Chester Justice Celebration 2026
On Saturday, July 26th, CRCQL held its annual Chester Justice Celebration, where we took a moment to celebrate all the hard work being done for Chester’s environment. This year’s event was held at the Access Center in Chester, where participants enjoyed activities such as water slides, bounce houses, games, and food. Various environmental and community organizations also provided educational information about our environment, as well as environmentally friendly DIY projects.
For over 30 years, CRCQL has fought for environmental justice for Chester and its residents. Through community organizing, advocacy, education, and direct-action tactics, we have led numerous successful campaigns to shut down different polluting industries threatening our community. CRCQL has held many public hearings, meetings, and actions to empower and educate residents on the damaging effects of air pollution on health. CRCQL was the first activist group to apply the Civil Rights Act in an environmental racism lawsuit against the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 1996 and was successful in shutting down Thermal Pure, the nation’s largest medical waste autoclave, which was located in Chester. That is why we celebrate every year all that CRCQL has accomplished.
This event, usually held at the ACCESS Center in Chester, allows us to make it a fun, family-friendly event. Although we deal with very serious topics such as health and air pollution, we try to incorporate as much fun as possible. We also try to balance the fun with educational demonstrations, such as learning how to make a Cori-Rosenthal Box, a DIY air purifier, led by our C4 members. We also had Professor Carr Everbach from Swarthmore College run a solar power demonstration table, giving all of our attendees an education on how green energy works. We also had stations so that attendees could show off their crafty side with a bead station run by CRCQL member Patricia and a volunteer-run t-shirt press station. And a new addition to this year’s activities was the Chester City Fire Company bringing a rotation of fire trucks where participants were able to enter and learn about how the fire department responds to emergencies.
However, what truly makes this yearly event special is not only the attendees but also the organizations that come together to make it a well anticipated event every year. The organizations that participated this year were CHOICES, C4, Making a Change Group, Climate Action PA, Good Energy Collaborative, Sierra Club, Sister of St. Francis – Canticle House, Physician for Social Responsibility, 4 Circles Beyond, TD Bank and the Chester Health Department. We look forward to doing this again next year!
