(Minghui.org) Hosted by Philadelphia City Council Member Jim Harrity and the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS,) the second annual Wellness Expo was held in the City Hall Courtyard on October 13, 2026. Falun Gong practitioners introduced their traditional cultivation practice at the expo. Many people learned about Falun Gong and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Some learned the exercises during the event.

Philadelphia City Council Member Jim Harrity (second from left) with Falun Gong practitioners at the second annual Wellness Expo (Minghui.org)

Practitioners demonstrate the exercises. (Minghui.org)

Practitioners collected signatures on a petition supporting the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act during the expo.

People at the Wellness Expo sign a petition to support the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act. (Minghui.org)

Council Member Harrity took pictures and videos at the Falun Gong booth and said he would share them on his social media. Referring to the persecution of Falun Gong in China, Harrity said that Americans should raise their voices for these people that are persecuted and that he signed the petition to call for it to end. He said killing people for their organs was crazy and must stop.

Visitors to the Expo learn the Falun Gong exercises in the City Hall Courtyard. (Minghui.org)

Several people learned Falun Gong exercises at the event. After Ms. Angelita Byrd meditated she said, “I feel relaxed and free. I could feel some energy flow through my body. I’m so thankful for this experience! Thank you!” She bought a copy of Falun Gong’s main book Zhuan Falun.

Angelita Byrd (third from left) (Minghui.org)

Angelita was surprised to learn that one of the practitioners at the activity had been incarcerated for four years in China because she practiced Falun Gong and that some practitioners are killed for their organs. She said, “What a shame! It’s disturbing. I really hope things improve.” She said she hopes more people learn about the persecution and help end it.

Mr. Norman Dobo, who learned the first and third exercises, said, “It’s great! I feel relaxed.” After hearing about the Chinese Communist Party’s crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, Norman said, “It’s terrible! I heard about it but I didn’t know much. It’s hard to imagine such things! What a shame!”

Norman Dobo (left) learns the Falun Gong exercises. (Minghui.org)

Mr. Josiah Albany, who did the five exercises, and said, “I feel great! I really like it!”

Josiah Albany learns the exercises. (Minghui.org)

As Mr. Domenic Marcellino passed the Falun Gong booth, he said, “I can truly feel some energy here, even feel it from the bottom of my heart. It’s a great feeling!” He said he agreed with Falun Gong’s principles, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and that the persecution was wrong. He signed the petition calling to end the CCP’s atrocity of harvesting organs from practitioners while they are alive.

Police officer Ayers holds a lotus flower with “Falun Dafa is great! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is great!” printed on it. (Minghui.org)

Wu, a Chinese student, said, “Falun Gong is great!” She told a practitioner that several of her relatives in China practiced Falun Gong, and that she’d quit all the Communist organizations she’d joined years ago when someone from Taiwan called her.

Ms. Wu also expressed her gratitude to Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts to spread the truth. “A main reason I came to the US is that I watched the news on NTDTV. I was able to watch it using the one-click anti-Internet-blockade software created by Falun Gong practitioners. I’m thankful for their work!”

She said that she was excited to get to see Shen Yun in April this year: “The dances are beautiful. I had been wanting to watch it for a long time, so I bought a ticket as soon as I came to the US.”

Two other Chinese people who visited the Falun Gong booth quit the communist organizations they belonged to. One was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She also got to see a Shen Yun performance with her family and said it was beautiful.