Veterans Day is this Monday and some events and happenings are taking place in the area this weekend to honor and support local men and women who served in the Armed Forces.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, Veterans Day Commemoration is scheduled in the northern section of Clark Park near the Gettysburg Stone (near 44th and Baltimore Ave.) Everyone is welcome to join the Friends of Clark Park, students of the HMS School for Cerebral Palsy and the Boy Scouts in honoring veterans. The event begins at 11 a.m. If you are a local veteran reading this, you can be honored too. Please call 215-222-2255 and leave your name and phone number.

Also tomorrow, dozens of volunteers from Rebuilding Together Philadelphia will gather to renovate the Veterans Group Home at 3209 Baring Street (in the Powelton Village area). The volunteer work team will build a new gazebo for the home, install a new grill and cooking area and renovate the first-floor bathroom. The work will take place from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and HGTV and DIY Network will be there to film it.

The Veterans Group Home, which has the capacity to house 48 men, is located on a quiet tree lined street and includes two-three story homes that are joined in the rear of the property by a shared kitchen and two dining areas.

A couple of months ago, West Philly Local wrote about the call for short film submissions for the 2013 Sloppy Film Fest. Some of your creative neighbors and friends got busy and put together homemade flicks in a “fast and loose” manner, just like the fest organizers wanted. And now it’s time to check out their work. The Sloppy Film Fest, a free show organized by Project Arts, will take place tonight from 10 – 12 p.m. at Dahlak Paradise (4708 Baltimore Ave). Each film screened at the fest is between 5 and 10 minutes long.

The Sloppy Film Fest has been held on and off for the last 15 years. “The idea is to promote DIY filmmaking,” Project Arts executive director Rich Wexler told West Philly Local back in September. Kids are welcome, at least for the first part of the show, as it will begin with films rated PG and PG-13.

More information is available on the event’s Facebook page. And here’s a teaser:

We love Fall in West Philly! Check out this photo by reader Eva Jacobs.

This map shows the location where the robbery took place and where the robber was chased.

This one didn’t end so well for the robber.

A 25-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint early Thursday morning on the way to her apartment near Florence Ave and St. Bernard St., but thanks to the brave actions of another young woman, who was walking her dog nearby and who chased down the robber, the victim’s belongings were retrieved.

The incident happened around 2 a.m., according to police. The 25-year-old parked her car on the 800 block of St. Bernard and was walking to her apartment and talking on her cell phone when she heard someone behind her say something. She turned and saw a man in his 30’s standing behind her holding a black gun in his hand. The woman dropped her handbag and began screaming loudly. The man picked up her bag and ran south on St. Bernard. The bag contained several textbooks, police said.

A 24-year-old woman was walking her dog in the area of Florence and St. Bernard when she heard loud screams, police said. She ran towards the screaming and saw a male running south with a bag. The woman gave chase, with her dog leading the way, onto Warrington Ave and found the robber attempting to scale a high fence in a rear yard with the gun still in his hand. The man turned and saw the woman and waved the gun in her direction. He then ran past her west on Warrington and south on 50th Street. The woman recovered the stolen bag and returned it to the owner. No injuries were reported.

Some West Philly Local readers who live in that area heard loud screams by a woman and wrote us to report them and police presence shortly afterwords.

A caveat here: While this one ended well for the victim and the chaser, police obviously do not recommend confrontations with armed robbers.

The University City District (UCD) and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) received an award from the MetLife Foundation this week for their “extraordinary partnership to improve community safety.” The $20,000 award was presented on Monday at the UCD office at 39th and Chestnut by MetLife Managing Director David Fleisher.

The UCD-Philadelphia Police partnership was selected from more than 540 applicants nationwide for a MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Award, a program administered by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). This is the second time the partners are being honored by MetLife Foundation and LISC. In 2004, UCD and the PPD were recognized for their successful revitalization and safety work for the Baltimore Avenue Commercial Corridor Initiative.

“UCD recently completed a 15-year analysis of crime trends in the neighborhood, and determined that—while serious crime in the entire city has fallen by more than 20% since 1998—serious crime in University City has been cut in half over that same time period…This stands as a testament to the incredible partnership between the Philadelphia Police Department and UCD, as well as the major investment in policing and public safety by Penn, Drexel and many other University City institutions,” said UCD executive director Matt Bergheiser.

We can’t get enough of Philly Thriller. The popular local community dance project has grown since its introduction in 2009 and this year included 34 dancers and a long waitlist of those who wanted to be part of the project, according to its founder Rashida Holmes. If you missed Philly Thriller perform this Halloween check out the video below shot by Rich Wexler of Project Arts. Rich also spoke to Rashida about her project and chatted with some Philly Thriller dancers. Enjoy!