BRONX WEEKLY F www.BXTimes.com ebruary 3, 2019 16
Name a Bronx Zoo Madagascar Hissing Cockroach for your Valentine
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 certifi cate 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 certifi cate
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 certifi cate
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 fi nancial
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. UJA-Federation’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 offi ce, 18,000
federal employees work at affected
agencies in New York
City.
To apply for a loan, borrowers
should visit www.hfl s.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 fi nancial 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 nonprofi ts, 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 Nonprofi ts (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 fi nal 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
fi rm 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 fi t for
life and cardio fi t. 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 Offi ce 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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