By Alicia Colombo
With harsh winter weather ahead and fuel prices still high, homeowners have been advised to seal drafty windows and doors, and fix leaky faucets. And if you don’t know the first thing about energy conservation, help is out there.
Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia (ECA) will host a conference, “Conservation Is Survival,” on Friday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Arch Street Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad Street. Information will be provided on new energy programs and initiatives, utility bill payment assistance and new conservation programs. For a $30 registration fee, you receive breakfast, the annual Energy Services Directory and other conference materials. To register: 215-988-0929.
An NEC in your area
ECA operates 12 neighborhood energy centers (NECs), which provide energy counseling, CRISIS and LIHEAP applications, utility negotiations and more.
For more information, you may contact the NEC in your zip code:
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ACORN Housing (19132, 19121, 19130): 215-765-1221.
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Carroll Park Community Council, Inc. (19151, 19131, 19139, 19104): 215-877-1157.
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Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc. (19141, 19120, 19140): 215-763-8870.
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Diversified Community Services (19102, 19103, 19146, 19145): 215-336-3511.
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Friends Neighborhood Guild (19133, 19122, 19123): 215-923-1544.
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Germantown Settlement (19128, 19118, 19119, 19150, 19138, 19126, 19144, 19129, 19127): 215-849-3104.
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Greater Philadelphia Asian Social Service (19141, 19120, 19140): 215-456-0308.
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New Kensington CDC (19125, 19134, 19137, 19124, 19135, 19149, 19111, 19152, 19136, 19115, 19114, 19116, 19154): 215-427-0350.
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Southwest CDC (19143, 19142, 19153): 215-729-0800.
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Strawberry Mansion NAC (19130, 19140, 19132, 19121): 215-235-7505.
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United Communities (19107, 19106, 19147, 19148, 19112): 215-467-8700.
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The Partnership CDC (19104, 19139, 19151, 19131): 215-662-1612.
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We Never Say Never Assn. (19104, 19139, 19151, 19131): 215-452-0440.
Rhawnhurst, West Oak Lane
Rhawnhurst NORC, (a “naturally occurring retirement community,” will host a Weatherization Day for seniors and volunteers on Sunday, Nov. 2, from noon to 4. Participants will learn how to seal drafts and make minor home repairs; and NORC volunteers will replace light bulbs and smoke-detector batteries, and rake leaves. Rhawnhurst NORC serves older adults in the 19111, 19149 and 19152 zip codes area. For assistance or to volunteer: 215-728-1330.
2008 Weatherization Day is part of Mitzvah Mania, an annual volunteerism day sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. To participate: http://www.jewishphillly.org/ or the Mitzvah Mania hotline, 215-832-0564.
West Oak Lane NORC is teaming up with the Cheltenham Home Depot to provide free, hands-on weatherization and minor home repair training to older adults in zip codes 19126 and 19138. To participate: West Oak Lane NORC, 215-924-4815.
For information on additional weatherization workshops through community organizations starting in November and December, you may contact the PCA Helpline at 215-765-9040.
Community flu clinics will be set up later this month throughout Philadelphia, offering free inoculations to those over 50 and others who qualify.
Beginning Thursday, Oct. 23, you’ll be able to locate your nearest community flu clinic by calling 215-685-6458 or visiting www.phila.gov/health. In addition, the pneumococcal vaccine will be offered.
These clinics, operated by the city’s Department of Health, are open to all Philadelphians meeting current recommendations for influenza vaccination, as defined by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices:
- 50 years and older
- 19 and older with chronic illness or immunosuppression
- Adult household contacts and caregivers of persons with chronic illnesses
- Adult household contacts and caregivers of children under 5 or adults 50 and older
- Pregnant women and women who may become pregnant during flu season
- Healthcare workers
By Ann Rappoport
I could announce that the world was going to blow up in three hours and people would be calling in about my hair!
— Katie Couric (TV News Anchor)
Hair seems to define us, despite our best efforts to carve our identity in other ways. Hair color in the U.S. is a billion-dollar-plus business. And why not? People love to sparkle up their appearance, and shave years off their age.
Except for SEPTA discounts and merchant specials for seniors, ours is a culture where people with gray hair — or simply thin hair — are often overlooked, dismissed and discounted.
British poet Jenny Joseph, in “Warning,” warns that when she becomes old, she will “make up for the sobriety of my youth” by donning a purple garment “with a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.” Indeed, you can’t fail to notice a party of Red Hat Society ladies when they’re dining in public. Admittedly, some of them color their hair as well.
But this subject is not all frivolous. If you doubt the significance — even the gray-phobia in our society’s fixation on hair color — hang on. I’m not the one with the hang-up.
My neighbor Mary Lois has always been a hard-working activist — attending community meetings and serving as election inspector. Her gray-white hair is indeed, in the words of 19th century American historian George Bancroft, “a crown of glory.” Yet, a stranger approached her and gave her this unsolicited advice, “How can you go out in public like that? I wouldn’t consider going out if my hair were that white!”
Not long ago, during the coffee break at a small conference of professional educators and social service leaders from Philadelphia, some women were comparing hairdressers. I heard one say, “I have to keep up with my hair coloring. My husband told me he won’t tolerate gray, so I never let myself go.”
For now, I’ll skip over the sort of relationship the couple apparently has. Please focus with me instead on the assumption that equates the natural process of graying hair with the pejorative concept of letting oneself “go.”
Have we so deeply internalized the glamour of youth that we’ve blurred what it means to be real? I acknowledge that many of my friends who color their hair look prettier and younger than I do (they’d probably look prettier and younger anyway), but with my salt-and-pepper hair, I publicly accept and defer to this natural process of life.
I’m saying: “It’s OK to go gray.”
“My hair is very upsetting to people,” actress Tyne Daly has said, “but it’s upsetting on purpose. It is important to look old so the young will not be afraid of dying. People don’t like old women. We don’t honor age in our society.”
I agree with Tyne, yet I might explore buying some fashionable hats…