Back in 2020 when I first started writing for the Reader, I had the opportunity to include my nonprofit pick in the annual Erie Reader Gives feature (you can read this year’s version within this issue). That year I chose to donate to our local neighborhood support organization Our West Bayfront (OWB) stating, and I’ll quote myself here, “Our West Bayfront has helped me achieve a major parenting goal, which is to instill a sense of community in my children: your neighbors are like your family and helping them helps everyone have a better quality of life.”
My husband and I moved into this neighborhood back in 2004 and eventually purchased our home here in 2009 (the West Bayfront neighborhood stretches from Sassafras to Weschler, and from the Bayfront south to West 12th Street) and since that time, we have witnessed so many positive changes – changes that have actively increased that sense of community including outreach, area clean-ups, public events allowing us to gather as a neighbors, and so many opportunities to help.
One such opportunity became available in 2023 when OWB was tipped off by the Erie Land Bank about a property within their footprint, 811 W. Seventh St., that was considered blighted – it had been sitting, empty and abandoned, for over 10 years. OWB, at that time helmed by Executive Director Anna Frantz, was able to purchase the property from the Land Bank with the intention to renovate the home. Inspired by his work with Habitat for Humanity, OWB board member Seph Kumer suggested that the organization utilize the willingness of so many neighbors and organizations to volunteer to help renovate and restore the home. Frantz comments, “We knew people wanted a different way to contribute directly … a way for people to really work in a tangible way to improve the neighborhood. We also had the right team in place at OWB – with staff like Dan Pertl who could manage the construction side and Marissa Litzenberg who could organize and motivate lots of volunteers – and with the opportunity for grant funding from the Emerging Erie Fund, it all came together.”…