OK, here’s your chance to read about our vaunted neighborhood Southwest Detective Joe Murray, aka @TheFuzz9143, in action.

Murray and his former partner in Southwest Philly, Sgt. John Hoyt, agreed to serve as doughnut testers for a Philadelphia Inquirer review of Federal Donuts, the “new, fancy-pants doughnut and fried chicken shop in Pennsport.”

Murray on Federal’s Key Lime doughnut:

“It wasn’t overly tart. I won’t eat doughnuts with filling in them – you eat it and it’s all over you. It’s too much, it’s gross,” Murray said. “But this was absolutely perfect – the concept and texture. You get the crust and crumbs from it. It even had the little crisps on it.”

Murray and Hoyt were up front about the stereotype they were playing into, but both said they are way more of coffee snobs than doughnut snobs.

More trees are coming! Here’s a good chance to help make our area greener. Neighbors are welcome to help with the UC Green and The Philadelphia Orchard Project tree plantings and orchard care projects in various West Philly locations starting this week.

The first project is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School (58th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.), where you can help with the orchard care, including mulching, weeding, bulb planting and fresh local fruit.

Next week three other projects are scheduled, two for October 25 – at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd.) and Mastery Charter School and Conestoga Playground (53rd & Media) and one for October 29 at Ogden Gardens (Ogden & Preston).

For information about November projects, hours, and to RSVP go here.

A program run out of Saint Joseph’s University is looking for non-profits and social entrepreneurs who want help in designing or bolstering their online presence.

Beautiful Social is a student-run social media consultancy designed to help non-profits and other entrepreneurs with everything from market research to website usability testing to developing a social media strategy. The idea is to help grow communities and civic engagement online.

The services are free of charge. Students put theory into practice and gain real experience while helping local organizations thrive. Two professors from St. Joe’s communication studies program, which incorporates social justice into its curriculum, oversee the students.

Beautiful Social has worked with a number of non-profits, including the Philly-based Power Up Gambia and InterAct Theater Company since it began last year.

Anyone interested in being part of the program should contact Mike Lyons at jlyons [at] sju.edu.

Full disclosure: One of the professors who oversees the projects is also a co-owner of this website.
 

Do you have something super heavy in your house or garage that you want to pick up or move, but don’t know how? No worries – neighbor Douglas Pugliese has donated a heavy-duty lifting engine crane to the West Philly Tool Library. The engine hoist can lift up to a two-ton item on its hydraulic arm and can move it around on heavy-duty casters. Doug, who is a West Philly Tool Library member, used the equipment once or twice and doesn’t need it anymore.

We’re told that the crane can even lift something high enough to get into the bed of a pick-up truck.

Now many folks can use this tool through the library’s low-cost tool rental or for free if you are a member. Think about how many things you can do with it! Anyone have a cow they need to move?

Cedar Park Neighbors is hosting a neighborhood Meet and Greet event tomorrow night at Aksum (4630 Baltimore Ave.). Don’t miss the opportunity to say hello to your neighbors and spend some nice time in their company while enjoying complimentary hors d’oeuvres served by Saba Tedla, Aksum owner and Cedar Park resident.

The meet and greet will begin at 6 p.m and go on until 8 p.m., unless, of course, you want to stay for dinner. To RSVP go to the event’s Facebook page.

We’d like to spread the word we received from Niesha Kennedy, a volunteer neighborhood cleanup coordinator with Philadelphia Community Corps/United Philly. Niesha is in charge of scouting locations and taking requests for and organizing cleanups from beginning to end.

Niesha’s first cleanup is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 1, at 53rd and Delancey (between Pine and Spruce), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The block is small, with senior residents who want to help clean it. But more people are needed to make this work. All cleaning supplies will be provided. See the flyer below for more details of the cleanup.