BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY December 16, 2018 12
Mount Hope resident Teresa Brock and her cousin Kareem Queeman were featured on Discovery Family
Channel’s new baking competition show Bake It Like Buddy. Here they are with a completed Thanksgiving
themed cake. Photo courtesy of Discovery Family Channel
Mount Hope woman ices
cable TV baking contest
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A local small-business
startup proprietor got a shot
to showcase her cooking
skills on a national television
program.
Teresa Brock, a Mount
Hope resident, put her baking
skills to good use along
with her cousin, who is a
food business professional,
on a new baking competition
show aired on Discovery
Family Channel.
Brock and her cousin
Kareem Queeman, a professional
baker who owns a
Washington D.C. business
called Mr. Bake Sweets, appeared
on Discovery’s ‘Bake
It Like Buddy’ a weekly
cooking competition show
featuring ‘Cake Boss’ Buddy
Valastro.
Brock appeared on a
Thanksgiving-themed episode
that originally aired
on Saturday, November
17 called ‘Topsy Turvy
Thanksgiving Cakes.’
The duo competed
against another team of
cousins, baking a Topsy
Turvy Thanksgiving threelayer
cake, with one layer of
sweet potato cake and two
tiers of chocolate.
“It was very natural, like
we were at home in our own
kitchen cooking together,”
said Brock about the adventure,
adding that she and
her cousin often cook together
when she hosts family
events during holidays at
her borough home.
They ended up winning
the competition, and took
home a cash prize and baking
products.
“Winning was a beautiful
feeling,” said “At fi rst
being on television and being
chosen by the production
company out of so many
applicants, and then to win,
was just an amazing feeling.”
The duo used a family
recipe that was honed at
home for one of the layers of
the cake.
The sweet potato portion
of the their winning multilayer
Topsy Turvey Thanksgiving
cake was based on a
recipe for sweet potato pie
that her late aunt Janet used
to bake, and it was incorporated
and adapted for use on
the show, said Brock.
Brock said her favorite
restaurants in the borough
are Giovanni’s on the Grand
Concourse, as well as a number
of City Island eateries
including Crab Shanty and
Sammy’s.
Brock, who works at the
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority as a token
booth clerk, is the founder of
a small Bronx start-up called
Made Just 4 You where she
provides food treats, decorations
and party favors for
the local community, she
said.
“I am hoping to develop
this business and eventually
make it more of a full-time
endeavor,” said the budding
entrepreneur.
She said she hopes that
her television appearance
will be a boost to her business,
which she said she has
been working on for several
years.
“In the next year or so,
it is my hope you will see a
party favor store with my
name on it,” said Brock.
“God willing, that is my
goal.”
To learn more about
Made Just 4 You, email
Madejust4u2012@gmai l.
com.
You can also connect
with Made Just 4 You on Facebook,
Etsy, and on Instagram.
DOE Fund breaks ground on
Bedford Park 10-story building
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A new affordable and
supportive housing building
sponsored by a major
non-profi t is coming to the
west Bronx
The DOE Fund, a nonprofi
t social services agency
that works with the vulnerable
populations including
the formerly homeless and
previously incarcerated,
broke ground on a 10-story
Bedford Park apartment
building.
The DOE Fund, amid the
fanfare generated by its new
68-unit residential building
at 3188 Villa Avenue,
launched the project during
a ceremony on Friday, December
7.
The project received a
conditional letter of support
from Community Board 7,
with provisions requiring
the apartments be advertised
to the local communities
in a timely manner and
that employment opportunities
be offered to local residents,
said Jean Hill, CB 7
chairwoman, who was the
board’s Housing and Land
Use Committee chairperson
when The DOE Fund visited
in January.
Construction on the ‘as
of right’ project is expected
to take 21 months, stated a
DOE Fund spokeswoman,
adding it will receive tax exemptions.
Larry Gordon, The DOE
Fund vice-president of
housing development, said
that the organization has a
number of buildings in the
Bronx, including 60 units
near Crotona Park and 82 on
Webster Avenue.
A DOE Fund spokeswoman
said that the housing
furthers the organization’s
mission by removing
barriers to economic independence
for individuals.
This project fi ts into the
larger structure of the organization’s
other programs
like its Ready, Willing and
Able program which promotes
self-suffi ciency, said
the spokeswoman.
“Developing safe, supportive
and affordable housing
is sort of the culmination
of the programs we run as
we get people back on their
feet, as we help people with
affl ictions,” said Gordon.
Gordon added that The
DOE Fund has programs
that help low-income families,
seniors and the disabled.
At Villa Avenue, there
will be a long-term social
service contract that will
help 41 singe adults, said
Gordon, who added that DOE
is about more than helping
people in transition.
The remaining 27 units
in the building are set at
affordable housing rates.
Applicants will be referred
to The Doe Fund primarily
through the New York City
Housing Authority, said
Gordon.
At the presentation The
DOE Fund told CB 7 members
that the building will
consist of 60 studios and
eight one-bedroom permanent
housing units, targeting
seniors and people with
chronic illness, said Hill.
The project’s affordability
level is set at 50% of Area
Median Income (AMI), said
Perry, and will feature onsite
programming and a
maintenance staff.
CB 7 was told that the
NYC Department of Housing
Preservation and Development
provided funding.
Councilman Andrew
Cohen, who represents the
community, had words of
praise for CB 7’s handling
of its meeting with The DOE
Fund.
“The community board
is very thoughtful and responsible,”
said Cohen, adding
that CB 7 has reasonable
goals that allow its service
area to receive diverse affordable
housing representing
a variety of income
bands in developments that
are the right size for the
community.
The DOE Fund is celebrating the opening of a new 68-unit apartment
building at 3188 Villa Avenue that contains both affordable
and supportive housing units. Photo courtsey of The DOE Fund
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