Posted on 05 January 2011 by Mike Lyons
Here’s an idea: someone on a bicycle comes to your place, picks up your laundry, does it for you – including folding – and returns it, also by bicycle. Clean and green. This exists and it’s called Wash Cycle Laundry. If you think this is a good idea, then you are not alone. Echoing Green, an angel investor in socially conscious entrepreneurial businesses, has named Wash Cycle a semifinalist for one of its 2011 Echoing Green Fellowships.
Now to be honest there are a lot of semifinalists – 224 to be exact. But that is out of 2,854 applicants. About 15 of those semifinalists will be awarded fellowships, which include start-up money to pay for health insurance, a stipend and access to legal and financial help.
Gabriel Mandujano, the former executive director of the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation in Walnut Hill, started Wash Cycle Laundry earlier this year. The company does pick-ups and deliveries in West Philadelphia and Center City. You may have seen their bike trailers loaded with large blue tubs.
Fellowship winners will be announced in May.
Posted on 05 December 2010 by Mike Lyons
Mill Creek Farm (4901 Brown Street) will hold its annual fundraiser today from 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center (640 Water Works Drive) – behind the Art Museum. The farm is “an educational urban farm dedicated to improving local access to fresh produce, building a healthy community and environment, and promoting a just and sustainable food system,” according to its website. A non-profit, the farm is an important part of West Philadelphia and it relies on this annual fundraiser for a substantial chunk of its budget. In addition to growing food, the farm conducts community workshops and youth employment programs.
The fundraiser will include the debut of West Philly Grown, a documentary about the farm. A silent auction will also be held (holiday gifts perhaps? hmmm?). Live music will be provided by The Bro’s Perspective, a jazz fusion trio, as well as by violinist Carlos Santiago and harpist Mary O’Malley. As if that isn’t enough, there’s also going to be food and drink from Philadelphia Brewing Company, Dock Street Brewing Co., Art in the Age, Bar Ferdinand, Beau Monde and Honest Tom’s Taco Shop. That is a substantial line-up. Holy smokes, I’m salivating just writing this.
Now, it’s a fundraiser so it ain’t free. Tickets are $25 (cash/check) and are available at the door.
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