During Election Day on Nov. 6, voters will be able to donate canned goods and gently used clothes at several polling sites in West and Southwest Philadelphia locations, thanks to the group Mic Check 1-Two.

Latiaynna Tabb joined Lana Adams to form Mic Check 1-Two last year. They have held benefit concerts with other local groups in an effort to create places where those in less fortunate circumstances could receive free meals and clothing. Last year an estimated 400 people were fed during one of their events.

“Of course we decided to do it again, and this year we wanted to engage more community members as citizens,” Tabb said. “This is a huge election year and we thought that engaging those who are already committed to national change would be the best way to get them to work toward local change.”

Putting donation drop boxes at local polling stations was conceived as a way to accomplish this initiative, according Tabb.

The group was formed as a result of communicating on the social network site Twitter. However, the 140-character limit for Twitter messages prohibited in-depth exchanges on important topics.

“There was a topic on Twitter which we felt needed to be addressed in a more formal atmosphere, and we feel there a lot of important conversations that happen on Twitter but because they are limited to the 140 characters, the depth of the conversations aren’t really addressed,” Tabb said.

Tabb and Adams organized a panel discussion on the topic of images of African-American women in the entertainment industry. They said the response from the community was so favorable that it motivated them to form an organization.

“We’re hoping that our people will be out there and involved in the political process,” Tabb said. “Not only are you giving back and having your voice heard, but you are giving back physically, by…

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