What you’re hoping the new year brings

First, let’s state the obvious: We want a Super Bowl victory.

But, what else are Philadelphians hoping the new year brings? On the final Sunday of 2024, as the kelly-green-wearing Eagles trounced the hated Dallas Cowboys and clinched the NFC East, we fanned out from Germantown to Port Richmond and South Jersey to find out what’s on people’s 2025 wish lists.

Here’s what we heard:

In full Eagles gear, Stephanie Fuller and her husband, Michael, waited for their Uber at Chelten and Germantown Avenues. For as much as they hope for a Super Bowl victory in 2025, one thing is topping the mother of two’s list.

“Less violence — too many of our children are dying and we just want to be able to come out, go to school, go to work, and feel safe,” Fuller said.

Despite continuously hearing that Philadelphia is safer, the 53-year-old doesn’t quite feel that way and is unsure of what could help fix the problem, but points to gun regulation as a good start.

“It’s easy for people to access weapons, for weapons to be on the streets, so probably trying to prevent that from happening [can help],” Fuller said. “I just don’t want to keep turning on the news and seeing a child got killed, or even adults, because of gun violence. It’s terrible.”

Sitting on a bench at Friends of Vernon Park, Katrina Thomas contemplated the morning and the realizations that 2024 left her.

“I look around and I found a lot of my friends are dumb, that kind of just opened my eyes right there,” said the 19-year-old, not in a derogatory way but in the sense of someone who has recently concluded the school system failed her and her peers. “I hope for a better future for the younger generations. I hope for a better education and a better knowledge.”

Thomas dreams of becoming a doctor and is not willing to give that up, even when sometimes it feels like the odds are stacked against her. Despite holding a full-time job, she is struggling to save money for college and sometimes even to feed herself as she works the dynamic of becoming an adult in an economy with rising inflation.

“I spend $100 and I might get like seven items from the grocery store. I’m sorry, but I’m 19, this is a lot to handle with the little bit of money I get,” she stressed.

Thomas Brugger looks like your average 6-year-old child, running around and sliding down the Friends of Vernon Park jungle gym. But don’t be mistaken, his hopes for 2025 are bigger than him, but dependent on the help of adults.

“I just want for people to clean up trash, and better education, that’s it,” said the first grader.

Seeing her son Thomas, Jeannette Brugger, a mother of two, feels a sense of bittersweet hopefulness.

The outcome of the 2024 presidential election still weighs on her as she hopes the future generation “won’t lose too much hope” in the next four years, particularly come Inauguration Day.

“My hope for the next year is that we as a country won’t slip too far behind, that we can model for our kids the type of caring for society that we need, and that we can take care of each other,” Brugger said.

No matter what the new year brings, the 44-year-old wishes for the city to come together and “protect everyone from every nationality and country, be a safe haven, and continue to keep people safe.”

Akilah Dillon, 25, said she’s “hoping for a lot of changes” in 2025. She plans to start journaling to record her thoughts and feelings and join a gym to improve her mental and physical well-being. Overall, Dillon, a copy editor at the Philadelphia Tribune, aspires to “be a better version” of herself.

“I want to be a better person and actively work towards that,” Dillon said. “I’d like to be better about how I approach things, like having a more positive mindset and going after the things that I want.”

As for others, she wishes people will be more empathetic and patient with one another.

“I wish people were kinder to each other,” Dillon said.

This past year has been tinged with sadness and fear and uncertainty, and Cheltenham resident Dottie Klein said she hopes those shadows will lift in 2025. She’s hoping for peace “for everyone — for the community and for the world.”

“The world is in a very sad state, I think. Everyone is not sure of what the future is going to bring. People are scared. People are sad,” Klein said. “We’re in a turbulent time.”

Klein, 57, said her hope next year is for “peace and kindness.” She also doesn’t want the government to cut funds for health research aimed at finding cures for diseases, particularly for childhood cancer.

Cari Ben, an 18-year-old from Camden who works at McDonald’s, said she wants to buy fewer things in the coming year.

“I want to be less of a consumer,” said Ben, who was headed into Target in Port Richmond on Sunday afternoon with her grandfather to buy coconut water for her ill grandmother.

“I buy. Buy. Buy. I spend a lot of money on things I don’t need. Things I already have at home,” Ben said, adding she spends too much money on clothes and beauty products. Next year will be one of frugality.

Mike Arliga, 30, whose job is to help people with disabilities find work and achieve independence, said he hopes 2025 will bring “more affordable housing for first-time homebuyers.”

He also wishes people inner peace — a relaxing year with few worries. “I’m not asking for anything for myself. I just want peace for the people around me,” Arliga said.

”More people need more opportunities,” said Winston Pengel, 60, while waiting for a westbound bus at a sunny NJ Transit stop on Route 168 in Blackwood, Camden County.

”People need opportunities for jobs. Jobs and blessings,” he said. “I hope for more blessings. More blessings would cover it all.”

”When I think about my hopes for 2025, I’d say the economy and security are most important to me,” said 76-year-old South Jersey resident Fran Quinn. “I’m on a fixed income now and every time I go to the supermarket the prices have gone up.”

”I am very concerned about public safety,” she added. “I want guns off the streets, and secure borders. I don’t want to have to limit how I live my life.”

As she watched her two boys kicking around a soccer ball at Gloucester Township Community Park, Garcia asked for a moment to compose her thoughts. After a beat, she landed on financial health.

“Honestly, the most important thing [to wish for] is for things to get better economically,” she said. “I don’t know what else I can say.”

Affordable groceries, said Mathieu Miezan.

”I have one thing to say and that’s it,” said Miezan, 60, who owns So-It-Is, an African and Jamaican grocery store in Stratford, N.J. ”The price of food items need to be stable, reasonable, and affordable.”

”I just hope everyone could find more peace of mind,” said Gabriella Tilelli, 32.

”People need to find rest and healing — and just have more compassion,” Tilelli said.