Home Care In Toughkenamon, PA

USA Wrestling, FloWrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum have published its May 2023 rankings for high school girls wrestlers for the 2022-23 season. This national ranking evaluates all girls enrolled in grades 8-12, and athletes from all 50 states are eligible for selection.

This ranking reflects the results of the major post-season competitions held since the end of the regular high school season.

Two major USA Wrestling events held considerable weight, the USA Wrestling Women’s National Championships in Spokane, Wash. in early April, as well as the Girls National High School Recruiting Showcase in Las Vegas, Nev. in late April. Another big event that had impact was the NHSCA Nationals in Virginia Beach, Va., in late March.

There was considerable change in all of the weight classes due to the final results of these important competitions. In fact, there are seven new No. 1 ranked athletes in May: Kiely Tabaldo of California (112), Karlee Brooks of Arizona (117), Virginia Foard of Virginia (122), Hayle Jaffe of Pennsylvania (132), Lilly Luft of Iowa (138), Piper Fowler of Tennessee (164) and Ciara Monger of Colorado (225).

Shelby Moore of Washington, who was No. 1 at 122 last ranking, has moved up to 127 pounds, where she is ranked No. 1. The other top ranked wrestlers who repeated at No. 1 were Morgan Turner of Illinois (100), Audrey Jimenez of Arizona (106), Maddie Kubicki of Missouri (144), Destiny Rodriguez of Oregon (152), Sabrina Nauss of Michigan (180) and Savannah Isaac of Ohio (200).

The Pound-For-Pound (P-4-P) rankings also saw a major overhaul. The top five ranked wrestlers were unchanged, with Audrey Jimenez of Arizona continuing as the No. 1 P-4-P wrestler in the nation. However, there were nine new athletes added to the P-4-P in May: No. 11 Virginia Foard of Virginia, No. 13 Piper Fowler of Tennessee, No. 14 Rose Cassioppi of Illinois, No. 15 Haylie Jaffe of Pennsylvania, No. 17 Lilly Luft of Iowa, No. 20 Ciara Monger of Colorado, No. 23 Zao Estrada of South Carolina, No. 24 Rianne Murphy of Indiana and No. 25 May Prado of Georgia.

The final National Girls High School Ranking for the 2022-23 season will be published in late June or early July, prior to the annual USA Wrestling Junior/16U Nationals in Fargo, N.D. in mid-July.

The most impactful event prior to the final ranking will be the USA Wrestling Junior National Duals in Tulsa, Okla. in late June. The committee will do a deep dive into all of the major post-season events leading up to the publication date of the final ranking.

Coaches, parents and athletes are encouraged to provide information about specific athletes and their achievements throughout the year for the committee to consider. If they have information on specific girls who should be considered for ranking or updates on their achievements, please send it by email to [email protected]. The quality of these rankings continue to improve as people choose to share updated information.

Photo by Richard L. Gaw Sara Dickens-Trillo of Mighty Writers, with, from left, New Garden Township Manager Ramsey Reiner, and supervisors Kristie Brodowski and Steve Allaband.

By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

On Jan. 25, 2019, Mighty Writers Executive Director Tim Whitaker, Education Director Rachel Loeper and Development Director Naomi Levecchia met with a half dozen representatives from Kennett-area organizations to discuss the logistics involved with how the organization could establish a strong presence in southern Chester County.

Whitaker said during the meeting that what attracted Mighty Writers to southern Chester County was inspired, in part, by the success of its existing locations in reaching young people of Latino heritage in the Philadelphia area.

“It's thriving, and we have more kids than we can possibly teach, and over time, people told us, 'You need to go to Kennett Square. There is a Latino community there who could really use your help,’” he said. “It became a drumbeat that we heard over and over again.”

The idea to expand the Mighty Writers brand to the Kennett area community made practical and educational sense. Begun in 2009 by Whitaker with a flagship office in Philadelphia, Mighty Writers connects teams of authors, teachers and journalists with young and underserved students to provide them with opportunities to improve their writing and communication skills. Each academy provides writing workshops, Mighty Toddler classes, mentorships, teen scholar programs and college essay writing nights to more than 3,500 students from ages seven to 17.

One dozen years later, Mighty Writers has expanded to several locations in Philadelphia, New Jersey and established Mighty Writers El Futuro in Kennett Square. In addition, the organization’s breadth of services has also grown to include providing meals for young people who visit the center, as well as the distribution of food and vital supplies across ten locations that includes the West Grove United Methodist Church, which opened its doors to Mighty Writers in October 2020. Since then, the organization regularly serves more than 300 local families, providing them with fresh fruit and vegetables, kids’ lunches, books and diapers.

New location in Toughkenamon

Very soon, Mighty Writers will expand its services to the Village of Toughkenamon. Through a five-year lease with the village’s Servpro franchise and financial support from New Garden Township, the organization will soon be opening its doors to its new 4,000-square-foot facility at 121 Willow Street. Previously, Mighty Writers shared space with The Garage Community & Youth Center on Rosehill Road in West Grove, who recently moved to their new location at the former Avondale Fire House.

“Once The Garage was preparing to move to their new home in Avondale, we began to look for a new home in West Grove, and it just so happened that our associate Molly Hopson found this space here,” said Sara Dickens-Trillo, the bilingual program director for El Futuro Kennett, who will be heading the Toughkenamon location. “There is a reason for everything, and I think the reason we didn’t find anything in West Grove is because we needed to be in Toughkenamon.”

Dickens-Trillo said that once students arrive at the Mighty Writers location, they will be fed and then be assisted by volunteers, who will help guide them through their schoolwork. The location will be open three hours from Monday through Friday.

Settling soon in Toughkenamon, Mighty Writers will look to expand on the work they have already done at their other locations – that not only offers 450 volunteers who provide on-site mentoring, tutoring and workshops, but the distribution of food and supplies. In 2021, Mighty Writers distributed more than 200,000 meals and 80,000 boxes of groceries that included vital household supplies, and in 2022, it expects to distribute 250,000 meals, 20,000 books and 1.5 million diapers to 75,000 families.

New Garden Township Board of Supervisors Chairperson Steve Allaband said that the new space will assist a mostly-underserved Latino population that is wedged between West Grove and Kennett Square, who do not have easy access to transportation to the organization’s other space in Kennett Square and West Grove.

“This is an ideal location for Mighty Writers,” Allaband said. “It’s a walkable community and a lot of young people who live in Toughkenamon will have the opportunity to access it very quickly. Mighty Writers will definitely make a positive impact on so many students and their families.”

“To me, it’s about equity for an underserved component of our community,” said township Supervisor Kristie Brodowski. “New Garden does things for people who live in the Somerset Lake community and a lot of different niches in our township, but for the 40 percent of the township’s population who are Latino, they have not been as well served.”

A mighty gift for Mighty Writers

Recently, the township’s Board of Supervisors approved a contribution in the amount of $47,000 to Mighty Writers that will be used to fund the purchase of a van that will provide students with access to transportation – to the Mighty Writers’ summer camps, field trips and special appointments. Allaband said that the funding comes from the $1.2 million the township received from COVID-19 relief that has also been directed to other non-profit organizations and volunteer firefighters in the township.

“This van will be a ticket for so many families, and will allow young people to have a positive life,” Dickens-Trillo said. “This location in Toughkenamon will give kids a place to go where they are supported and where they know that they matter. If we really want to impact future generations, we have to impact the lives of our children.

“Our purpose here will not only help them through their own journey of learning through after-school programs, but to embrace their heritage, their identity and be proud of it. For us, that will be the light at the end of the tunnel.”

To learn more about Mighty Writers, visit www.mightywriters.org.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].

In 2016, after learning from a fellow mushroom grower about the assistance opportunities available through USDA’s NRCS and partner organizations, Robert Testa, contacted the Chester County Conservation District (CCCD) to discuss conservation opportunities on his mushroom farm.

In 2016, after learning from a fellow mushroom grower about the assistance opportunities available through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and partner organizations, Robert Testa, contacted the Chester County Conservation District (CCCD) to discuss conservation opportunities on his mushroom farm.

The small family farm is in southern Chester County, the heart of Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry, and consists of two mushroom houses. Together, the mushroom houses total about 40-50 thousand square feet of growing space for Agaricus mushrooms.

Robert Testa is a second-generation mushroom grower on the same operation which was previously operated by his father Mario Testa. The Testa family immigrated from Italy and eventually took residence in Toughkenamon, PA, where they began to grow mushrooms. Robert and his father continue to reside at the farm and maintain the mushroom houses, which are rented to another local grower.

A small headwater tributary of the East Branch of White Clay Creek runs through the part of the farm near the mushroom houses. The water feeds into a large culvert pipe, which carries it under the adjacent road intersection. Wastewater from one of the mushroom houses flows into a drain that was connected directly to the stream culvert pipe. Runoff from the second mushroom house and wharf areas, where compost is temporarily stored, flows into stormwater inlet boxes also connected to the culvert pipe.

The project location and water quality benefits met the eligibility criteria for Testa to receive financial and technical assistance from the NRCS’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for the Delaware Bay. The project implemented a suite of conservation practices, including heavy use area protection, wastewater collection, transfer, and storage system, as well as a sprinkler system and vegetated treatment area.

Construction was successfully completed in the fall of 2018. The nutrient-laden wastewater, which negatively impacted water quality in the adjoining stream, is now directed to a system of collection boxes, settling tanks, and transfer pipes to be collected in a concrete circular waste storage facility. From the storage facility, the wastewater is irrigated via sprinkler system on a vegetated treatment area comprised of a perennial hay crop. The wastewater is applied according to a site-specific nutrient management plan and the storage facility provides enough storage duration where winter nutrient application is not required.

Testa was very pleased with the results of the project and very grateful for the financial assistance through the RCPP, which without might have proven to be cost prohibitive to install the conservation system.

Finding answers to reader questions can sometimes take much longer than I expect. For months, readers have been asking about the status of Black Lab Breads, a much-loved Wilmington bakery that plans to relocate its shop. We have some information to share today.

Reader misses 'excellent bakery'

I was just wondering if you have any new word on Black Lab Breads move to Kennett Square? The Wilmington bakery that was on Union Street? I was looking forward to it, but I've heard nothing more. It was an excellent bakery. I miss it.

Jack Yeatman

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

It's hard to believe it's been almost exactly one year since Wilmington’s Black Lab Breads closed up shop. The Union Street bakery, known for its crusty Italian loaves, flavored baguettes, rye pullman and terrific tomato pie, had been a part of the community for 10 years.

Owners Barry and Sandy Ciarrocchi told The News Journal they decided not renew the lease at the 812 N. Union St. location, which had formerly been DiFonzo Bakery. DiFonzo is now at 724 Old DuPont Road in Wilmington.

The Ciarrocchis want to relocate the bakery and have not yet found a suitable space.

Head baker Barry Ciarrocchi told The News Journal in 2015 he has looked at sites in the Wilmington area but hasn't been shown any building that will fit the growing bakery's needs. He said then it was likely he would move the business to the Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, area where he and his family live.

We recently checked in with Ciarrocchi and, earlier this week, he shared some news.

"Black Lab Breads is still about a year out, unfortunately," he said.

Two restaurant closings and another deli suggestion

Ciarrocchi said he is now working in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and is supervising Pizzeria Vetri Square Pie. It's a new eatery owned by famed Philadelphia chef/restaurateur Marc Vetri. Visit www.pizzeriavetri.com

The pizzeria features square pies that are inspired by traditional Roman pizza. The crust is light and airy and toppings change with the seasons. The dough is made with a mixture of artisan grains and cooked in a steel sheet pan at a slightly lower temperature than traditional Napoletano pizza.

Pizzeria Vetri Square Pie is in the King of Prussia Mall in the common area between the Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters stores on the second level of the Pavilion.

We'll keep checking back with the Ciarrocchis about the return of Black Lab Breads. Stay tuned.

2 Fat Guys close Wilmington eatery

What has happened to 2 Fat Guys restaurant at 3205 Concord Pike in Wilmington, Delaware? Their phone is disconnected, and when I drove there last evening, the space appears to be empty.

Is this yet another Wilmington-area restaurant that has closed permanently?

Thanks in advance,

Nancy J. Wolf

Talleyville

Nancy, I contacted Jeff Cook, one of the "2 Fat Guys," and he said "we have closed our [U.S.] 202 location."

In 2015, 2 Fat Guys 2 Go opened in the old Pizza Dough Factory location in Gilpin Plaza. It served the same food as its well-known locations at 701 Ace Memorial Drive in Hockessin and in the Greenville Center off Kennett Pike.

Here's more from Cook on the closing:

"After a year and a half of serving north Wilmington, 2 Fat Guys is sad to announce that we are closing our location on Concord Pike.

2 Fat Guys 2 Go was created in response to our popular take-out business at our first two locations. The store was designed to focus on the needs of busy families and businesses in North Wilmington. The store was successful in that it attracted new customers as well as providing another convenient location for our faithful followers.

However, despite our best efforts, and the loyalty of our customers, we were not able to make ends meet. The restaurant business is always a challenge even in the best of economies and we learned that this was just not the right time and place for this concept.

But not to worry because our flagship location in Hockessin and always popular Greenville location are still going strong. You can expect to see familiar faces in new places as we rearrange our staff to accommodate our team members from the Concord location.

We’ve exciting things planned and look forward to being able to spend more time back in the dining room doing what we love: providing our guests with a great dining experience."

Looking for a restaurant delivery service

I was wondering if there's a service in the north Wilmington area that delivers food from restaurants? It would be so nice for seniors to have a good meal delivered occasionally.

Ann Schultz

Ann, I think you're looking for a different service, but I just want to make readers aware (if they're not already) about Meals on Wheels Delaware, a nonprofit organization which provides eligible seniors with hot nutritious meals in their homes. For more information about the meal delivery service, visit mealsonwheelsde.org or call (302) 656-3257.

You could try Takeout Taxi, a multi-restaurant delivery service serving the Wilmington-Brandywine Hundred area. The restaurants include Stanley's Tavern, Mexican Post and Charcoal Pit, among others.

Review: Olive Tree Cafe? celebrates the Mediterranean

You place an order online or by calling (302) 793-1905 and then a driver goes to the restaurant and gets the meal. It can be delivered to a home, office or hotel room. There's a $10 minimum food charge and a delivery charge between about $3.75 to $4.75. This is dinner-only Monday-Saturday from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Visit www.totde.com

Grubhub is another online and mobile food ordering company that works with local takeout restaurants. You pay for the food and the restaurant charges a fee for delivery. The fee is set by the restaurant. Visit www.grubhub.com

A third service is Bring Me That, which acts as a service for restaurants. The food is delivered by restaurant themselves or a third party delivery service The minimum order and delivery fees are set by the individual restaurants. Visit www.bringmethat.com.

The News Journal/delawareonline.com reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length and accuracy. Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or [email protected] and on Twitter @pattytalorico

Expansion across the Delaware River into New Jersey is one way that Toughkenamon, Pa.-based Manfredi Cold Storage is looking to accommodate future growth in imported fresh produce.

Frank Manfredi, president of the company, is partner with his brother John Manfredi in owning the Manfredi Cos., a group of companies that also include Inland Transportation Corp., Manfredi Logistics Service, National Refrigerated Freight and International Repack.

Manfredi Cold Storage opened in 1985 and completed its first cold storage room in early 1986. It has grown from two employees to about 270 employees, he said. The firm doesn’t own or market any fresh product, but rather offers short-term cold storage services to customers importing fruit.

“From (that beginning) we’ve done small additions and larger additions ever since,” Frank Manfredi said.

“We have been fortunate enough to team up with some really good customers, particularly importers gave us a lot of support.”

Toughkenamon is located just outside Kennett Square, Pa., and mushrooms are part of the history of the family and the company.

After coming to America from Italy in the early 1900s, Manfredi’s grandfather and his grandfather’s brothers had settled in the Kennett Square region in the 1930s and worked on mushroom farms. That generation gave way to the next generation, which included Manfredi’s father and uncle, both of whom grew mushrooms.

When brother John Manfredi got into the sales and marketing of mushrooms, Frank began growing mushrooms, he said.

After about 12 years, their business model changed when a customer who bought mushrooms from them wanted the Manfredis also to pick up pallets of fruit to deliver with the mushrooms.

“My brother told the guy we’re not in that business, and the guy told my brother, ‘If you don’t bring the fruit, don’t bring the mushrooms’ So my brother went to the port and picked up two skids (of fruit),” he said. “The rest is history.”

Access to River

The firm has easy access to ports on the Delaware River, the largest terminal for fruit imports in the U.S., Manfredi said.

“More fruit comes up the river than anywhere else,” he said. “We are a short haul to the river and we pick up at the waterfront every day,” he said, noting business at the Port of Wilmington, the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, Penn Terminal and Holt Terminal, and others, he said.

“We are at all of them every day, and that’s really driving the bus (of growth),” he said.

Manfredi said the volume of fruit imports, and the variety of origins for those imports, has really changed the business since the late 1980s.

“Having summer fruit all winter long and having access to avocados all year long; you look at berries, you look at citrus, you look at avocados, those three categories have taken off like gangbusters,” he said.

With that growth of imported fruit volume, Manfredi has expanded along with its customers.

“The first cooler box we had here started out with like 60 skids, and I think the first year in business on the warehouse side, I think we handled 60,000 packages,” he said.

Today, with the 48-acre site in Pennsylvania, Manfredi Cold Storage can handle 30,000 pallets at one time and this year will handle more than 40 million packages, he said.

Earlier this year, the company opened up a 30,000-square-foot expansion at its Toughkenamon base and the company expects to open a new facility on 52 acres across the Delaware River in New Jersey by the end of next year.

Manfredi said the company has heavily invested in technology and software to make its operations as efficient as possible.

Every box is tracked and that leaves no confusion on where product is in the facility.

“There is no searching for product, and that allows us to turn around a truck relatively quickly,” he said.

“With changes we made with the software system here in the last 17 months, we’ve increased our throughput by 15%,” he said. “There as investment but the payback was quick.” Team meetings every week look at ways to solve problems and increase efficiency, he said.

With about 90 docks for trucks, the operation can unload and receive 110 truckloads of product in a day and ship out as many as 150 truckloads, if needed.