Happy Kwanza

YONKERS, NY — December 26, 2014 — Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and also celebrated in the Western African diaspora in other nations of the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving.

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YONKERS, NY — December 24, 2014 — The Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch, in conjunction with WEBS Career and Educational Counseling Service, is offering a free eight-week seminar for adults this Winter called: Take Charge! Career/Life Planning Over 50. Its purpose is to help adults over 50 assess themselves and plan a direction for the next stage of life. Options that will be considered include part/time and full/time work, volunteerism, entrepreneurial ventures, and learning and leisure opportunities.

The nineteen-hour seminar consists of an orientation session, eight group sessions and one individual session with a career counselor.

The Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch is one of five public libraries in the County participating in the WEBS project.   Sponsored by the Westchester Library System, WEBS has counseled more than 40,000 adults in the Westchester area..

Those who wish to attend the program must call WEBS at 674-3612 on or after January 5^th, to register.   Places will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

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Mayor Mike Spano greets a young girt at the Family Society Services of Yonkers and Kawasaki Rail Car at the toy and winter coat gift presentation.

YONKERS, NY – December 23, 2014 — Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano delivered gifts to children of the Family Service Society of Yonkers part of the City’s annual toy and coat drive. Santa Claus was on hand to distribute toys to the younger children and gift cards to children ages 12 -16 years old collected by the City of Yonkers. The coats were donated by Kawasaki Rail Car to all 119 children.

Family Service Society of Yonkers offers a variation of services to children who are in the care of kinship caregivers, adoptive or pre-adoptive parents instead of foster care. The goal of the program is to support the children and their caregivers with intensive case management services that will prevent them from re-entering the child welfare or juvenile justice systems.

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One-Stop Employment -Westchester | Putnam

WHITE PLAINS, NY – December 17, 2014 — Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino and Putnam County Executive MaryEllen O’Dell are teaming up for the third consecutive year to match Westchester and Putnam veterans seeking employment with businesses that are ready to hire by sponsoring the Veterans Virtual Job Fair. The online event runs through December 31 and provides an easy to use platform for employers and job seekers to connect. “Our veterans have the skills, training, professionalism and confidence to help any business grow,” said Astorino. “The tax credits and training subsidies currently available make it a great time to hire a veteran.”

Businesses can earn up to $8,000 in federal tax credits per employee for the veterans they hire. In addition, businesses can get up to $20,000 to train the qualifying employees they hire through the county’s Hire Westchester program. Elmsford-based SolarCity, a solar power business, is looking to hire installers, electricians, engineers and others through the program. “We’re proud of our history of hiring veterans here in New York and across the country,” said Leon Keshishian, regional vice president, east coast operations, for SolarCity. “The Veterans Virtual Job Fair is a great tool for us to connect with qualified workers, especially for our growing Westchester County operations.”

The online job fair is available free of charge. Employers can register their available positions and search online profiles, while veterans can post their resumes and search for jobs.

The jobs available through the online portal include positions in sales, retail, IT, accounting, financial services, graphic arts, custodial and more. Specific positions include clerks, butchers and managers for ShopRite, CNC operator for Fenbar Precision, property manager for Trion Real Estate Management and hundreds more.

“We are honored to employ many veterans at our company. Each veteran brings a unique set of skills to the organization, and their dedication and life experience sets a great example for our associates to follow,” said Tom Urtz, vice president of operations for ShopRite Supermarkets, Inc. “Our partnership with the Veterans Virtual Job Fair has allowed us to reach new heights, and we couldn’t be prouder to employ some of the bravest and most loyal men and women who truly understand our mission statement of caring deeply for others.”

Businesses interested in hiring a veteran and veterans looking for employment should visit http://westchesterveteranjobs.com/.

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20 Oak Street fire that would come to consume the “suspicious” fire at the abandoned structure. Adjoining houses were maintained by the efforts of the YFD.

YONKERS, NY – December 14, 2014 — A two-alarm fire first reported at approximately 9:00 p.m. had been called to 20 Oak Street, in Yonkers, NY. In time it was to become a three-alarm fire. Mutual Aid from surrounding departments came to Yonkers assistance.

Heavy fire and thick smoke was consuming the three-story wood frame house. Yonkers Tribune has learned that Yonkers Fire Engine 307 was one of the attending crew on the scene. The three-story  wood frame house was abandoned. All external fire was no longer visible and had been extinguished, but interior inspection had yet to be completed as of approximately 9:50 p.m. A line was being stretched so as to reach the first floor as of about 10:00 p.m. About 7 minutes later, caution reared its head as the structural integrity of the interior was questioned.

Con Ed was earlier thought to be on-site but an estimated time of arrival for Con Ed had yet to be determined.

As of 10:15 p.m. Deputy Chief Thomas Fitzpatrick advises there were 10 companies and approximately 60 Fire Department personnel were at the scene.

Yonkers Fire Chief Joseph DeLasho was in command.

Auxiliary lights had been ordered.

Con Ed Electric arrived at the Office of Emergency Management at approximately 10:25 p.m., over an hour after initially requested to attend.

The Yonkers Fire Department and Yonkers Police Department are together investigating the fire which has been labeled as “suspicious”.

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YONKERS, NY

The Christmas caroling begins at Noontime, concluding after visiting six different nursing homes in Yonkers.

12:00 Noon: Guild Care, 4 Executive Plaza

1:00pm: Malotz Home, at the rear of St. John’s Hospital

2:00pm: Sans Souci, corner of Park and High Streets

3:00pm: Regency Care, Ashburton and Palisades Avenues

4:00pm: St. Joseph’s, South Broadway near Vark St.

5:00pm, Mary the Queen Home, on Vark St., between Riverdale Avenue and South Broadway.

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Pam Young is wiz at getting organized; from a reformed slob’s point of view. Her latest book. The Joy of Being Disorganized”, is a must read.

I was shopping at Michael’s (the craft store) in the late afternoon when I heard a conversation in the next aisle between a mother and her six-year-old child.

“Oh, Mama, look at this!”

“Uh huh.”

“I love this!!”

“Uh huh.”

“I have one don’t I!!!”

“Uh huh.”

“You made it for me didn’t you Mama!!!!”

“Uh huh.”

“Can you make one for Sissy?”

“Uh huh.”

As I listened to the excitement and love for her mother in the child’s voice and the drone of her mother’s responses, tears welled up in my eyes. I thought about how many times I’d done the same thing with my children when they were young. After all, I had a centerpiece to make, a decoration for the coffee table to think about, colors to consider, people to impress and not enough time!

At that moment in Michael’s I would have given anything to go back to just one time in the aisle of a store, hear my child’s voice and not miss what was really happening. Love, joy, adoration. The stuff of Christmas!

My kids are grown now and I’ll never again hear their little bell voices exclaiming their joy over something. That time is gone forever and it flew past like a humming bird on speed.

I had to get to the next aisle and see the child! With tears streaming down my cheeks, I peeked around the corner and looked at the small girl’s happy, little face. She was all dressed up in a Christmassy dress and fancy socks. Her hair was dark brown in shoulder-length curls. She was holding a Christmas stocking with a Santa Claus on it. She looked up and smiled at me. Sissy was asleep in a stroller. Then I looked at the mother. She was tired; I could see it in her eyes. But when she looked into mine, she smiled seeing my love for her child and the moment.

I told her what had gone through my mind listening to their conversation. Her tears started to collect as she re-ran their dialogue in her mind and said, “Now you’re making me cry.” She dabbed her eye with the inside of her wrist, “Thank you, I needed to hear this. I get so busy and it’s easy to neglect her natural enthusiasm.” I told the mother it was obvious that her child had not been neglected, because she was such a happy little girl, and that I understood how easy it was to get wrapped up in our own thoughts and miss these holy moments.

I left Michael’s knowing I wanted to write about this. Your children adore you and they are like little joy dispensers, especially during this time of year. Since it’s also an especially busy time for you, it can be so easy to miss those gifts of love and joy your children are eager to give to you. They’re gifts that can’t be wrapped up with festive paper or charged on MasterCard.

Stay awake! This is a holy time.

Merry Christmas!

For more from Pam Young go to www.cluborganized.com. You’ll find many musings, videos of Pam in the kitchen preparing delicious meals, videos on how to get organized, ways to lose weight and get your finances in order, all from a reformed SLOB’s point of view.

Pam is a reformed slob, and co-author of the best-selling book, Sidetracked Home Executives: from Pigpen to Paradise, which has sold more than a million and a half copies. But don’t be too impressed by the number as Pam is positive 750,000 disorganized moms, bought it, lost it and had to buy it again. With that book, she and her sister became known as the “Slob Sisters” and appeared on Oprah, Live with Regis, The Today Show, CBS Morning Show, Donahue, Geraldo and many other popular television shows throughout the country.

Pam has spoken to thousands of groups from a small klatch of women in a church basement to Fortune Five Hundred companies like Standard Oil and General Mills. She toured the country on media tours for Proctor and Gamble and American Express teaching with humor and insight. Her practical steps to becoming more organized and having clean, cozy, peaceful and happy homes have helped millions of women.

Pam and her husband Terry live in Woodland, Washington, high in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Together, they have created a new venture. With a major in drama (not in college, but in life) Pam has always been able to see with the eyes of a child. Writing a shelf of “self-help” books to inspire disorganized moms, Pam’s focus has always been on solutions to the challenges mothers have in life.

The video-based House Fairy Program on the Internet was designed to inspire and motivate children to keep their rooms clean and neat, have good manners, and help with the family chores. Pam’s hope is, “that we can help this next generation before they get homes of their own to trash, by letting the House Fairy inspire and motivate children and reinforce the desire of our magnificent moms to have happy, healthy, well-behaved children.” www.housefairy.org

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Celebrating the Holiday Season in Downtown Yonkers.

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“We are so grateful that New York’s finest were able to quickly intercede and kill the perpetrator of the horrific attack before more harm could be done and we also appreciate all that Commissioner Bratton and the NYPD, along with the Department of Homeland Security, have done to protect New Yorker‘s from terrorism and violent extremism.  Given the recent gruesome murders of four rabbis at prayer inside a Jerusalem synagogue, as well as attacks on European synagogues and the murder of a rabbi in Florida last spring, it is important for federal agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security, to fully vet the background of the perpetrator and his motivations,” said Rabbi Steve Burg, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Eastern Director, and Mark Weitzman, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Government Affairs.

Weitzman and Burg added, “such an investigation would ensure there are no questions left open about this attack, and would represent a strong statement that the US government will act vigorously to guarantee that houses of worship remain sanctuaries and not targets.”

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