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The Brooklyn Community Foundation is now accepting applications from local residents looking for funding to rebuild and repair their homes damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

This latest effort by the BCF, known as the Community Grant Rebuilding Program, is focused on physically improving homes and buildings located in Brooklyn’s coastal communities. They are centering their efforts on mold removal, the replacement of heating and electrical systems and structural repairs for one to four family homes, non-profit facilities and buildings used by small businesses.

Here are the relevant details:

Priority will be given to proposals from community development and non-profit housing corporations and other qualified organizations with deep knowledge of and experience with mold removal, mold remediation, and housing and building repair/maintenance. We require partnerships between applicants and local service providers and organizations from each impacted community. Together the partnership should demonstrate an ability to provide an up to date community needs assessment about the status of building repair and a plan of action to help individuals, businesses, and institutions move from “rescue” to recovery and rebuilding.  In Red Hook and Coney Island, we will require that all grantees work in partnership with the collaboratives that have been funded through BRF’s first round of recovery grants and will provide you with the information necessary to connect to these organizations.

All funding requests are due no later than Monday, February 4, 2013. We will make every effort to have all funding decisions made by Monday, February 11, 2013.

Target Neighborhoods:

Brooklyn coastal communities that experienced severe storm damage: Red Hook, the Coney Island peninsula, Sheepshead Bay, Canarsie, and Gerritsen Beach.

Grant Amounts:

A limited number of grants are available, up to $200,000 per impacted community (Red Hook, the Coney Island peninsula, Sheepshead Bay, Canarsie, and Gerritsen Beach).

Eligibility:

• Community development and non-profit housing corporations and other qualified organizations who have established or can demonstrate an ability to establish close working relationships with local nonprofits serving communities or residents impacted by Super Storm Sandy.

Application Guidelines:

• Provide brief mission statement and history of your organization.
• What qualifications do you possess to address mold removal, mold remediation, and building repair/maintenance? How will you partner and coordinate with organizations physically located in the impacted community? If you already have an established relationship, who is your/are your partner(s) and what type of partnership currently exists?
• What nonprofits, government entities, and/or community groups have you been working with to address recovery and rebuilding needs?
• If you received prior funding from the BRF, how does this request complement your previous request?
• How will you define and measure the success of this project?
• Be sure that your application includes full contact information (address, telephone, email) for this request’s point person; also include the community where this work will take place.
• Only ONE grantee per impacted community will be selected.
• Please limit your request to no more than 3 pages; not including attachments.
• Required Documents:

1.   Organization budget

2.   Project budget

3.   Most recent IRS 990 Form

4.   Most recent Financial Audit (note:  if your organization uses a fiscal sponsor, please provide its audit and 990)

5.   Board of Directors

Submit via email or fax requested narrative and attachments by Monday, February 4, 2013 to:

Toya Williford

Program Director

Brooklyn Community Foundation

45 Main Street, #409

Brooklyn, NY  11201

twilliford@bcfny.org

Fax:  718-722-5757

Any questions please contact Toya Williford at 718.722.5352 or twilliford@bcfny.org.

Photo by Joe Comperiati

It’s hard to put into words the scope of the tragedy of the Holocaust. The millions of victims of that outrage should never be forgotten and the few survivors that remain living should never be ignored.

Life, with all its joys and sorrows, carries on, and while survivors of the Holocaust may feel blessed to be decades removed and a world away from those dark days, many were devastated by the recent events of Superstorm Sandy.

Thankfully, these battered brave souls have not been ignored, as a slew of donations from the German Consulate, German charitable organizations and German corporations have poured in to help survivors with expenses incurred to their homes as a result of Sandy, according to a report in the Jewish Week.

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, led by executive vice president Greg Schneider, had organized tours to Coney Island just weeks before the storm struck to keep up to date on the condition of Holocaust survivors living in the area.

“When the storm occurred, we got in touch with the German government and German industry,” [Schneinder] said. “Because of their visit to Coney Island and other parts of Brooklyn last year they had a mental picture of the area and knew exactly what we were talking to them about. I was able to say, ‘Remember, we went to this soup kitchen and met 10 survivors who talked of their experience in the ghetto.’ I told them that each of their homes had been flooded and that they had no electricity. And we sent them pictures we took of the area, as well as written material. And Rabbi Wiener sent them pictures of his office and of water rising in the streets.”

The German government’s awareness of the devastation caused to the communities in which many survivors live, spurred them to gather donations adding up to $4,000 from the Consulate itself, and inspire other German organizations to donate sums as well.

 As a result of that outreach, Schneider said the GDV, an association of all German insurance companies, donated $26,000 to Sandy relief efforts. He said the giant German insurance company Allianz donated $50,000 to help restore the infrastructure of the JCC of Greater Coney Island.

“We had specifically mentioned that building to them, reminded them that they were there and that the entire office was destroyed,” Schneider said. “It was not a lavish office, by any means, but it lost all of its basic equipment — telephones, fax machines, computers, tables and chairs — and it all must be replaced. They came up with the number of $50,000 and have already sent a check.”

In addition, Schneider said, the board of the Claims Conference allocated $250,000 to help Holocaust survivors caught in the storm.

More than 400 participants shook, danced and jumped away the calories during the Relay For Life of Bergen Beach, Mill Basin & Marine Park’s largest indoor Zumba class ever, hosted at the Aviator Sports Complex, according to Record Setter.

Organized by “Zumba Daddy,” Joseph Gillette, co-chairman of Brooklyn’s annual Relay For Life of Bergen Beach, Mill Basin & Marine Park, the event, which drew 419 participants, was held to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

Zumba, a Colombian fitness program involving dance and aerobic elements, incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves.

The video featured above gives you a look at the scope of the event and the joy of the zumba participants, all working out for a good cause.

“They’re here for zumba, but more importantly, the American Cancer Society,” said Gillette. “Its a successful day, a tremendous day. I couldn’t be happier.”

For more information on the Relay For Life and zumba, you can visit them on Facebook.

Source: Alina Zienowicz via Wikimedia

The month-long Toys For Tots toy drive rolls on this evening with their latest satellite event. Tonight, the Be Proud Foundation, the 41st Assembly District Democrats Club and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve are joining forces to give donated toys to underprivileged children in the Russian-speaking community.

Tonight’s event will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the second floor of the Cherry Hill Gourmet Market, 1901 Emmons Avenue between East 19th Street and Ocean Avenue. You can either donate a new, unwrapped toy or make a $30 minimum check payable to the “Be Proud Foundation.”

The drive wraps up Thursday night, December 20, during a grand finale party at the Democratic club, 2952 Avenue R on the corner of Haring Street, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Feel free to bring an new, unwrapped toy to that event, or mail a check to the Community First Toy Drive – 41st A.D. Dems Club c/o Bryan Lee, Executive Director, 2664 Dorothy Street, Bellmore, NY 11710. You can also reach out to toy drive founder Lee by calling (917) 846-1944.

The following is from our friends at the Bay Improvement Group:

Source: Face of the Franchise

I like t-shirts. They are probably the most practical piece of clothing in my life, and I feel like I can never have too many. Now because of Eric J. Dwyer, I can not only indulge in my love of t-shirts, but I can wear one knowing I donated to a good cause.

The cause in this case is that of Hurricane Sandy victims. Dwyer plans to donate 100 percent of the proceeds he gains from the sale of a special shirt he produced to a variety of Hurricane Sandy related charities. To buy the shirt and to read about the charities Dwyer plans to donate to, check out his website by clicking here.

Pictured with City Councilman Domenic Recchia (second from right) are, from left, Genesis Lodge members Lewis, Allan Greenberg, David Stanger, and Jeffrey Freese.

We received a post-“Shake A Can” update from our friend Errol Lewis, Past Chancellor from the Genesis Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, who informs us that the event they held benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy was a success.

The Pythians collected food, money, clothing, and more at the Pathmark Supermarket, 2965 Cropsey Avenue off of the Belt Parkway, to help out the people and communities that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

The Genesis Lodge, affiliated with the largest and oldest non-sectarian fraternal organization in the world, meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at the St. Mark School, 2602 East 19th Street.

For further information, contact Lewis at (718) 375-9229 or via email at el719@aol.com.

Source: Squidoo

The Genesis Lodge of the Knights of Pythias is holding a “Shake A Can” event this Saturday, November 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Pathmark Supermarket, 2965 Cropsey Avenue off of the Belt Parkway (situated directly behind the Parkside Diner).

The lodge, affiliated with the largest and oldest non-sectarian fraternal organization in the world, will be collecting food, money, clothing, and more to help out the people and communities that are in need.

The group meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at the St. Mark School, 2602 East 19th Street.

For further information, contact Genesis Lodge Past Chancellor Errol Lewis (not related in any way to the host of Inside City Hall, Errol Louis) at (718) 375-9229 or via email at el719@aol.com.

The following is a press release from the Mazel Day School:

Mosque construction in February. (Photo by nolastname.)

The ongoing issue of the proposed mosque and Islamic community center slated to be built in Sheepshead Bay has the community divided and the local politicians spinning the story from all angles.

Most recently, we covered a backpack giveaway that occurred at at 2812 Voorhies Avenue, at the mosque’s construction site. The giveaway was sponsored by the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and it received no less debate than the proposed mosque itself. In fact, there was a small protest at the site on the day of the giveaway event.

The New York Times ran a piece that tied the backpack giveaway to the larger issue of the split opinions related to the construction project.

The Times writes:

The mosque’s backers say 150 to 200 Muslim families who live within walking distance are in need of a local place to pray. The mosque, they want to reassure neighbors, will be an asset, providing afterschool activities to children, a Boy Scout troop open to all and charity events, like the school supply giveaway.

Those against the mosque cite parking and traffic concerns mainly.

“We understand that this is the First Amendment, that everyone has a right to pray, but what about our rights as a residents?” said Victor Benari, 58, one of the two protesters on hand last month. “It’s provocation, 100 percent. Why here? Why not build on a nice big commercial street?”

There are, however, others who believe that it will divide the neighborhood.

“Yes, they are smiling, but you know what’s behind their smiles?” said Leonid Krupnik to the Times. He was one of the two protesters at the giveaway. “Hatred. They want to create a caliphate. They want to push people out of this neighborhood.”

Krupnik belongs to a local group who calls themselves the Bay People. The group’s efforts center on blocking the mosque from being erected. However, due to laws which make it very difficult to oppose a house of worship, the best they can do is delay the project.

The Times writes, “Mr. Krupnik and other opponents say they are being unfairly typecast as xenophobes and racists. They do nevertheless worry that the neighborhood will change so much that non-Muslims will want to leave and they fear that the mosque will be used to promote radical thinking.”

It does seem, however, that opposition is loosening. Whereas last year, the police were called to the backpack giveaway to keep order, this year only the two protestors came. For the backers of the project, this is good news.