Name a Bronx Zoo Madagascar Hissing Cockroach for your Valentine
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 34 EBRUARY 1-7, 2019 BTR
Upgrade and include a gift in addition to the namesake roach: roach
beanie cap, roach mug, and roach pin (back by popular demand).
Julie Larsen Maher © WCS
Valentine’s Day is right
around the corner and the
Bronx Zoo is once again offering
the only gift that will be
around longer than anyone –
the original Name-a-Roach is
back.
The Name-a-Roach offering
is a light-hearted way to make
sure your loved one knows
your feelings will last a lifetime.
The Bronx Zoo is offering
the opportunity to symbolically
name its 50,000-plus giant
Madagascar hissing cockroaches
for Valentine’s Day
2019. The tongue-in-cheek gift
comes with a colorful certificate
emailed to your loved one
announcing that a cockroach
has been named in his or her
honor.
For a $15 donation, your
loved one (or unloved one)
will receive the printed certificate
to cherish for years to
come, featuring the name chosen
for your Valentine’s Day
roach. To make an extra impression,
send “the works” for
a $75 donation which includes
a printed certificate as well as
the other roach gifts including
a warm beanie cap, a mug, and
crazy roach pin. Various combinations
of the roachy merchandise
are also available for
$55. All orders can be placed at
www.BronxZoo.com/Roach.
The Name-a-Roach program
is all in good fun and will help
WCS and the Bronx Zoo further
its mission to save wildlife
and wild places in New
York and around the world.
The zoo has plenty of
roaches to name with thousands
of the super-sized bugs
on exhibit in Madagascar!—
an award-winning habitat for
lemurs, crocodiles, and many
other species from the African
island nation.
Madagascar hissing cockroaches
are the world’s largest
roach species reaching nearly
four-inches long. The namesake
hissing noise is emitted
as a defense mechanism.
Like nearly every roach species,
Madagascar hissing cockroaches
are not considered
pests and rarely enter homes.
* * *
Responding to the financial
strain on federal employees
who have been furloughed or
are working without pay, UJAFederation
of New York and
the Hebrew Free Loan Society
will fund interest-free ‘paycheck’
loans that will replace
missed paychecks for federal
workers who reside in New
York City, Westchester, Nassau,
and Suffolk Counties and
who earn $40,000 or less. UJAFederation’s
Board of Directors
voted unanimously to approve
a $5 million dollar loan
for HFLS to run the program.
According to Mayor de Blasio’s
office, 18,000 federal employees
work at affected agencies
in New York City.
To apply for a loan, borrowers
should visit www.hfls.org/
FederalEmployees to download
loan application forms.
The program will operate
as follows:
• Eligibility will be established
by the employee’s paystub
and employee ID.
• Employee income will
determine eligibility (rather
than household income).
• The employee’s take-home
pay will establish the maximum
loan per pay period.
• Borrowers will be required
to provide one guarantor
(HFLS usually requires
two guarantors).
• Repayment will be due
only when the government reopens
and employees receive
back wages.
• Contractors are not eligible
for the loans.
The Hebrew Free Loan Society
makes 0% interest loans
that help low- and moderate-
income New Yorkers in need
stabilize and strengthen their
financial lives. HFLS has
nearly 2,000 loans outstanding,
totaling more than $16
million. Learn more about
HFLS by visiting HFLS.org or
visit their pages on LinkedIn,
Facebook, and Twitter.
For more than 100 years,
UJA-Federation has brought
New Yorkers together to solve
some of the most pressing
problems facing our community.
Through UJA, more than
50,000 donors impact the issues
that matter most to them,
pooling their resources to care
for Jews everywhere and New
Yorkers of all backgrounds, respond
to crises close to home
and far away, and shape our
Jewish future. Working with
a network of hundreds of nonprofits,
UJA extends its reach
from New York to Israel to
nearly 70 other countries
around the world, touching
4.5 million people each year.
For more information on how
to donate or volunteer, visit
www.ujafedny.org.
* * *
The William G. Pomeroy
Foundation® is now accepting
applications for its 2019
Professional Development
Grant Program. This program
offers need-based scholarships
of $1,000 each to historical societies
and cultural museums
in New York State for professional
development purposes.
This program is open to
501(c)(3) historical societies &
cultural museums in New York
State with annual budgets of
$50,000 or less. The grant application
process is open through
Thursday, February 28. Visit
the Foundation’s website to apply:
https://www.wgpfoundation.
org/apply-for-grant/
Each organization may
only receive one Professional
Development Grant per year.
In addition, eligible grant applicants
cannot have attended
the Museum Association of
New York (MANY) Conference
in the past two years.
Professional Development
Grants are to be used as follows:
• Membership in Museum
Association of New York
(MANY) if not already a member.
• Registration and travel related
expenses to attend MANY
Conference (if haven’t attended
in the past two years).
• Membership to join New
York Council of Nonprofits
(NYCON) if not already a member.
• One other professional development
opportunity of your
choice.
At the end of the calendar
year, each grant recipient provides
a final report of their
professional development experience
to the Pomeroy Foundation.
The William G. Pomeroy
Foundation is a private, grantmaking
foundation established
in 2005. The Pomeroy Foundation
is committed to supporting
the celebration and preservation
of community history;
and to raising awareness, supporting
research and improving
the quality of care for patients
and their families who
are facing a blood cancer diagnosis.
Since 2006, the Pomeroy
Foundation has grown to offer
six different roadside marker
programs, funding nearly 800
signs in New York State and
beyond, all the way to Alaska.
Our signage programs are:
Historic Transportation Canals
Marker Grant Program,
Legends & Lore® Marker
Grant Program, National Register
Signage Grant Program,
National Women’s Suffrage
Marker Grant Program, NYS
Historic Marker Grant Program,
and the Ohio Historical
Markers Grant Program.
For more information, visit:
wgpfoundation.org.
* * *
Benedict Realty Group,
a premier real estate investment
and property management
firm with more than
5,000 rental apartments in the
greater New York City region,
has announced a deferred rent
payment policy for federal
employees who reside at BRG
properties. A majority of these
apartments are in Queens,
Brooklyn and the Bronx.
BRG tenants who are federal
employees, and who are
not receiving paychecks due to
the government shutdown, are
eligible to defer rent payment
until the end of the shutdown.
* * *
Stop by the PSS City Island
Center, located at 116 City Island
Avenue, Monday through
Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Experience
their exercise classes
from gentle yoga stretch, balance
class, arthritis workshop
and tai chi as well as the fit for
life and cardio fit. They also
offer acrylic painting, calligraphy,
canasta, health presentations,
singing group, and
parties. Lunch is served from
noon to 1 p.m., suggested donation
$2. The center participants
go on shopping trips every
day; i.e. Shop Rite, Dollar
Tree, Target, Kmart ,as well as
theatre excursions, boat trips,
special luncheons and more.
It’s free to become a member
but you must be 60 years or
above. For more information
contact Patty at (718) 885-0727
or email pattis@pssusa.org for
their monthly calendar.
Upcoming special events
include Thursday, February
7, Emergency Preparedness
Presentation by the Office of
Emergency Management, at
12:30 p.m.; and Monday, February
11, will include lunch
followed by entertainment at
noon.
* * *
Assemblyman Victor
M. Pichardo has been appointed
as the chairperson
for the Task Force on New
Americans for the upcoming
2019 legislative session.
The Task Force has
worked for many years in the
Assembly to search, provide
answers, and assist new immigrants
in New York state.
The assemblyman hopes to
continue the positive work
that the previous chairs of
the task force have accomplished.
* * *
The average sales price
for a home in the Bronx rose
12 percent to $472,000 in the
fourth quarter of 2018 from
$422,000 in the fourth quarter
of 2017. Bronx residential
sales consideration (monetary
value for completed home
sales transactions) increased
seven percent year-over-year
to $486 million from $455 million
in the fourth quarter of
2017, according to the Real
Estate Board of New York’s
(REBNY) Residential Sales
Report.
* * *
Congressman José E.
Serrano was elected chairman
of the Commerce, Justice
and Science Subcommittee
for the 116th Congress by the
House Appropriations Committee’s
Democratic members.
The CJS Subcommittee
oversees several important
federal agencies, including
the Department of Justice,
the Department of Commerce,
the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, the
National Science Foundation,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, and the Census
Bureau, among others. In addition
to the CJS subcommittee,
Rep. Serrano will continue
serving in the Financial
Services Subcommittee and
join the Interior, Environment
and Related Agencies
Subcommittee.
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