Prom attnedees at high school devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Photo courtesy MSNBC Screen Capture

Hurricane Sandy left in its wake battered buildings and broken dreams. The people affected by the fury of the storm are still putting their lives back together one step at a time. Essentials like food, water, shelter and clothing have to come first. Non-essential items are not even given a backwards glance so the senior class of one Queens neighborhood never expected to be celebrating prom. Thanks to an army of volunteers, this is one dream that didn’t have to be discarded.

The Channel View School for Research in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens in New York City was hard hit when Sandy swept through, losing power and being flooded like many other buildings in the area. The students were forced to attend classes at alternate lo0cations for months while repairs were done. Every spare penny was being used for restoration with little hope of funds being set aside for a prom.

That’s when Operation Prom stepped in. Operation Prom is a charity that helps students realize one of the most looked-forward-to events of their young lives when circumstances, such as a natural disaster make the cost prohibitive.

The organization raised more than $11,000 for dresses, tuxedos and the prom itself. Men’s Warehouse chipped in with some of the expenses, too.

Instead of quietly finishing out their senior year and stepping into the next phase of life without a prom, these charitable volunteers gave a graduating glass the memories of a lifetime. They were able to celebrate with friends and have the experience that their peers across the country were having. This group of seniors shares the start of a bright future that even a hurricane couldn’t blow away.

This past Monday, New York City experienced an odd but pleasant set of statistics according to police reports. There were no stabbings, slashings or shootings in the city on that day, something Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne and other officials were at a loss to recall ever happening before.

New York City experiences zero shootings, stabbings or slashing for 24 hours. Photo courtesy SXC

The Commissioner described it as a nice way to start the week though no one was able to explain why the day ended with three zeroes in the statistics columns. A day like this really symbolizes the phrase “no news is good news.”

The city is on course to end the year with just over 400 murders total. While that may seem like a lot, it’s the lowest total since 1960, according to Tom Reppetto, a NYPD historian and author of “American Police, 1945-2012.”

He says in 1990, the city reported 2,245 murders. People were afraid to step outside. Babies slept in bathtubs to avoid getting hit by stray bullets. Some preschools even staged drills on what to do if shots were heard. The progress that has been made is phenomenal and due in large part to the programs the police have implemented according to Reppetto.

Crime in the city is up 3 percent overall which is mostly due to an increase in grand larceny. Police attribute that number to the increase in thefts of smart phones, tablets and other devices. Amazingly, murders are down 23 percent from 472 last year to 366 now. Even the number of shootings has dropped from 1,674 last year to just 1,514 this year. That averages about 5 each day. Compare that to 1994 when the police instituted Compstat to track crime statistics. Then 4,967 people were shot or about 14 each day.

A policy of ‘stop and frisk’ has caused criminals to think differently. Carrying a gun carries stiffer penalties than carrying a knife does.

Though no shootings were logged on Monday, one 16-year-old walked into Bronx Lebanon Hospital that evening with a gunshot wound. Police determined it was accidentally self-inflicted.

The streak of non-violence finally came to an end Tuesday morning at 11:20 when a man was shot in Brooklyn. It was the first shooting since Sunday at 10:25 p.m. when a man was shot in the head in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The city looks forward to more and longer streaks of zero statistics.

From orphan to model, Fior Mendez makes good on childhood dream. Photo courtesy of Bennett Raglin / Getty Images

Fior Mendez certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth but she is on her way to being able to afford as many she likes. Dominican republic-born Mendez recently achieved her lifelong ambition of waking down the runway as a model, no small achievement for a girl who has spent the last eight years in an orphanage.

Only two months ago, Mendez was still residing Orfanato Niños de Cristo orphanage in the town of La Romana where she’d been since she was 13. One of five children, Mendez her mother and her siblings were homeless and seldom knew where their next meal might come from. When she reached 13, her mother decided she could no longer provide for her family and deposited Mendez in the orphanage. She has had no contact with her family since that time.

Growing up in the orphanage, she was quiet and afraid, wondering if she would always have a home there or if she would be cast out homeless and hungry. Gradually she found her place and developed into a quiet leader. The modeling shows broadcast on Dominican Republic TV, spurred her dream of one day walking the catwalks as a model.

She grew to a height of 5’ 10” and put that height to wok playing volleyball before her big break came. On her 21^st birthday, the orphanage said they could no longer support her and she would have to move on. Fortunately, the orphanage’s founder and Mendez’s good friend Sonia Hane, invited Mendez to come live with her in New York.

The idea was to help her learn English so she could forge a life for herself but it quickly led to a meeting with casting agent to Prince Riley, the founder of modeling agency Signature Talent Agency. He adored the girl who was a natural at posing and began to send her out on casting calls immediately. She landed every one she went to.

Nzinga Knight, an American Muslim designer with a Caribbean background was wrapping up her third casting call when Mendez entered the room. One look at the girl’s walk and her radiant smile and Knight was sold. Mendez would strut down the catwalk for the fifth annual Harlem’s Fashion Row show during New York Fashion Week at the Lincoln Center.

In the Dominican Republic orphaned girls often end up working as prostitutes or living in poverty the rest of their lives. Mendez was able to attend school at the orphanage, even taking computer classes made possible by The Orphaned Starfish Foundation, founded by Andy Stein, which built a computer lab at the orphanage. It was Stein’s girlfriend who introduced Mendez to Riley and set the wheels in motion.

Mendez was touched and choked up with tears on the day of her New York debut. She never imagined that her dreams could come true. She hopes to one day study communications and work as a newscaster. But dearer to her heart is the hope that she can serve as an inspiration to other orphaned children, showing them that dedication can help make their dreams a reality too.

Seven-year-old Emma hadn’t seen her dad (Allan) for close to 8 months as he had been on deployment in the Middle East. There were a lot of events she was involved in this year that he obviously missed and would have loved to have been there for. It’s his baby girl after all.

So she’s at a field day, running round, jumping over little hurdles, etc. – getting stuck into the day.

Though she really wished her dad could be there, she didn’t have a clue he was actually going to be there. When he turned up, the shock of seeing him right there before her very eyes made her huddle into her mum and start crying. Little Emma couldn’t believe it.

Then she went over to him and hugged him and hugged him and hugged him, crying even more, holding onto him like she was never ever going to let him go.

“You feel everything that you’ve missed for the time you’ve been gone”.

His voice falters.

“It’s good, it hurts, it’s happy, it’s sad”.

An unlikely place but yet the birth place of one couple's first child

Some unusual things have been known to happen on the trains in New York but seldom do they involve celebratory moments. One family can attest to the ride of their life marked by the birth of their first child on board.

Harrison, New Jersey resident Rabita Sarkar, 31, felt pains that resembled contractions but she had misgivings because her baby was not yet due. Cautious, her 30-year old husband insisted on a trip into the city Monday to be safe.

Not wanting to drive into the city, the couple opted instead to take the PATH commuter train. From the train they could take a taxi to the doctor’s offices in Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital but the baby had a somewhat different agenda.

Sarker noticed during the course of the train rife that her pains began coming more quickly. At this point, realizing what was probably about to happen, she asked her husband to check on what was happening. After a quick peek, he informed her that the baby’s head was visible.

A female passenger offered assistance and guided the husband, identified in other published reports as Aditya Saurabh, through the delivery of the couple’s son. The baby was born at 10 A.M. while other passengers offered encouragement. A young girl volunteered her own jacket to keep the infant warm. Given the winter temperature outside the train of 30 degrees, the gift was a generous and critical one.

PATH officials, alerted to the vents unfolding on the train, made the decision to turn the train into an express which allowed it to bypass a number of otherwise regular stops. It also enabled the train to reach its final destination at 33rd St in midtown Manhattan more quickly where emergency personnel were waiting to meet the train. The family was ushered to the hospital.

Sgt. Mike Barry expressed that the biggest concern was keeping the baby warm during the transport to the hospital, given the cold outside. . “We know that baby’s body temperature is going to drop like a rock,” he said.

One of the officers on the scene knew exactly what the couple was experiencing. His own son, impatient to make his entrance into the world and Dad, Officer Atiba Joseph-Cumberbatch had to deliver him on his own too.

New York’s same-sex marriage bill goes into effect on July 24 and New York City clerk’s offices are open to honor the event. Although city clerk’s offices in all of New York’s five boroughs are usually closed on weekends in honor of this special occasion, Mayor Bloomberg, not wanting gay couples who wish to wed to wait one day longer than they have to, has ordered them open.

The first five weekdays after the bill goes into effect the offices will be open two hours later than usual in order to accommodate the expected heavy demand for same sex couples seeking marriage licenses and civil ceremonies.

Thanks from the gay community goes to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who signed the state’s Marriage Equality Act last month. This action has made the state of New York the sixth and most populous in the United States to allow gay marriage.

One little problem that was subsequently corrected concerned available marriage applications that were still using the terms, “bride” and “groom.” That situation was changed pretty quickly and replaced by “Spouse A” and “Spouse B.”

According to the mayor’s office, on Sunday the 24th, state judges will volunteer to perform ceremonies and requests for waivers of the 24-hour waiting period in the hopes that they can accomodate all requests.

This new bill has been a long time coming. Human rights, including the right to be different in any way that doesn’t harm another person, are finally being recognized. Even looking on the practical side, every single person has the right to live their life miserable or happy, single or married, gay or straight.

Here’s to the new law. (Clink of glass!)

Photo source:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/50-of-californians-now-support-gay-marriage-poll-finds.html

http://www.mooregoodink.com/news/?m=201002

Although the two are often linked, being famous doesn’t always go hand in hand with being successful and vice verse. “Fluid fittings” and “quick connect couplers” are not words or items that the majority of people are familiar with, but Michael Rahil, vice president of operations at Jiffy-tite Auto Parts Company believes that being slightly out of view of the public eye can be as Martha Stewart says, “a good thing.”

Jiffy-tite is an auto parts company with its own marketing niche. It focuses on inventing products for automobiles that can be assembled without tools. They are known for their small parts, which are designed for engines and have the reputation of running more smoothly and efficiently than their larger counterparts.

For the powers-that-be at Jiffy-tite, it’s more important for the manufacturers of vehicles to know their reputation than the public at large. Their specialty is “quick-connect couplers for fluid systems,” whose function is to link fluid lines with vital workings such as transmissions and radiators.

A quiet success story, headquarters for Jiffy-tite are in Lancaster, a suburb of Buffalo, New York. The company boasts more than 120 employees, most of whom are patriotic engineers who are proud to work for a company that focuses on making its own products instead of importing them, as is the mainstream custom.

Success is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s just a thought away, although hard work is always associated with it. Still, there is hope that one single idea can change an industry, albeit one small part at a time.

Whee!

This year marks the construction of the first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in more than eight decades! The Soarin’ Eagle and the Steeplechase roller coasters are meant to reverse the decline of the famous theme park and draw more tourists to its Scream Zone this summer.

The new multimillion-dollar Scream Zone theme park has usurped some of the older and now shabbier attractions that despite their condition still had their loyal fans. Last summer in fact, was Coney Island’s biggest in almost fifty years, and Mayor Bloomberg is hopeful that this summer with the introduction of the first new roller coasters since the Cyclone was introduced in 1927 should be the best ever.

In 2009, Coney Island was rezoned and while new restaurants, retail stores and hotels were established, the traditional historic attractions were preserved as well. The revitalization of Coney Island, which gets its name from the colony of rabbits that once inhabited the island before it became a resort area in the late 19th century, will cost the city more than $150 million.

Mayor Bloomberg believes this hefty investment will generate at least 6,000 permanent jobs for New Yorkers and pump some $14 billion into the city’s economic coffers over the course of the next three decades.

For lovers of thrills and excitement, Coney Island’s Cyclone is an enduring icon. Edgy and perilous adventures have always attracted the more daring among us and a visit to the famed theme park can only be a positive experience.

Nearby Nathan’s deli and their incredible hot dogs and french fries are enough to drive anyone off a diet at least for the day.

Come and ride the wave of excitement.

Come to Coney Island.

Give Me Your Green, Your Healthy....

In celebration of Earth Day, New Yorkers planned a special event.  A clean energy vehicle parade that included hybrid garbage trucks was in full swing, as well as the representation of a virtual forest appearing in a most unlikely location; namely, the billboards of Times Square. A group of more than 30 electric and alternative fuel cars, including an Inizio, the world’s fastest electric sports car and an electric Delorean, toured Manhattan with pride.

This eye-catching, visual call to action was the work of Joanne Black, Earth Day New York’s managing director, and today supporters of the environment can make a one-time $5 donation for the United Nations’ Year of Forest that will appear in the form of a running tally that will play out on large screens supplied by corporate sponsors. Some of these include: CNN, MTV, Reuters and Toshiba.

The tally is lit-up and fits right in with the quintessentially chaotic New York landscape. Donations will be debited from cell phone bills and the money will go to fund the planting of trees in lands as far a way as Mexico, the Philippines, India and Kenya.

The Times Square Alliance has tried to lead a sustainable life and although it does not maintain records on the total amount of electricity the billboards consume, it is a fact that those utilized today run on considerably less energy than billboards in years past.

The hybrid vehicles were provided by the city Departments of Transportation, Parks, and Sanitation.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is determined to make his administration the one that will change the face of New York from a city often depicted as grimy and polluted to one more sustainable and green.

Here’s to everyone’s favorite color: Green!

New York State Workers Win Millions

Seven New York state workers are very happy today after winning the New York lottery on Friday. The jackpot was at 319 million in the Mega Millions lottery. This is one of the largest lottery jackpots ever.

“The Albany Seven” as the coworkers are called have been pooling their money for years to play the big lottery but never expected to win this big.

Ironically, it was a rude customer in a store that made the win possible for the Albany 7. Mike Barth actually went to buy the ticket. He reached down to pick up a candy bar and someone cut in front of him to buy a ticket. Barth let it go and then purchased his own ticket instead of having something to say about the customer’s rudeness. The ticket he bought was the winning ticket.

The winning seven received checks for 19.1 million dollars each at a news conference for Friday night’s drawing. Even after taxes, that is a hefty chunk of money.

The Albany 7 consist of Mike Barth, 63, John Hilton, 57, Gabrielle Mahar, 29, John Katey, 54, Tracy Sussan, 41, Kristin Baldwin, 42, and Leon Peck, 62.

When coworkers were called early Saturday morning, they thought it was work related and go the shock of their lives. This is a very welcome surprise for the Seven Albany coworkers.

Going to Disney and funding a college education were some of the things the seven coworkers mentioned that they were going to do with the money.