EXEMPLARY SOCIAL SERVICES
HOSTED BY SACRED PLACES
Kinder Academy
at Bustleton United Methodist Church
by Ann DeForest
The Bustleton neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia
looks at first glance like a tidy suburban enclave of
modest brick homes and well-kept yards. With its white
spire and wide-columned portico, Bustleton United
Methodist Church reinforces that first impression. But
this neighborhood of working-class families, home to
a growing number of immigrants newly arrived from
India, Russia, and Eastern Europe, has been hard hit by
the current economic crisis. And the Bustleton United
Methodist Church child care center, run by Kinder
Academy, Inc., sees the economic impact in the children
it cares for and educates.
“We serve the working poor,” says Leslie Spina, d