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Residing on the 400 block of Manton Street with her husband, Jessica Calter proudly smiles every time she looks across the street at the Manton Street Park and Community Garden. This once neglected space is one hat was hard to ignore when she moved into the Dickinson Square West community in 2010.
“Manton Street Park and Community Garden {405-11 Manton St.] has been a most amazing transformation and it is a true testament to what can happen when a community comes together,” Calter said. “When I first moved here, Manton Street Park was a lot of overgrown weeds and trash. … After a while I couldn’t just look at it anymore, so I went over with some garden gloves and a trash bag and started to clean.”
She soon realized that many of her neighbors, including fiends group president Mark Berman, shared the same enthusiasm and they started sending out flyers to neighbors who joined the cleaning efforts. When their beloved space was set to go to auction, Calter and her peers formed an advocacy campaign to fight the sale. Soon, the developer and various city departments started chipping in to make the space even more charming.
“I love to look at it everyday when I walk out of the house,” Calter, who balances the task with her full-time job as the director of marketing communications for PIDC, said. “More than that, I love to see the children who play there, the couples who sit on the bench in the sun, the gardeners collecting their harvests and the community gathering there to say hello and get to know each other.”
But Calter, who also serves on the board of the South Philly Co-op, working tirelessly to secure a location for a grocery store, as well as on the finance committee for the Dickinson Square West Civic Association, is passionate about South Philly in general.
“I have known the area since my childhood. My father grew up on the 200 block of Daly Street, and I remember visiting my grandparents’ house when I was young,” she said. “This area has changed a lot since then, but it still has a lot of great South Philly charm.”
Calter is doing her part to keep the community’s heartbeat going at a steady pace through her involvement with the DSWCA.
“When I first got involved with DSWCA, they were going through some major organizational changes. I felt I had some expertise in nonprofit strategy, finance and fundraising that could be helpful so I volunteered,” she said. “We’ve successfully expanded programs, raised funds, and this year got certified as a 501c3. It has been great to see the DSWCA continue to grow and develop and engage more and more of our community. “
Contact Editor Bill Gelman at bgelman@southphillyreview.com or ext. 121.
2014 Difference Makers
/ L. Jay Agnes / Christine M. Beady / Jessica Calter / Mikki Capo /
/ Barbara Capozzi / Giovanna Cavaliere /
/ Christopher DiCapua / Marlo and Jason Dilks / Marie DiStefano / Beth Dougherty /
/ Cornell Drummond / Maureen Fratantoni / Etrulia (Trudy) Gay / Jess Gould /
/ David and Lisa Grainge / Richie Lazer / Tim Lidiak /
/ Shane Martin / Laura McColgan / Akhenaton Mikell / Russell Shoemaker / Lionel Simmons / Tom Wyatt/
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