Category Archives: Community Resources

Help Us Raise $1000 for Underwear & Socks for Pittsburgh Homeless Shelter

Light of Light Ministries has an urgent need for socks and underwear! Here is the story…

Yesterday – @JanePitt posted the following tweet that caught my eye – what is so important that Ken Rice is retweeting.

This morning on the Pittsburgh Bloggers Facebook group – one of the bloggers, who also works for Light of Life Ministries posted that they have been out of clean underwear and socks … for weeks.

Within a few minutes the Pittsburgh blogging community began tweeting and Facebooking about how to solve this problem. We are asking you to help us help Light of Light Ministries restock on underwear and socks.

What is Light of Light Ministries? Light of Light Ministries is a non-profit organization, which is located on the Northside and was founded in 1952.  They provide shelter and food for the homeless.  You can learn more about Light of Light Ministries on their website at lightoflife.org.  Light of Light has earned the GuideStar seal of transparency – their financial documents are available online at Guidestar here.

We have set the ambitious, but achievable goal of raising $1000 for Light of Life.  We have estimated that by buying in bulk  each pair of underwear costs $1 – so for each dollar you give – Light of Light will be able to purchase new underwear for the people they serve.

Donate online $1 = 1 Pair of Underwear

You can contribute to Light of Light by making a contribution on this Crowdrise page.  (Crowdrise is an online platform that allows anyone to raise money for nonprofit organizations that are registered with Guidestar).

#GivingSkivvies – Can you help us spread the word!

Please help us spread the word about this important fundraiser – you can post the link to the Crowdrise page – http://www.crowdrise.com/cleanunderwear/ on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and any other social network you use. Please include the hashtag #givingskivvies so we can follow along!

Donate Socks and Underwear or Giftcards

If you would like to donate socks and underwear, or giftcards that Light of Life can use to purchase socks and underwear – you may drop off donations at 10 E. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

Bikes, Beer & A Better Pittsburgh – Two Wheels Lots of Green, Aug. 11

I love writing blog posts about events that combine lots of great things – I think it was last summer that I started noticing some super collaborations among Pittsburgh organizations.  Two Wheels and a Lot of Green may take the cake for an event that combines a whole lot of Pittsburgh goodness into one action packed day.

Some of the folks who do amazing things for Pittsburgh that are partnering on this event…

  • GTECH – GTECH is short for Growth Through Energy + Community Health.  GTECH is a Pittsburgh based non-profit that is doing some great work in Pittsburgh and elsewhere around the country around reclaiming vacant land, energy conservation and job creation.  GTECH has a couple of core areas of programming that you can read about here.  One of the things you may have seen are their sunflower lots around Pittsburgh.
  • BikeFest – each summer, BikePgh organizes a week long celebration of all things bicycyle in Pittsburgh.  There are lots of events – something for every level of cyclist.
  • Tapped Pop Up Beer Gardens – new to Pittsburgh this summer – the folks who run Bar Marco have been organizing a pop up beer garden – beer,  drinks and food trucks are popping up in different vacant lots around town.  The one in July was awesome – lots of great people and fine food. Lawrenceville

 

As part of BikePgh’s annual Bike Fest – GTECH is organizing Two Wheels and a Lot of Green – a bicycle tour around Pittsburgh to check out some of the sites that GTECH has been working on to reclamation vacant land in East Liberty, Homewood, Larimer, Wilkinsburg and Millvale! Each bike route will feature several sites with refreshing drink stops and QR-code accessible video stories about the community and site’s transformation.

After the bike ride you can hang out at the Tapped Beer Garden which will be held at GTECH HQ.

Two Wheels and a Lot of Green
Saturday, August 11, 2012
10-Noon Bike Tour $10 includes lunch
Noon-11pm Tapped Beer Garden – free admission
Facebook Event – http://www.facebook.com/events/450570881644421/ 

Raccoongaine III – Orienteering Scavenger Hunt

The Western PA Orienteering Club sent us an email about the upcoming scavenger hunt at Raccoon Creek State Park on March 25.  I know there are quite a of our readers who have participated in previous scavenger hunts, the Urban Hike folks organize one every fall.  This looks like a neat way to check out Raccoon Creek state park and patricipate in a scavenger hunt.  Raccoongaine III is limited to 150 entries – according to the facebook group for the event – 115 have registered thus far so there is still room to enter.

In a rogaine-style format, individuals or teams have a fixed time (3 or 6 hours in this event) to visit as many checkpoints as possible; walking, running and resting as they see fit. The checkpoints are spread over a large area, and are pre-marked on a map issued shortly before the start of the event. Point values for visiting each control vary (and are specified in advance) depending on such factors as distance from the start/finish area, elevation, navigational complexity.

Participants in a Rogaine come from diverse backgrounds: hikers, walkers, cross-country runners, trail runners, adventure racers, ultra runners, orienteers, hashers and family groups. Widely varying levels of competitive intensity are found, going from the casual stroller who wants a little variety added to the weekend hike to the serious athlete. Map reading skill is perhaps the most important technique needed. Route planning strategy is also very important since there won’t be time to get all the controls, so the choice of which to try for is crucial in maximizing scores.

Here is a video of the 2011 event…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zeuf2KEu_8[/youtube]

 

Raccoongaine III
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Raccoon Creek State Park
Event starts at 10am, Maps will be handed out at 9am
Click here for complete event details

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Just In Time for Halloween – 2 Costume Department Sales

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via Cherie Priest /Flickr

Thanks to the IheartPGH reader for the heads up on not one, but 2 theater costume department sales! Perfect timing with Halloween just a few weeks away – you can score a creative costume and support local theater.

Pittsburgh Public Theater Costume Sale

  • Monday, October 17, 2011
  • 9am-6pm
  • lobby of the O’Reilly Theater
  • $2-$20

CMU School of Drama Costume Sale

  • Monday, October 17 and Tuesday, October 18, 2011
  • 3-6pm
  • Purnell Lobby
  • All proceeds will help support the Drama Senior Showcase in New York and Los Angeles
  • Rumor has it that most items are $5

Step Up To See the City

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Image by peterp via Flickr

Well I was just about to write about the Fineview and South Side Slopes Step Treks.  But Diana Nelson Jones and I must be thinking the same thing.  She just posted about both of these events on her blog for the Post-Gazeete – Walkabout.  So click here to read her post about both of these great events.

This is one of my favorite photos of Pittsburgh that I took on the Step Trek in 2006.  That was the graffiti on the wall at the time.  I wonder if it is still there…

Fineview Step-a-thon 2011

South Side Slopes Step Trek