Safe snow removal for seniors
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 26 ANUARY 25-31, 2019 BTR
Action
Association
With winter in full swing
in NYC, we can expect some
snow. As children, when we
had a large snowfall we looked
forward to school being closed
and having snow ball fi ghts
with our friends. With age
and responsibilities this soon
turned into long commutes
and shoveling sidewalks.
After the snow stops falling
(if you are a homeowner)
you must clear snow and ice
on your sidewalk to create a
path for pedestrians. Where
possible, try to clear a path at
least four feet wide along the
sidewalk. You must also remove
snow and ice from sidewalks
next to bus stops and
hydrants. You may receive a
summons from the city if your
sidewalk is not clear.
If you must shovel snow,
please keep these tips in
mind:
• Dress appropriately.
Cover your head, face and
hands when outside for prolonged
periods of time. Wearing
waterproof boots with
non-skid soles will help guard
against falls.
• Use a small shovel. Selecting
a smaller shovel means
lighter loads of snow, which
can help prevent injury to the
body by creating less strain.
• Stay hydrated. Although
it is cold, you can still get dehydrated.
Keep a water bottle
close and take a sip every
15 minutes or so to stay hydrated.
• Shovel frequently. This
lessens the load.
• Push the snow. It’s easier
to push the shovel full of snow
rather than lifting and throwing
it.
• Never shovel alone. Let a
spouse or neighbor know you
will be shoveling. That way, if
something happens, someone
can get help for you quickly.
• People with a history of
heart disease, heart attack,
high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
smokers, and people
who get very little exercise
should speak to their doctor
before shoveling snow or engaging
in other strenuous outdoor
activities when it is cold.
NYC Service coordinates
sidewalk snow shoveling assistance
if you are age 60+,
disabled, or homebound. You
must also be the property
owner. You can request assistance
only with clearing your
sidewalk. Please understand
that NYC Service cannot guarantee
assistance. If you qualify,
they will save your information
for future storms and
try to match you with a volunteer
in your zip code. To get
more information, call 311.
These tips will contribute
to you having a safe winter in
ALBANIAN OPEN HANDS FOOD PANTRY
ICNA Relief USA and Albanian American Open Hands Association,
will host Weekly Food pantry distributions on Sundays between
8:30 to 10:45 a.m. at Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road.
Above (ll-r) Aleksander Nilaj, AAOHA president; Shabbir Gul from
ICNA Relief USA; Brian Schloss and volunteers helped distribute
food to Bronxites in need. Photo by Edwin Soto
NYC.
Brought to you by Montefi
ore Medical Group, R.A.I.N.,
Hartford Institute for Geriatric
Nursing at NYU, American
Heart Association and the Offi
cial Website of the City of New
York
Bronx Jewish Center hosts community dinner
Please join us for our next
that evening will be Shabbat in
with your fellow neighbors.
to let us know you are coming.
community Shabbat dinner at
Israel... yes, that’s right Israel.
Turn your Friday night Shabbat
Shabbat dinners are held the
the Bronx Jewish Center,1969
All of your favorite Israeli-style
into an evening of spiritual
fi rst Friday of every month.
Haight Avenue to be held on
dishes will take center stage.
awakening, inspiration, Jewish
“No, it isn’t all about the
Friday, February 1, starting
We look forward to seeing you
songs and culinary delight.
food,” said Rabbi Pewzner of the
at 7 p.m. The special theme for
Enjoy a delicious 4-course dinner
Please RSVP to (718) 812-1701
Bronx Jewish Center. “What
is important is that the entire
community joins together and
welcomes the start of the Shabbat.
It will be a beautiful time
for everyone. We look foward to
welcoming you.”
BY FRANK V. VERNUCCIO, JR.
As of January 1, America
is no longer participating
in UNESCO, The United Nations
Educational, Scientifi c
and Cultural Organization. It
completes the process begun
in October of 2017.
The move refl ects Washington’s
anger at the organization’s
anti-U.S. and anti-Israel
bias. More than that, it demonstrates
the growing American
concern that the United
Nations has become a tool of
anti-free, anti-Western governments.
Washington’s former
U.N. Ambassador, Nikki
Haley notes: “Nowhere has
the U.N.’s failure been more
consistent and more outrageous
than in its bias against
our close ally Israel.”
It’s actually the second
time the U.S. left the organization.
In 1984, America withdrew
from UNESCO due to
its bias in favor of the Soviet
Union. At the time, the State
Department explained that
the decision was made because
“UNESCO has extraneously
politicized virtually every
subject it deals with, has
exhibited hostility toward the
basic institutions of a free society,
especially a free market
and a free press, and has demonstrated
unrestrained budgetary
expansion.”
Another key factor in the
recent decision: For decades,
budget-conscious U.S. elected
offi cials have demanded withdrawal
due to UNESCO’s fi scal
corruption and wasteful
spending.
Concerns over UNESCO’s
anti-Israel bias were recently
highlighted when, in December,
the world body failed to
pass a resolution condemning
Hamas, a terrorist organization.
The resolution actually
received a majority of votes
(87 for, 57 against) However,
in a move far too typical of the
manner in which anti-freedom,
anti-human rights governments
have hijacked the
U.N., it didn’t pass because
the General Assembly, in a
separate vote, changed the
rules on how large a majority
was needed for passage. This
maneuver occurred less than
a half hour before the actual
vote. America wanted a simple
majority would be needed
to pass the resolution.
In 2009, Richard Schifter,
former U.S. representative to
the United Nations Human
Rights Commission during
the 1980’s, addressed a conference
at the Fordham University
Law School, describing
how the world body was
‘hijacked’ by anti-democratic
nations with a particular animosity
to the West in general,
and Israel in particular.
The Times of Israel summarized
his comments:
“Schifter offered a comprehensive
description of how
much of the positive work of
the UN General Assembly
ended around 1970 as a result
of ‘the extraordinarily
clever maneuvering of the
totalitarians represented at
the UN and the failure of the
democracies to match their
clever manipulations.’ And
the individual he cited as being
most responsible for this
reversal was Cuban leader Fidel
Castro who, according to
Schifter, appointed a highly
skilled group of diplomats to
help build “a network of institutions
that would operate
in opposition to the United
States.”
The reality of the U.N.’s
anti-Semitism can be seen
in a singular statistic: Since
2009, UNESCO has passed 71
resolutions condemning Israel
and only two resolutions
condemning all other countries
combined.
Former deputy national-security
adviser Eliot Abrams,
writing in National Review,
outlines one way the bias
manifests: “For more than 20
years, the U.N. Human Rights
Council has had a dedicated
“Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in
the Palestinian territories occupied
since 1967.” (Needless
to say, there’s no U.N. Special
Rapporteur for the condition
of Tibetans or Cubans; only
Palestinians.)”
Over the years, some U.N.
offi cials have ignored their
functional duties and abused
their position to engage in
anti-American activities. A
2005 U.N. Watch report described
a salient example:
“Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the right to
food, is abusing his mandate
to further his extreme anti-
American political agenda at
the expense of addressing the
world’s food emergencies…
During the fi rst four years
of his mandate, Jean Ziegler
publicly criticized the United
States on 34 occasions. Yet he
never spoke out for the hungry
or criticized any party
in 15 of 17 countries deemed
by the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization to have
a man-made food emergency.
And of the two food emergency
countries that he did
criticize, he only did so once
with respect to one (Ethiopia)
and three times with respect
to the other (Sudan). Food
emergencies ignored: Burundi,
Central African Republic,
Chad, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Republic
of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire,
Eritrea, Guinea, Haiti, Liberia,
Russian Federation
(Chechnya), Sierra Leone, Somalia,
Tanzania, Uganda”