Carrick Community Council

10/11/2026

Six old laundry tubs. A little imagination. A lot of pride. 🌿

Whovilles Bar / Carrick Classic Lanes has done it again.

What began as a simple idea has now grown into six repurposed cement laundry tubs turned into seasonal planters, stretching across the property and adding color, warmth, and care to Brownsville Road.

There is something special about taking something old and giving it a new purpose especially in a neighborhood with as much history as Carrick.

These improvements may seem small on their own, but together they tell a much bigger story.

They say someone cares.
They say this block matters.
They say Carrick is still worth believing in.

That is exactly what Bloom on Brownsville is about. 🌸

Not waiting for one giant project to save the corridor. Not assuming change has to come from somewhere else. But showing what can happen when the people already here begin investing a little time, attention, and pride into the spaces around them.

One storefront becomes six planters.
One cleaned up corner encourages another.
One business taking pride can inspire the next person to do the same.

That is how momentum starts.

A huge thank you to Whoville / Carrick Classic Lanes for continuing to show what it looks like to care for the piece of Carrick right outside your own door.

As the seasons change, Carrick Community Council will keep working on resources, partnerships, and opportunities to build this effort even further before spring.

What we need most now is more people willing to join in.

If you know a business owner, property owner, neighbor, or friend who may be willing to adopt a small space, add a planter, help maintain an area, or simply become part of the effort, please send them our way.

Carrick does not need everyone to do everything.

We just need more people willing to do something.

Keep believing in the little changes. They are how bigger ones begin. 💚

~ Carrick Community Council
Bloom on Brownsville / Clean Carrick

10/08/2026

THROWBACK THURSDAY ~ Boron Funeral Home Inc.

Some Carrick stories are worth looking back on ~ especially when the next chapter has already begun.

For our October 2024 Carrick Business Spotlight, we shared the story of Boron Funeral Home, a longtime Brownsville Road institution whose history has been woven into Carrick for generations.

The story centered on the Boron family, but there was another name in that original feature that means even more today: John Lester.

At the time of our Spotlight, John had already worked alongside the Boron family for 18 years.

Today, he is the owner.

There is something especially meaningful about that kind of transition. This wasn't someone arriving without knowing the business, the families it serves, or the neighborhood around it. John spent years working beside the Borons, learning the profession and becoming part of the story long before taking responsibility for carrying it forward.

Our original Spotlight included the words:

“CARRICK IS OUR ROOTS.”

Looking back, they seem even more fitting now.

Carrick has changed many times over the years. Businesses change hands. Generations step aside. New owners take the keys. But some of the strongest transitions happen when the history isn't discarded, it's respected, understood and carried into the next chapter.

We remain grateful to the Boron family for the many decades they devoted to families throughout Carrick and beyond, and we wish John Lester continued success as he carries forward a business he has already spent so much of his career helping to build.

Because preserving a neighborhood's character doesn't always mean keeping everything exactly the same.

Sometimes it means making sure the right person carries the story forward.

Throwback Thursday ~ Boron Funeral Home, October 2024.

10/08/2026

This Friday!

👀 Attention Job Hunters! 🗣️

HIRING EVENT on Friday October 9th!!

⤵️ ⬇️ ⤵️ ⬇️ ⤵️

Tag & Share

10/08/2026

CARRICK COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT • VOLUME TWO 💙

Last month, we opened this series by looking at one of Carrick’s longtime anchors. This month, we turn toward one of the places helping shape what comes next.

Phillips Recreation Center is more than a building, more than a gym, and more than a place to pass an afternoon.

On any given day, it can be a basketball court, a homework table, a place to talk, a first connection to a job, a mentor, a meal, a winter coat, or simply a safe place for a young person to go.

That is what makes Phillips worth looking at more closely.

Under the direction of Hakeim McKenzie, the center continues to serve children, teens, adults and families through recreation, mentoring, fitness, community events and opportunities that reach far beyond sports. Recent improvements have strengthened the facility itself, while the work happening inside remains rooted in something much more important: relationships.

When we asked Hakeim why Phillips matters to Carrick, his answer was simple:

“It’s HOME for so many KIDS.” 🏡

There may be no better way to say it.

Too often, neighborhoods are judged by what can be seen from a passing car. Community Spotlight was created to look beyond that first impression, to the institutions, people and everyday work that give a place its character.

At Phillips, that work looks like adults continuing to show up for young people. It looks like recreation becoming mentorship, a community building becoming a place of belonging, and public investment becoming opportunity.

If Zion helped us begin this series by looking at Carrick’s roots, Phillips gives us a chance to look toward Carrick’s future.

We are proud to recognize Phillips Recreation Center as October’s Carrick Community Spotlight.

Take a few minutes to read their story, learn more about what is happening there, and see why Phillips means so much to so many families in our neighborhood.

More than a rec center. It’s home. 💙

10/07/2026

⚠️📢 There are only 4 markets left this season. Come take advantage of easy access to Catalpa Lane Farm, llc's Indiana County beef and enjoy a packed market with beautiful weather.

Purus Pantry, WilsonNaturals, The Brinery at Two Acre Farm, Yellow Rose Bakehouse, José Quiroz Farm and Jodikinos Family Farms will also be there along with all the other partner vendors of the CCC:
10% of every purchase goes to funding Carrick community programs and events.

Third Space Bakery - Sourdough bread
Hilltop Urban Farm - St. Clair produce
Bee Boy Honey - St. Clair honey
Spirited Extracts - Whitehall vanilla extract

10/05/2026

Pittsburgh Next Youth Career Resource & Opportunity Fair !

Happening on Tuesday October 13th 5 - 7 pm.

Please see the flyer for full details and how to RSVP.

10/05/2026

🌿✨ BLOOM ON BROWNSVILLE ~ WHERE CARE GROWS QUIETLY ✨🌿

At 1719 Brownsville Road, Boron Funeral Home Inc. shows that beautification does not always need to be bold to be meaningful.

The shaped evergreens, flowering beds, urn planters, carefully maintained grounds, and peaceful gazebo behind the building all reflect the same thing...

care.

And at a funeral home, that kind of care carries a different weight.

People often arrive here during difficult moments. A beautiful setting cannot change what brought them through the door but it can make the surroundings feel calmer, softer, and more dignified.

A flower in bloom.
A thoughtfully shaped shrub.
A quiet place to sit.
A property that feels tended to rather than simply maintained.

Those details matter.

They matter to the families who spend time here, and they matter to Brownsville Road too.

That is something we want Bloom on Brownsville to keep recognizing: the businesses and property owners who understand that the way a space is cared for contributes to the feeling of an entire neighborhood.

Not every bloom is meant to make a statement.

Sometimes it is there to offer comfort.

Sometimes beauty is quiet.

Sometimes it simply reminds us that even during life’s hardest moments, there can still be something gentle waiting outside the door.

Thank you to Boron Funeral Home for the care you continue to put into 1719 Brownsville Road and for giving this part of the corridor a space that feels peaceful, intentional, and beautifully kept. 💚

10/04/2026

Friends of Phillips Park cleaned up the areas around the monument and the Rec Center entrance this Saturday morning.

They had 9 volunteers in total, which really made the work go quickly with nice conversations in between.

If you would like to connect with the Friends of Phillips Park group, join their Facebook group or let us know and we can connect you.

Thank you for keeping Phillips Park a true gem for all who enjoy it.

10/02/2026

🌱 CARRICK, DON’T THROW AWAY NEXT YEAR’S FLOWERS.

Look around your garden before you clean it out this fall.

Those dried up flowers you’re about to cut down?

They’re holding next year’s Carrick. 🌻

Right now, all across our neighborhood, thousands upon thousands of seeds are sitting in gardens, flower beds and yards.

And most of them are about to be thrown away.

What if we saved them instead?

What if Carrick collected seeds this fall, shared them with one another, and next spring we started planting?

Not just on Brownsville Road.

On our streets. On our blocks. In our yards. In planters. In adopted spaces. In those little forgotten corners that could use some love.

A handful from my garden.
A handful from yours.
Some passed to the neighbor down the street.

Suddenly, something that costs us almost nothing could produce thousands of flowers throughout Carrick.

🌸 That is something every single one of us can be part of.

You don't have to sit on a board.
You don't need a grant.
You don't need hundreds of dollars.

You need a few seeds and a little piece of Carrick you're willing to care about.

And please follow Gardeners of Carrick. Our own neighborhood gardeners already share knowledge and hold seed swaps, exactly the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor sharing that can make an idea like this grow.

Save what you have. Swap what you don't need. Share with someone who doesn't have a garden yet.

Then when spring comes, let's see what happens when an entire neighborhood plants together.

There is a reason I keep coming back to this...

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…”
— Matthew 17:20 🌱

A seed is tiny.

So is picking up one piece of litter.
Planting one flower.
Taking care of one planter.
Cleaning one block.
Getting one neighbor involved.

None of those things seems big enough to change a neighborhood.

Until hundreds of us do them together.

Bloom on Brownsville may have started on one corridor, but the spirit of it belongs on every block in Carrick.

So before you toss those dried flowers this fall...

SAVE THE SEEDS.

Put them in an envelope. Write the flower name on it. Keep them dry.

Because next spring, we're going to need them. 😉

🌱 One seed. One neighbor. One block at a time.
🌻 Let’s Bloom Carrick.

Spring Carrick starts now.

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