Salvation Army

Dear Santa Claus, We know what some guys in Northeast Philadelphia deserve this Christmas: A set of handcuffs and slammer time. Three Salvation Army kettles were stolen in recent weeks at two Acmes on Roosevelt Boulevard in the Northeast, according to Randall Thomas, a spokesman for the charity. Each probably contained about $250. A bicycle-riding thief in his late 20s or early 30s even snatched a red kettle - along with the tripod to which it was chained - while racing by the Acme near Solly Avenue, also the site of a second theft.

By William J. Richardson Jr. It was dark in the deep valley, even with a thousand stars glittering in the sky. The moon was high, its light reflecting off the snow and an ice-covered stream that ran the length of the valley. In another time and place, it could have been a pristine scene on a holiday greeting card. But this was Korea in late November 1950, and I was shocked back to reality by a North Korean guard shouting at me to move back into a filthy hut with 20 other prisoners of war. There were 900 of us in the entire valley.

Julius Erving has denied that a forthcoming auction of his personal basketball memorabilia collection is tied to a lawsuit filed against him by a Georgia bank. Dr. J said Wednesday that he has never been a "hoarder or collector" and that he plans to donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the Salvation Army. Erving's auction collection includes his 1983 NBA championship ring with the 76ers, a pair of ABA championship rings with the New York Nets, and MVP trophies from each league.

Sometimes the most familiar-looking works of architecture produce the most radical results. Such is the case with the Salvation Army's Kroc Center, which opened its doors this winter in one of those hollowed-out, industrial-era exclusion zones that pockmark so much of North Philadelphia. Driving by on a dreary, underpopulated stretch of Wissahickon Avenue, you might not recognize the Kroc Center as a brand-new building; from the road, it appears that ordinary. If you bothered to give the low-slung, sandy-colored brick structure more than a glance, its exact function might not be apparent either.

The simplest real estate development can get maddeningly complicated in Camden - and the Kroc Corps Community Center is not what I'd call a modest undertaking. "We keep talking about the book we need to write about this," says Maj. Paul Cain of the Salvation Army, who oversees the $90 million project. Construction is scheduled to start in late spring and will take 18 months. The facility ("three football fields in length," Cain notes) will offer two swimming pools, classrooms and cultural spaces, a worship center, and dozens of programs for the physical, educational, and spiritual needs of families and individuals.

In the middle of summer, a Grinch is roaming Philadelphia's streets. While Mary Harmer worked the red kettle for the Salvation Army's "Christmas in July" campaign July 29, someone stole her bicycle. The bike was parked and locked only 7 feet away from where Harmer, 27, stood in front of the Loews Hotel, at 12th and Market streets, she said. But with her back turned, she didn't see the man who came by, cut the bike's lock and rode off. The theft was recorded by a Loews security camera, but that hasn't led to an arrest, said Harmer, an events and marketing assistant with the Salvation Army.

Nicetown has indeed faced its share of challenges ("What killing says about Nicetown," May 17). It is precisely the type of neighborhood Joan Kroc envisioned could be turned around with the presence of a community center offering academic, vocational, recreational, and social opportunities. That is one of the reasons Nicetown was awarded the building of a Salvation Army Kroc Center in 2006, the only center to be constructed in Pennsylvania. The 130,000-square-foot center will serve 1,000 people a day when it opens in mid-October.

I always felt a responsibility to help others, and when I graduated from college in 2006, I decided to dedicate my career to that goal. For two years, I taught HIV prevention and sex education to young people in homeless shelters and detention centers in northern Virginia. But I wanted to make a greater impact, so I decided to head for the trenches of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. In January 2009, I left for Tanzania, where I spent nine months teaching HIV prevention in a small rural village.

The first time Mable E. Welborn and her daughter attended a Martin Luther King Jr. event was the 1963 March on Washington - and Desiree Wayne was not quite 2 months old. "My daughter was born in July and on Aug. 28, I took her with me to the march," said Welborn, now chair of the board of the Leon H. Sullivan Charitable Trust Foundation. Mother and daughter were again together yesterday, this time at Girard College in North Philadelphia for the 15th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service.