The Philadelphia Protestant Home had a full agenda for its annual Martin Luther King celebration, with an art project, civil rights movement display and updates on its efforts to provide food to the needy and socks to the homeless.
Residents Dr. Kathy Andrews-Williams, Marge Sexton and Carol Drummond headed the planning group for last week’s sixth annual event in the social hall of PPH, 6401 Martins Mill Road.
Andrews-Williams described PPH as a caring community of “seasoned” citizens living in a place that offers an “all-inclusive” experience in a comfortable setting.
“We wanted today to be meaningful and to come together to enjoy each other’s company,” she said. “Part of Dr. King’s dream was to love and care for each other.”
Sexton announced that the Joy of Sox campaign collected 2,245 pairs of socks. Residents were encouraged to donate socks or $2 to purchase socks for the homeless. The monetary donations allowed Sexton to buy socks and ship them directly to the Joy of Sox warehouse in Phoenixville. Sexton and her husband, Tom, on Saturday will deliver the socks that were donated to the warehouse.
Meanwhile, Tom Sexton thanked residents for contributing to the food drive, which has been ongoing since 2021. The food is donated to the food pantry operated by Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park.
The Protestant Home’s Mike Berman presented a slide show with music that included images of King and his family, PPH staffers who work with family members and resident Sylvia Metzler’s civil rights movement archives.
Metzler — wearing a T-shirt reading “Good Trouble,” a phrase coined by the late civil rights activist John Lewis — had a display that included materials she collected during a recent week-long trip she took with Road Scholar, a nonprofit that offers educational travel programs for seniors.
Metzler was part of a group of 35 people from across the country who learned about the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s with trips to Atlanta and Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama to visit museums and historical sites.
“It was a very moving experience,” said Metzler, a longtime civil rights activist who said she’s “been arrested more times than I can count.”
Residents, under the direction of educators Beth Gould and Maria-Odilia Romeu, decorated blank sheets of paper with messages related to King’s vision of a “beloved community.” The artwork will be displayed in hallways.
Residents were also given goody bags made by kindergarten students at Rhawnhurst Elementary School. ••
