenlis said that the Student Center took chicken salad sandwiches and pizza directly off his menu.
“Before they started coming here, all [the Student Center] had was Taco Bell and Burger King,” he said. “Now, their menu is the same as my menu.”

Arsenlis also disapproves of Student Center employees telling students that they can save money by switching to Diamond Dollars.

“They tell the students it is cheaper to buy food from inside than it is to buy from the carts,” Arsenlis said. “They tell their employees not to eat from my cart or the one next to mine, but they do it anyway and they told me so.”

As proof of this claim, Arsenlis said he once posed as a Temple student and inquired about the benefits of Diamond Dollars. When they told him food at the Student Center was less expensive, “I let them have it,” he said with a grin.

Arsenlis isn’t the only one who thinks the university’s meal prices are inflated. Many students eat from the food carts because they are less expensive. Lauren Apple, a junior public relations major, eats outside almost every day.

“The food carts are definitely cheaper,” Apple said. “It’s a shame freshmen don’t realize how much money they could save eating out on the street as opposed to in the [Student Center].”

Ben Hamilton, manager for dining service provider Sodexho, said he believes Ernie’s claims may be exaggerated.

“We don’t view the food carts as our competition,” Hamilton said. “We don’t advertise heavily because we don’t want to detract too much from their business.”

In fact, Hamilton doesn’t think Temple would be Temple without food trucks.

“They are a part of Temple’s culture and we respect that. In all honesty, we’re not conscious of what they sell,” he said. “Our recipes and the items on our menus are developed at our headquarters in Maryland.”

Arsenlis also respects Temple’s culture. He said he doesn’t let his distaste for the Student Center extend to Temple as a university, or to its students. Arsenlis frequently gives out free meals to students without money.

“I’m a nice guy,” Arsenlis said. “I like Temple. It’s a good college. Two of my daughters graduated from here.”

After 27 years of service to his community, Arsenlis wants to make the most of his remaining time at Temple. He and his wife want to retire within the next five years.

“For me, it’s all about service,” Arsenlis said. “People tell me I have the best service on campus. Nobody ever brings anything back.”

“We’re very careful. I respect the kids. I respect every dollar you bring here like it’s worth two or three dollars more.”

Brian Stanley can be reached at brian.stanley@temple.edu.

The Fifth Estate: Selling beaches and skin on philly.com

These are anxious times at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News.

Today, newspapers are half as thick as they were only 20 years ago. Advertisers are leaving and many newspapers in the United States are barely keeping afloat. The New Yorker’s Eric Alterman said it best: “Newspapers are dying. The evidence of diminishment in economic vitality, editorial quality, depth, personnel and the overall number of papers is everywhere.”

In an attempt to reach new readers, editors are redirecting some of their energy into maintaining Web sites with multimedia. Take for instance, the philly.com’s popular video series Down the Shore. At first glance, it seems like a great piece of service journalism. The show highlights the best restaurants, shops and attractions to visit on the beach. Seems like an innovative way to attract viewers, right?

Until you click on the video, that is. Each short piece focuses on the escapades of Lilliana, Sandy, Julie and two others as they travel to Cape May, Atlantic City and Ventnor City. I expected to see a quick, informative segment on New Jersey beaches. Unfortunately, the 17-part series is best known for its provocative display of women in bikinis. The five hosts speak about the Jersey shore like they’re on a commercial sponsored by the tourism department. Instead of focusing on popular destinations, the video highlights full-body shots of the hosts.

The series is, in a word, sensational. When historical newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News makes the leap to glorified television, it’s time to hold editors at philly.com accountable.

Today’s media have already reached epic proportions in advertising sex. At what point do we, as journalists, draw the line? Quality journalism isn’t about sensationalism. Sure, it might generate plenty of Web hits, but can’t you find a more respectable way to make money?

In the future, our generation will be remembered for our insatiable need for sensationalism. The more shocking or attention-grabbing something is the fact that we can’t get enough of it.

A good example of video journalism can be found on cnn.com, which generates 2.3 million hits per week while keeping traditional values and ethics in place. Covering topics like depression, voter-age gap and man-on-the-street interviews, CNN has found a way to grab the attention of viewers while keeping advertisers interested.

It’s no wonder that the Online News Association recognized cnn.com for general excellence in maximizing the Web’s resources. To earn this award, journalists are “providing material that provokes readers in a thoughtful manner, while adhering to the highest journalistic standards.”

Hear that, philly.com? The same quality of reporting should be in every story, whether it’s a video, news report or special feature. And yes, it’s still possible to keep the public’s interest without being overtly sexual. Viewers deserve more than a watered-down version of Down the Shore. They deserve a high-quality report about where to go on the beach. Is that too much to ask?

Stacy Lipson can be reached at stacy.lipson@temple.edu.

Freeing urban education

If knowledge is power, then it comes at a too hefty a price for promising students in Philadelphia and beyond. This is the primary theme in Ben Herold’s groundbreaking documentary First Person, which chronicles six inner-city students who dream of attending a four-year university.

To rally up support for the education of young Philadelphians, Herold will provide a free citywide screening of the movie on Sept. 25 in more than 55 locations. They include Temple’s Ritter Hall, five branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the broadcast premier on WHYY-TV at 7:30 p.m.

“I think that Philly audiences get a sense that these are our city’s kids,” Herold said. “The six students featured [in the documentary] are not all stars and they’re not kids who are going to make it no matter what. But they are also not knuckleheads, corrupts and troublemakers that you hear about on the news.”

The documentary begins on the first day of 11th grade and ends with graduation. It captures intimate portrayals of the students at home, in the classroom and with their loved ones, while they juggle their social and family lives with school and sobriety.

Herold credited much of the momentum surrounding the documentary to Philadelphia Academies Inc., a non-profit organization that helps students develop career-focused goals. The president is none other than the city’s First Lady Lisa Nutter.

“One of the things that the Nutter administration has done that really resonates with First Person is really putting out some ambitious goals as to what we should aspire for as a city, like cut the dropout rate in half and double college graduates,” Herold said.

Achieving such goals will be an upward battle. Herold said that he met the six students while conducting research for his urban studies thesis. They attended Temple’s now-defunct Young Scholars Program, which was a four-year college prep course that provided students with laptops, graphic calculators and – if accepted to Temple – an academic scholarship.

But the program folded before the students could take advantage of its benefits. Furthermore, Herold’s documentary reaches a troubling conclusion when, despite their satisfactory grades, none of the six students are accepted into a four-year university.

Philadelphia is a small part of the larger educational crisis in the United States, but Herold believes that living in the city compounds the problem.

“I think most high schools and secondary education in the U.S. are working off an outdated model that is not geared toward providing real-world experience in a contemporary global community,” he said. “On the other hand, you can’t talk about the problem that young people in Philadelphia face [without mentioning factors] like racism and poverty that create a whole added level of obstacles and challenge.”

Both Herold and Nutter believe that if more adults volunteered in community organizations and mentored young people, they could help to alleviate the problem. Philadelphia Academies Inc. eventually created a fund for the students in First Person to pay for their ongoing education, which Herold believes played a major role in landing four of the six students into college.

Nutter stressed the importance of what she called the “three ships”: internships, mentorships and scholarships for young people. Philadelphia Academies Inc. works with local businesses to host six-week mentoring programs and workshops to develop a rapport with the students and teach them real-world skills like resume writing and mock interviews. But anyone can offer counsel and support to young students.

“Any type of positive adult interaction [helps],” Nutter said. “Sometimes it’s as simple as shaking a kid’s hand, looking them in the eye and asking them where they are headed. These simple interactions really do make a difference, and if they didn’t, they wouldn’t keep remembering them 10 years out.”

Jimmy Viola can be reached at jimmy.viola@temple.edu.

Ramping up support for skate park in Kensington

In Kensington, two elderly women walk beside an old playground covered with cement mixers, shovels and bricks. A chain-link fence surrounds the area, but they peer through it. They’re checking the progress of the old park, known as Pop’s Playground.

Longtime residents Joan Lentz, 61 and Theresa Hale, 60, said it has been “years and years” since the playground has been used.

That won’t be the case for long. Employees from Exit Philadelphia skate shop, along with the New Kensington Community Development Corporation, are transforming the playground into a skateboard park. Lentz smiles as she recounts walking past the park recently and seeing the volunteers working.

“There were about 15 of them,” she said. “Neighborhood kids too, all working together on it.”

Lentz is pleased that Pop’s Playground will soon hold a skateboard park. Earning the support of neighborhood residents is no small feat, but the Exit employees seemed to have earned it.

“It’s favorable, of course,” Jim Primo, a local pizza shop owner, said.

The park will take the place of a vacant lot. It will sit next to a basketball court and jungle gym at Pop’s Playground. Plans for the park include a landscaping project and art from Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program.

“It’s good for the kids,” Primo said. “If more business is a side effect, I’ll take it and say ‘thank you.’ It’s just good to see people outside.”

After plans for the new skateboard park were made, NKCDC enlisted the help of Exit skate shop owner, Steve Miller. The corporation provided Miller with access to the land and helped him gain sponsorship from Glenworth Financial, which has donated $2,500.

Jesse Clayton, project manager and an Exit employee, said the project will cost approximately $20,000. Since the park is maintained completely on volunteer work, the donation only covers the cost of goods. So far, they have $5,000.

But $15,000 is a large bill for a project that Clayton thinks “will most likely be 100 percent finished by winter.”

Some proceeds came from Exit’s art show on July 14, which Amble Gallery hosted. The show featured more than 30 pieces of skateboard-inspired works, which were auctioned off to fund the project.

For one night, Johnny Brenda’s bar and restaurant will donate its top floor to the cause, allowing Miller to do what he wants with the space. He plans to host a party with local DJs White T’s and White Belts and charge a small cover fee.

Other volunteers include Justin Berry from the G-Spot skate shop in Langhorne, Pa., and Brandon John from the Kinetic skate shop in Wilmington, Del.

“I spent one day carrying cinder blocks from one side of the park to the other, and ripping up the foundation so that trees can be planted,” Berry said.

The committee for Paine’s Park, an upcoming skateboard park near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is working with Miller and NKCDC to complete the project, and is donating $1,000 for the cause.

Clayton is also involved with the Paine’s Park project.

“The playground is going to be a much smaller, yet much more immediate project than Paine’s Park,” he said. “But in a short amount of time, we will be able to pacify the skate community fairly inexpensively.”

The blueprint for Pop’s Playground features cone-shaped tree planters that are similar to those near the African American Museum, which was recently fenced in to keep skateboarders away. The new park will replicate other areas that skateboarders frequent.

Clayton doesn’t have a set date for the park’s opening.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “Everything is based on the amount of volunteer work we get.”

Miller doesn’t want the park to follow the trend of extreme skateboard parks, which he said are a waste of money, dangerous, and inconsiderate to the surrounding community. He said he believes in transforming the unused land.

“Pop’s Playground is a template, an unused court just like hundreds of others across the city,” Miller said. “More important than building a project like this, is the ability to show that the skating community can join together to create something that revitalizes and maintains a neighborhood.”

As the two older women pass the playground, walking with bags of groceries to their respective homes, Hale, who barely spoke a word, breaks the silence.

“There’s too much drugs going on,” she said. “Maybe this will help [the children]. I pray to God it will.”

Nicole Volpicelli can be reached at nicole.volpicelli@temple.edu.

The Iraq War’s Cast List

Generation Kill has recieved rave reviews. The mini-series, which aired from July to August on HBO, is based on the experiences of Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright, when he was embedded with the 1st infantry division of the Marines in 2003. It has been lauded as one of the most realistic portrayals of the Iraq War by New York Times critics. But what do war veterans from Philly think?

“For the first time I actually lost myself in a TV show because it was so accurate,” Damien Townsville said.

Townsville, 25, is an undeclared freshman at Temple. He served in Iraq for eight months as a light-wheel vehicle mechanic and military police volunteer for the Army.

“It’s not like HBO was trying to tell a story – at least it didn’t seem like it to me,” Townsville said. “It just seemed like they actually went down to the battleground in Iraq and saw what the platoon was doing.”

Generation Kill portrays the invasion of Iraq as a chaotic, mismanaged and poorly communicated endeavor, but it also shows the patience and professionalism of the troops.

In one episode, a missile obliterates a village filled with women and children before ground troops can assess its threat level. In another, a character loses his Marine Corps helmet and can’t get a replacement, so he dons a motorcycle helmet and eventually a “hajji helmet” worn by the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Will Tromboli can relate. The Allentown native, 26, served as an Army corporal in Iraq for three years.

“If someone’s equipment would malfunction, like an M-16, they’d spring it so that it would fire but it wouldn’t really work because they didn’t have the right supplies to fix it,” Tromboli said.

Townsville remembered making improvised armor for the trucks and being issued nuclear, biological and chemical suits that dissolved when they were tested with basic nerve gas compounds.
Communication with the locals was difficult, he said, because there was only one translator for the 40 units in his base.

These themes all echo throughout Generation Kill, but some veterans had very different experiences.
Jeremy Gilbert, a 21-year-old ROTC cadet at Temple, was stationed in Iraq as an Army sergeant in 2006. He said he always had a translator with him during missions, even when he was in small groups. His unit was so well stocked with supplies that they gave the extra ammunition to needier bases.

Generation Kill also portrays the Marines helping locals. One episode shows them escorting more than 100 refugees through a dangerous area of the country. The real-life veterans had similar stories.

“There was a village just outside of the airport that came under attack from Saddam’s guards and we set up camp for them,” Gilbert said. “We’d protect them, supply them with food and water, and generate electricity to basically sustain the village so it could survive.”

The first episode of Generation Kill features a soldier who ridicules the cards that elementary school kids send them. Townsville said that while some of soldiers blew off cards from children in school, it was always a morale booster for him, especially during the holidays.

Upon his return to the United States, Townsville gathered the addresses of soldiers who were serving in Iraq and gave them to students in his old middle school, so they would receive letters.

The psychological toll of the war on the Marines is hinted at several times throughout the mini-series. In one scene, a few of the soldiers admit that they feel emotionless after killing several insurgents in a gunfight.

Townsville said the adrenaline rush and war mentality made killing seem regular at the time, but the repercussions sneaked up on him later.

“I’m not the same person from when I went in to when I came out, and I’m not talking about maturity. I’m talking about my mind,” he said. “I don’t feel anymore.”

While many agree that Generation Kill accurately portrays the war, the series left something out: it doesn’t show its soldiers return to the United States.

Townsville said he didn’t receive proper psychological services when he returned home. He had flashbacks while driving through traffic and often canceled and rescheduled his psychiatric appointments.

Gilbert had a more optimistic outlook on the future and volunteered to return to active duty in Iraq. By the time his peers enjoy their first legal drinks, Gilbert hopes to be a platoon leader in charge of 40 soldiers.

“This is what I’m made for,” Gilbert said. “It’s not that I want more, I feel I can make a difference.”
In the closing scene of Generation Kill, the Marines, who suffered no casualties gather around a television in their base. They view personal videos of Iraq as they wait to return home. At first, they hoot and holler like a football team watching the tape of a win, but as images of death and destruction flash on the screen periodically, they quiet down and walk away one by one.

It could easily be a metaphor for the public opinion of the Iraq War, and was one of the few creative liberties the producers used in the series to make a subtle political statement.

“Slowly but surely with a series like Generation Kill, you are seeing what’s going on,” Townsville said. “But you can’t experience what’s going on unless you’ve been there.”

Jimmy Viola can be reached at jimmy.viola@temple.edu.

Helping HANDS for local seniors

A few rounds of Bingo with some good company is all it takes for some Temple students to have a fulfilling weekend.

Last Sunday, more than 35 senior citizens gathered in Mitten Hall to eat food, listen to music and play bingo with members of the Having Ambition N’ Devotion for Service organization. The event was sponsored by HANDS, a student-run organization that is putting a new spin on community service at Temple.

“It’s a really good feeling to be out there making an impact in the community,” said Eric Vidal, vice president of HANDS and junior international business marketing major. “I’m just doing my part to make North Philadelphia a better place to live.”

HANDS provided 10 $25 gift cards for local businesses such as Applebees, Pathmark, Rite Aid and Foot Locker to all of the seniors in attendance. Temple bags filled with T-shirts, key chains and hot chocolate were also prizes for 10 lucky winners provided by the Campus Safety Services’ community outreach department. The grand prize winner took home a $50 Visa gift card courtesy of pre-law major Lamar Wallace, president and founder of HANDS.

“We wanted a community service organization that formed an event every weekend,” Wallace said. “Community service is a two-part definition. The first aspect is going out to the community site and doing the actual work and the second part is actually having fun.”

Most of the senior citizens that attended the event were part of Grands as Parents, Inc. Jean Hackney, the vice president of GAPS, said she was glad she came back for the second senior citizens event host by HANDS.

“If we weren’t here, we’d be home watching the grandkids,” said Hackney, who was one of the Bingo winners of the day. “This gives us a chance to get out, meet other people, and relax without having to watch the kids. Plus they play good music and a couple of people were out here trying to dance. I guess we’ll need Bengay tonight.”

“It makes me happy to be a part of making someone else happy,” said HANDS historian Stephanie Velez, an undeclared sophomore.

Lillian English-Hentz, community relations officer for Campus Police, said it’s “great that the young people understand that elders exist.

“It’s Sunday afternoon and they could be doing something else,” Hentz said. “It speaks to Temple’s philosophy to reach out. They’re an acre of diamonds that have gone out and found other acres of diamonds.”

“It’s great that so many people came out this year,” GAPS President Eileen Brown said. “Temple needs one of those license plates that say, ‘You have a friend in Temple.’”

“I hope the seniors enjoyed themselves, the food, the prizes, the slow jams and I hope they know if they need anything that we’re always there to lend a helping hand,” said senior psychology major Nexus Cook, who is the administrative assistant for HANDS.

HANDS members participate in events such as planning a senior citizen ball, taking children to Temple football games, cleaning neighborhood houses and tutoring Philadelphia youth.

Kelly R. Fields can be reached at kellyfields@temple.edu.

Student volunteers help community

The National Student Partnerships office may only have a few desks and filing cabinets, but with the help of local Temple students, the student-led volunteer organization is working to guide community members through tough times in their lives.

North Philadelphia resident Shireena Hardrick is one of the almost 200 locals that received assistance from last year’s staff of 15 Temple students.

“Every time I went there, they helped me no matter what I needed,” Hardrick said. “We rewrote my resume and cover letter. They also helped me get job leads and land an interview,”

NSP’s mission involves mobilizing students from colleges and universities to work with residents from low-income neighborhoods in accessing affordable housing, financial-support services, healthcare, childcare and job opportunities.

NSP volunteers serve clients who do not have access to employment opportunities and social services. Clients’ ages range between 18 and 65 and most have diverse ethnic, racial and gender backgrounds.

“We always put the client first by focusing on their specific needs,” said Ashley Gunn, one of the site coordinators for NSP’s North Philadelphia office.

“They usually come in knowing what they want and what specific areas they need to focus on. By working with them, we usually find out more about them and sometimes uncover other areas they need help with,” Gunn said.

Senior Sandra O’Conor began volunteering with NSP after she noticed the organization’s flier in her new student packet.

“It’s easy to complain about North Philadelphia, but now I don’t feel the need to complain about my community anymore. It gives me peace of mind to know I’m doing something to help out,” the sociology major said.

“It’s exciting when you get to see a client get excited over something as small as a free pair of glasses. It’s a big deal for them,” said Kristine Minutolo, a senior at James Madison University.
Minutolo volunteered with NSP in North Philadelphia during the summer.

Last year, the volunteers clocked in 3,212 hours of service. The organization also helped 181 community members, most of whom were new to the program.

“Clients can stay with the program as long as they need, although most of our clients come in for employment and housing help,” Gunn said.

The office collaborates with community partners like the Madeira Family Center, Temple’s Center for Social Policy and Community Development, the Salvation Army, Healthy Start, Solutions for Progress, the Benefit Bank and the Church of the Advocate.

NSP is currently looking for Temple students interested in volunteering at its office located at 1231 N. Broad St.

“We’re hoping to have a full staff by October. Last year, we had a great staff and we’re hoping some come back this year,” Gunn said.

“I volunteered only two hours a week during the fall semester last year, but that soon increased to eight hours per week in the spring,” said Dana Haynes, a senior psychology major.

“If you’re passionate about helping others reach their goals, I recommend NSP.”

Abigail Shepherd can be reached at abigail.shepherd@temple.edu.

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