We had a great monthly meeting Monday night where we met Christine Brown, the new Executive Director for Orion Communities! Christine is transitioning out of her current position at Citizen Advocacy and had tons of great info to share about both of these organizations and lots of others around the community. She was also named the 2026 Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Phoenixville Chamber of Commerce! Citizen Advocacy pairs people with disabilities with advocates in the community, creating connections and addressing loneliness. They work with people of all ages (“birth to 99”!) and are always looking for volunteers to get paired up as advocates. They have a Fun Run 40th Annual Phoenixville Run coming up on October 24th if you want to sign up for the run or volunteer as a marshal!
Orion Communities is neighbors helping neighbors, addressing emergencies like eviction, need for a security deposit or help finding a new job. They have case dedicated managers and financial resources to make a big impact. They offer free summer camps and book clubs for kids (look for the purple shelves around town where they distribute free books), and they even have a program where you can apply for help paying for gas and oil heat in the colder months! They have a fundraiser coming up with blues artist Vanessa Collier at the Colonial Theater if you’re interested, and since Christine has kindly offered us to let us use their space on Bridge St in the future, we’ll certainly be working with them more often! Orion will also have plenty of volunteer opportunities coming up soon.
Next month’s monthly meeting will be a family dinner potlock plus meeting double-feature! Stay tuned for more info! 🎉
