Entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Philadelphia. Nowhere is it more evident than at Kickstarter, where entrepreneurs and creative thinkers of all kinds go to see if the public will help fund their projects and make them a reality.

While their inclusion in this article doesn't constitute an AL DÍA endorsement, the four projects highlighted illustrate a real diversity as far as creative enterprise in seed form in our city. The projects are all currently at different stages of the funding process. 

High Point Wholesale Building Completion

Meg Hagele and the folks at the High Point Café are crowdfunding $35,000 of $400,000 investment in opening a gluten-free bakery, coffee roaster and bakery wholesale center located in Mt. Airy. Hagele, a Mt. Airy native, has spearheaded a campaign that will transform the Mt. Airy Post Office building at Westview Street and Germantown Avenue into 3,300-square-foot production facility that will also house the business offices of the company as well as host events. The project is unusual for Kickstarter in that it funds a "bricks and mortar" revamp, but has gotten a good amount of crowd support — it is almost fully funded with eight days in the campaign yet to go.

Balance Training Bat

Coatesville resident Tracy Clark is seeking to fund a more modest project with a $10,000 goal. The "balance bat" Clark has devised has a counterweight that helps young baseball players to increase swing speed. The kickstarter proposes to fund further research with the balance bat, as well as production in time for the 2015 baseball season. Clark isn't nearly as far along in his kickstarter as Hagele, but he has another 15 days to make his goal.

Mi Vida Deliciosa (My Delicious Life)

Philadelphia Latina Rebecca Torres is hoping to start a personal chef business. Her kickstarter is recent — it's got 37 days to go — and modest ($5,000) but hasn't received any support yet. Should the project fund, Torres would offer not only personal chef services, but also private and group cooking lessons. Her signature dishes include Chorizo bacon encrusted chicken and chipotle dheddar corn waffle with a sweet and spicy BBQ syrup (pictured above) and a turkey burger with a toston (fried plantain) "bun."

Taste of Haiti — Building a Sustainable Future

 Mary Kulikowski's project proposes to help the villagers of Labaleine, Haiti, market products such as coffee, vanilla, honey, soap, handcrafted jewelry and pottery through a U.S. website. According to Kulikowski, who is building on the work that Dan Ziegler and a church group started in 2009, the "project aims to provide funds for creating the website and to enable us to continue building relationships with the job-creating Haitian vendors. The ultimate goal is that this project will empower Haitian vendors and create jobs for boys and girls after they leave orphanages in Haiti." This is the most modest of the Philadelphia kickstarters, with a $3,000 goal, 10 backers so far and 47 more days to go to meet the goal.