Powelton area clean-up on tap

As National Volunteer Week comes to a close, the Powelton Village Civic Association is holding its semi-annual neighborhood clean-up tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. "It's a bi-annual event in the spring and the fall that really helps to clean up the neighborhood," said Barbara Sewell, a civic association member. Sewell said the project is volunteer-based and that a big turnout is expected. "Many businesses are contributing food for a little luncheon after the clean-up," Sewell said. According to Hanley Bodek, the association's chairperson, the Philadelphia streets commissioner is providing trash trucks and the Philadelphia More Beautiful Commission has donated tools and bags. Members of Drexel University fraternities and sororities are joining many of the residents of the Powelton Village area. Jack Kiefer, dean of students at Drexel, said that both the Interfraternity Association and the Panhellenic Council voted to participate in this event. "This is something that we've been doing for a long time," Kiefer said. "We expect to have a couple of hundred students helping out." Kiefer added that the clean-up is a way for community members to come out and mingle with the students. He added that most of the fraternity houses are located in Powelton Village which is additional motivation for them to be involved. The rain date for the event is Sunday, April 25. "It's going to be a success, just as it has always been," Bodek said.