CAADC tax preparation program now underway at sites around county
Community Action Agency of Delaware County has launched its 12th annual free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. This year, CAADC hosts four sites serving low- and moderateincome families, all staffed by IRS trained and certified community volunteers.
The sites are aimed to serve families who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. Last year, CAADC assisted 1,000 households with completing their taxes.
The free sites for 2018 are located at: The Wesley House, 701 Madison St., Chester; Sharon Hill Commons, 401 Sharon Ave., Sharon Hill; The Boothwyn Office, 1414 Meetinghouse Road, Boothwyn; St. Alice Church, 150 Hampden Road, Upper Darby
The sites are open through April 17. All sites are by appointment only with hours on Monday-Saturday; days and hours vary at each site. To schedule an appointment, call 610-833-4455.
Murtaugh portrait at art show
CHESTER » An art show produced by Art on Avenue of the States Gallery and hosted by Harrah’s Casino and Racetrack is currently on exhibit at the casino. One of the works on display in the show is a portrait of former major league baseball player and manager Danny Murtaugh by artist George Rothacker of the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum. The show is opened until June.
Before and during Danny’s professional career, he worked as a piece-work counter for welders at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which occupied the site where Harrah’s Casino now stands. During the time Danny was employed at the shipyard, he lived just a few blocks away in the 600 block of Barclay Street. As a testament to how professional sports salaries have changed, Murtaugh was a league-leading major league base-stealer playing for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1941 and found it worthwhile to pick up extra money during the off-season in this manner.
The exhibit is on Harrah’s ground floor lobby and is opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All the works of art displayed in the exhibit can be found on the gallery’s website www.artavestates.com. For information, call Jim Vankoski at 610-909-4919.
See train display through Sunday
CHADDS FORD » Extended by popular demand, the Brandywine Railroad remains open through Sunday, Jan. 28, before closing its doors for the season.
The Brandywine River Museum of Art’s model train display has an array of both toy and scale model trains made by Lionel, Williams, Atlas, Mike’s Train House, K-line and others. With more than 1,000 pieces — including locomotives, passenger and freight trains, and trolleys moving along 2,000 feet of track — the annual holiday season Brandywine Railroad exhibition is one of the largest modular model railroad installations in the world.
The Brandywine River Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19thcentury mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. The Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 and up; free for children 5 and younger and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members. For information, call 610-388-2700 or visit brandywinemuseum.org
Learn about Main Line garden Monday
ROSE VALLEY » The Gardeners of Rose Valley hold their winter lecture, “The Art of the Garden” featuring Lisa Roper, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the Old Mill, 9 Old Mill Lane. Doors open at 7.
Roper’s lecture focuses on what has been called the most romantic, imaginative, and exciting public gardens in America — Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne. Roper has worked at this lovely property for 28 years and is currently the Ruin and Gravel Garden Horticulturist and Chanticleer Photographer. During her presentation, she gives a thumbnail overview of how Chanticleer came to be, provide insight on the garden’s design process, share plant details, highlight the whimsical and elegant hand-built elements that dot the Chanticleer landscape, and give the audience an up-close look at her area of expertise–the Gravel Garden.
Roper is a graduate of the two-year Professional Gardener Program at Longwood Gardens and has a BFA from The Cooper Union in NYC, where she studied photography and fine art. She is the Gravel Garden and Ruin horticulturist at Chanticleer Garden. Previously she gardened for 11 years in Chanticleer’s Asian Woods section. For the past seven years she has been photographing Chanticleer weekly for the “What’s in Bloom” page on Chanticleer’s website and for Chanticleer publications. Lisa also teaches classes for Longwood Gardens and Pennsylvania Horticulture Society and gives talks on gardening all over the country.
Tickets are $10 and sold at the door. Refreshments are served after the lecture. Snow date is Monday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, visit the borough website for updates at www.rosevalleyborough.org
Guests are asked to consider donating a canned or dry food or personal hygiene product to the Media Food Bank.
Visit model railroad in Newtown
NEWTOWN » St. Alban’s Railroad, located in the basement of the thrift shop at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 3625 Chapel Road, Newtown Square, announces it is now open for its 27th season. The club’s model railroad display are open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Jan. 27-28, and Feb. 1011 and 24-25. Admission is free; donations are appreciated.
The railroad features a fully operational steel mill, coke plant, a finely detailed oil refinery, a meat packing plant, a maintenance of way train, three working classification yards and a large passenger terminal.
The detailed 4,000-square foot layout uses “state of the art” Digital Command Control with computer enhanced tower operation for its 250 feet of four-track main line with working signals and three branch lines. StARR uses a new switch list system for routing of freight and passenger operations that moves over 1,100 pieces of rolling stock throughout various eras featured in the eastern Pennsylvanian scenery.
Realistic operations include modules featuring an operating transfer table, electronic turntable and three working freight yards with engine facilities and a large variety of equipment. The tunnel connecting Sonestown with Perkiomen Junction is still under construction, a great opportunity to see how the railroad is made, as well as the continued rebuilding of the Reading module.
Guests can shop the white elephant table for trains, buildings and accessories. StARR is not handicapped accessible at this time. For information, visit www.starrmrc.org
To submit community news, email Colin Ainsworth at delcocommunity@21stcenturymedia.com.