STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Bank, non profit team up for kids
WILLIAMSBURG
Hip, hip, hooray for Dime Community
Bank, which donated big bucks
to a local non-for-profi t to help fund its
kids’ summer camp.
Staff at Dime’s Kent Avenue branch
presented Williamsburg non-for-profi t
St. Nicholas Alliance with a jumbo
check for $21,000 on March 19 as part
of its annual sponorship deal, which
gives the bank naming rights for St.
Nick’s Dime McCarren 5k run on
May 4.
Bank honchos said they’re more
than happy to support St. Nicholas’
summer programs, which include
Stem classes, physical activities, and
literacy and emotional learning for local
youth.
“St. Nicks is a great cause, they
help all the kids in the community,”
said Pat Strong, VP Community Reinvestment
Offi cer at Dime.
— Colin Mixson
BOROUGH WIDE
Serving his country
Standing O salutes Petty Offi cer
3rd Class Robert Harley, a Brooklyn
native and 2008 graduate of Nazareth
High School who is assigned to USS
Florida, taking on the task to execute
one of the Defense Department’s
most important mission of strategic
deterrence.
Harley is a culinary specialist stationed
at the Naval Submarine Base
Kings Bay, homeport to the Ohioclass
ballistic-missile and guided-missile
submarines.
“Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay
is home to all East Coast Ohio-class
submarines,” said Rear Adm. Jeff
Jablon, commander, Submarine
Group 10. “Team Kings Bay ensures
our crews are combat ready when
called upon, putting our submarine
forces on scene, unseen.”
Harley credits continued success
in the Navy to many of the lessons
learned in Brooklyn.
“I learned that you have to stay
hungry if you want something bad
enough,” Harley said. “I can’t quit until
I accomplish my goal.”
Guided-missile submarines provide
the Navy with unprecedented
strike and special operation mission
capabilities from a
stealthy, clandestine
platform, according
to Jablon.
Armed with tactical
missiles and
equipped with superior
communications
capabilities,
they are capable of
directly supporting
combatant commander’s strike and
Special Operations Forces requirements.
Harley is part of the boat’s blue
crew, one of the two rotating crews,
which allow the boat to be deployed
on missions more often without taxing
one crew too much. A typical
crew on this submarine is approximately
150 officers and enlisted sailors.
COURIER LIFE, M 32 ARCH 29–APRIL 4, 2019 M BR B G
Because of the demanding environment
aboard submarines, personnel
are accepted only after rigorous testing,
according to Navy offi cials. Submariners
are some of the most highly
trained and skilled people in the
Navy. Regardless of their specialty,
everyone has to learn how everything
on the ship works and how to respond
in emergencies to become “qualifi ed
in submarines” and earn the right
to wear the coveted gold or silver dolphins
on their uniform.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s
most relied upon assets, he and
other sailors know they are part of a
legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes
providing the Navy the nation
needs.
“Serving in the Navy means that
I am doing everything I can to keep
my family, friends and everyone safe,”
Harley said. “I miss them when I go out
to sea.”
BENSONHURST
Standing O is wishing a happy
birthday to Lidiya Gerinshteyn,
who celebrated her 100th birthday
surrounded by family and friends
at the Allure Group’s King David
Adult Day Care Center in
Bensonhurst on March 21, two
days after her centennial.
The Bensonhurst resident credits
her old age to her rosy outlook
on life, according to her granddaughter.
“She’s very patient, she’s verystrong
willed,” said Victoria
Malmygin. “She’s optimistic, and
she’s never negative.”
Malmygin and her aunt, Nataly,
serenaded their matriarch
with birthday songs at the Bensonhurst
center that she visits
three times a week to play games
and talk with her friends, according
to her granddaughter.
Gerinshteyn was born in
Ukraine and spent part of her
adulthood working as a physician
in Russia, according to her
granddaughter, who added that
her grandmother settled in Kings
County with her husband and two
children in 1994.
Here’s to another 100 years of
happiness, Lidiya!
— Julianne McShane
FORT GREENE
Get that screening!
Caps off to baseball legend and
cancer survivor Darryl Strawberry,
who kicked off Brooklyn
Hospital Center’s colorectal
cancer awareness month on
March 5.
The 17-year veteran of the
Mets and Yankees spoke about
how lucky he was to overcome
the illness, and the importance of
getting screened early on.
“I’m lucky because I survived
twice,” said Strawberry at the
hospital on DeKalb Avenue at
Ashland Place. “I had symptoms
like abdominal pain and blood in
my stool. But I was hard-headed;
I thought I didn’t need a doctor. I
was wrong. And now I’m urging
others to get screened for colorectal
cancer.”
There were less screenings for
the cancer in the borough, especially
among communities with
a rising incidence of the disease,
according to recent research by
the hospital’s gastroenterology
division, which dedicates itself to
combatting the disease.
One doc urged people over
the age of 50, and African Americans
over 45 years, to speak with
their physicians about getting a
colonoscopy to test for early signs
of cancer.
“We are urging everyone to
speak with their primary physicians
about getting a colonoscopy.
Age 50 for the general population,
but 45 years of age for
African Americans,” said gastroenterologist
Dr. Denzil Etienne.
Kings County should set an
example by raising awareness for
this disease, according to Borough
President Adams, who attended
the event.
“As Brooklyn goes, so goes
New York City. As New York City
goes, so goes the country. As the
country goes, so goes the globe,”
Adams said.
For more information or to
schedule an appointment for a
colonoscopy or other colorectal
cancer screening with Brooklyn
Hospital, call (718) 250–8867. For
people without health insurance,
call (718) 250–8708 for more information.
— Kevin Duggan
A CENTURY OF FAMILY TIME: Lidiya Gerinshteyn was joined by her daughter Nataly,
left, and grandaughter Victoria, right, for her 100th birthday celebration.
Photo by Trey Pentecost
Centenarian blows out the candles
Photo by Caroline Ourso