Quit bashing my home!

Bashing the underdog is easy.  Too easy.

This is frequent lately when referring to my hometown, and by "hometown" - I mean the city I was born, raised in and continue to live in.

Yes, our city isn't "the way it used to be".  Not many cities are.

We do have drugs, prostitution and buildings in disrepair.
We also have businesses popping up, eyesores being demolished and some people with an extreme pride for their neighborhood.

A local PTA recently got an entire playground build from the ground up, with the hard work from not only parents and teachers, but with financial AND physical assistance from local businesses and clubs.

Yes, we have crime.  A man robbed a local bank a week or so ago.
That man was arrested less than 10 minutes later with the help from local witnesses who were brave enough to give information to the police.

We have people like Mr. Rowe, who taught at our high school for many years and continues to teach into his retirement through his involvement with the Community Center.  He taught history, but more importantly, he taught things like dignity, respect and pride.

I am proud of my town.  Proud of people like the late Grace Girardi who organized a Veterans Day parade from her hospital bed.  I'm proud that when I once called City Hall with a question, the Mayor personally called me back and had the answers I needed.

I'm proud to be from the town where the great Willie Thrower was born.  I'm proud of the statue that stands in his honor at our football field.  I'm proud to have served many cups of coffee to Willie and to have had the opportunity to hold my tiny hand up against his giant palm.  Those great hands were and ARE the pride of New Kensington.  (Don't know about Willie - go google him)

My grandparents on both sides raised their families in New Kensington.  My grandpa on my mother's side owned a restaurant and fed many hungry families.  Our priest sent anyone with a hungry belly to Andy's restaurant and we welcomed them with open arms.  And when he was done serving his customers, he cooked for church functions.  I cannot serve canned green beans without thinking of the yearly dinner for 200 that my family prepared and served for the Anointing of the Sick mass.  It was service to the community - and you did it, without complaint.  I loved serving those meals - I felt like a celebrity being associated with Fran Datres.

My grandmother on my father's side was a girl scout leader, boy scout den mother, raised 6 children and organized crafts at the local park for FUN.  We would do crafts at the park and then the library lending bus would stop by to loan us books.  She also wrote, typed and delivered the neighborhood news letter, on her down time.  Her "down time" - quite a fallacy, Mary Elston never stopped moving.

These people are no longer around, but many like them exist.  KS and JR - girl scout volunteers whose own daughters graduated high school over 10 and 20 years ago, but they continue to volunteer.  KM - who has organized the local fireworks display for years.  There are many, many more I could mention.

New Kensington's citizens are ready to take back the streets from the crime and drugs.  Complaining isn't getting us any closer to "the way things used to be".  Getting off our butts and doing something might just get us back to where we were.

And with any luck, we might just get better than we used to be.

And that would make Willie Thrower, Eddie Adams and my grandparents even prouder to be from New Kensington.