Category Archives: Community Resources

Oakmont to Host Recycle Rama on Saturday

Have you been doing some spring cleaning?  To you have some items that need a new home?

If you are in the Oakmont area – the Oakmont Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 2nd Annual Recycle Rama Event on Saturday April 27, 2013.

Second Annual Recycle Rama Event 
Saturday April 27th, 2013 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 
Riverview High School Parking Lot 
(Hulton Road)
  • Electronics-All items will be collected for Free by Guardian Storage Solutions
  • Cell Phones-Working or Broken. They will be recycled through Cell Phones for Soldiers Program
  • Appliances-Must be FREON Free
  • Plastic Grocery Bags
  • Mobile Shredding Site-$3.00 per box or bag
  • Towels and Blankets-These will be donated to local animal shelter
  • Eye Glasses-Collected by Oakmont Lions Club for underprivileged countries
  • Gently Used Books
  • Paper, Phone Books, Magazines, and Damaged Books
  • Women’s Business Attire and Shoes-Collected by Dress for Success
  • Prom Dresses and Shoes-Collected by Angela’s Angels
  • Used Motor Oil
  • Car and Truck Batteries
  • Alkaline Batteries
  • Old Blue Jeans-Collected by Cotton From Blue to Green to be used for insulation
  • Greeting Cards-Collected by St. Jude’s Hospital to be used to make new cards

If You Love Pgh – You Have to Vote – Mon 4/22 is the Last Day To Register to Vote

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 is Primary Election Day – and it is an important election.  Residents of the city of Pittsburgh will be voting for our next mayor.  The next 33 days of campaigning provide an incredible opportunity for the city of Pittsburgh to talk about what this city should look like going forward.

You have 4 days left to register to vote or to update your voter registration.

Important Dates for the May Primary Election

  • Monday, April 22, 2013 – Last day to register to vote before the May Primary Election
  • Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 5pm – Last day to request an absentee ballot for the Primary Election
  • Friday, May 17, 2013, 5pm – Absentee ballots must be returned to Department of Elections
  • Tuesday, May 21, 2013 – Primary Election Day

A complete calendar of election dates is available from the Allegheny County Department of Elections here.

How to Register to Vote or Update Your Voter Registration

You can fill out a voter registration form online and print it out and mail it in.  There are two great websites that can help you with your voter registration.

1. TurboVote

I just learned about this website a few weeks ago.  TurboVote is a super simple to use website – you put in your address and they will send you email reminders about voting deadlines.  Attached to the email is a PDF of  voter regsitration form that is already filled in with your information.  All you need to do if open the PDF, print it out, sign it and mail it to the county board of elections.

I have signed up for TurboVote and they do not send any extra emails.  The image here is of the email I received yesterday.

2.  Rock The Vote

Click here or the image below to access a out the voter registration form (via Rock The Vote website).  Neither IheartPGH or Rock The Vote collects any of your information – we can only see how many people used the link to fill out  a registration form.

Learn More About The Candidates

The four democratic candidates for mayor in the 2013 Primary Election are:

March Madness and April PULSEations

Back in March, a group of Pittsburgh bloggers organized a March Madness bracket challenge – we all agreed that each blog would write a post about the winning bloggers favorite nonprofit organization.

Kate Stoltzfus (aka the brains behind the blog Yinzpiration) had the winning bracket and her nonprofit of choice is PULSE.  I am more than happy to write about PULSE as I think this is one nonprofit that has been quietly making a big impact on some Pittsburgh neighborhoods and is well positioned to continue to do more for the city.

PULSE stands for Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience.  Each year PULSE takes a group of college graduates, gives them a place to live and matches each person with a Pittsburgh nonprofit.  To provide housing for the participatns, PULSE has been rehabbing and improving homes in different Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

From the PULSE website:

We have a three-pronged model for accomplishing this purpose:

  • NONPROFIT WORK PLACEMENT – Invite talented, university graduates to partner with nonprofits for a year of service and leadership
  • COMMUNITY LIVING – Cultivate community by having participants live together and share meals, household tasks, finances and learning experiences.
  • TRAINING/DEVELOPMENT – Train and equip participants to become servant leaders in Pittsburgh by providing regular, personal and professional development opportunities.

I’ve learned more about PULSE because some of my favorite Pittsburgh things have a link to PULSE.  The Union Project – yep, that was the idea of some of the PULSE participants.  Have you checked out Kate’s blog Yinzpiration?  Kate came to Pittsburgh to participate in PULSE, now she writes great interviews with Pittsburghers at Yinzpiration and she is one of the founders of Propelle.  You can read some of the other PULSE alumni stories here.

If you would like to learn more about PULSE or support the PULSE programming you are in luck.  This Friday, April 12, 2013 is their annual fundraiser PULSEations which will be held at the Union Project from 7-10pm.

I have been wanting to share the invite to PULSEations – I kind of wish this could be the logo for IheartPGH, city skyline.

The event features food, drink, fun and an auction which includes:

  • Cooking Class/Lunch with Kevin Sousa at NaCl
  • Weekend in Chautauqua from John and Milonica Stahl-Wert
  • Weekend in Myrtle Beach from Chris and Kelly Cooke

More info about the auction is available here.  I will be there and I would love to see you there too!

But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Here is what others are saying about PULSEations on Twitter…

Writing about the Rust Belt – GLUE and Rustbelt Almanac

I’ve got two great projects to share with you, both are related to sharing stories about rustbelt cities including Pittsburgh.

If you have been a regular reader of IheartPGH over the years, you have probably read a few of our posts about GLUE.  GLUE stands for Great Lakes Urban Exchange – a project that was started by a Pittsburgher and a Detroiter (is there a Detroit equivalent to the word Pittsburgher?).  I’ve been fortunate to attend many of the GLUE conferences, the most recent conference was held in September 2011 here in Pittsburgh.  Through GLUE I have had the chance to meet my blogging counterparts from other rust belt cities.  Some of my fellow GLUE friends have been discussing another GLUE conference for this fall.  We’ve also launched the GLUE Tumblr blog – which is open for submission.  If you have a story, link, photos or video that you would like to share with fellow city lovers please submit here – http://gluespace.tumblr.com/submit

Speaking of story sharing.  Meet Rustbelt Almanac – a new magazinge that will be launching very soon with a first issue about Pittsburgh.  Congrats to the Rustbelt Almanac team on not only meeting but beating their fundraising goal.  Check out the video below.  (There is one more day to contribute – you can still donate to the Rustbelt Almanac kickstarter campaign here.)

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Peepsburgh Banjo Club

A little Easter treat.  Every Wednesday evening is Banjo Night at the Elks Club on the North Side (the Elks club is the big building across from the Giant Eagle).  Admission is free and from 8-11 pm – live banjo music.  (You can read more about Banjo Night from PopCity Media and Everything Better Pittsburgh)

This peeps display was sitting on the table in the back of the room.  I am not sure who created it – if you know, please leave a comment so we can give them credit.  If you haven’t been to banjo night yet, yes there is a disco ball over the stage.

Speaking of peeps… The Washington Post runs an annual Peeps Diorama Contest.  This years winner is “Twinkie: Rest in Peeps”

Happy Easter!  Hope you have a lovely day celebrating with your friends and family.

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