Frank Sojak
fsojak@tribdem.com
JOHNSTOWN —
Two Johnstown enterprises – an entertainment company from Hornerstown and a day care in Moxham – spearheaded an effort last month to clean two playgrounds in the Moxham neighborhood.
The one-year-old Hornerstown company, called 56 and Runnin’ Entertainment, is made up of five friends and works to promote the music industry and their hometown. The latter goal they are accomplishing through community service projects.
The Wonder Years Learning Center, a day care on Ohio Street, also sees itself as a contributing member of the community by raising money each year for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The day care likes to take the children to play at a couple of nearby playgrounds.
Unfortunately, the playgrounds – on Village Street and Park Avenue – have become unfit for children because they are being littered with trash, one of the day care teachers wrote in a letter to The Tribune-Democrat’s Readers’ Forum.
Lamar Porcher, Internet specialist for 56 and Runnin’, read the letter and saw cleaning up those two playgrounds as another opportunity to serve the community.
In the meantime, Robin J. Rodgers, the teacher who wrote the letter, knew that 56 and Runnin’ led a neighborhood cleanup project and asked the company to help, Porcher said.
“We wanted to make sure it (playground) was clean for the children,” said Porcher, who served with the Air Force in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A group volunteering to refurbish a pavilion at Roxbury Park also helped at the Moxham cleanup.
Temple Build Ministry of Johnstown also sent volunteers to help.
Porcher said the first community service project he and his friends became involved with was a Hornerstown cleanup in June.
About 40 volunteers pitched in to pick up trash and discarded furniture and trim weeds. Johnstown’s public works department hauled away the debris.
Porcher said he didn’t want his children or others to have to deal with the debris.
“It was a good turnout,” he said, adding that he and his friends also hosted a barbecue for the volunteers.
Seventh Ward Civic Association donated funds that were used to purchase T-shirts for the volunteers to wear at the next cleanup, said Porcher, a salesman at Tri-Star Motors in Blairsville.
Porcher said his wife, Jamie, has been a great help with their projects.
He said they are planning other community service projects, including a softball tournament to raise money for the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center in Windber.
Chris Bedell, president of 56 and Runnin’, said the community service projects are a way to give back to their hometown.
“It’s home,” said Bedell, who served in the Army in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. “We just want to take care of it.”
It was important to help clean up the playgrounds for the children, he said, and all of the volunteers worked hard.
“They put their best foot forward,” said Bedell, a construction worker for New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co. of New Enterprise.
He said the other members of 56 and Runnin’ – Ronald Fisher, Trevor Mangum and Marcus Howling – do a tremendous job with the community service projects.
The company’s name was chosen because it signifies Route 56, a major highway in Johnstown that the men, all musicians, used to travel to other cities to perform and leave their mark in the music industry, Bedell said.
Rodgers, the day care teacher, said 56 and Runnin’ is a nice group of men.
They even provided refreshments during cleanup day in Moxham, she said.
“It was a fun day,” she said about the cleanup, held July 10. “We worked hard. It looked nice when we were done.”
She said about 25 volunteers ranging in age from 10 to 60 turned out.
“We did this so the children from the day care and the neighborhood had a safe place to play,” Rodgers said.
For their efforts, Porcher and Bedell, both of Hornerstown, and Rodgers, a Ferndale resident, are the Persons of the Week.
Johnstown Mayor Tom Trigona, said it is great that the city has people willing to get involved in the community.
The city’s public works department does a great job but the staff can only do so much, he said.
Tribune-Democrat editors select a Person of the Week from nominations made by readers. To nominate someone, call 532-5058, 24 hours a day.
