Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2007

PAFCU Sponsors Service Dog
Through their involvement with Canine Assistants, People’s Alliance Federal Credit Union (PAFCU) sponsored a dog for Ann Galanek, a woman from Scarsdale, N.Y. who is a double amputee. The sponsorship, which costs $15,500, covers the in-depth training, ongoing support and veterinarian care of the dog. Ann looks forward to the companionship the Canine Assistant will bring to her. She is a remarkable woman who overcame her subway accident and even volunteers once a week. The presentation was held at PAFCU’s Yonkers office on Friday, Mar. 30. Sue Harrison, co-director of National Volunteer Services at Canine Assistants, introduced Ann to Caesar, a Canine Assistant spokesdog.

Children Learn Financial ABC’s
Employees of Ridgewood Savings Bank gave a savings lesson to approximately 1,000 junior high school students in various public and private schools in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Long Island as part of the American Bankers Association Education Foundation's National Teach Children to Save Program, held on Apr. 24. The presentations included activities about the concept of saving, how interest makes money grow, how to budget, and how to distinguish between needs and wants.  Since the American Bankers Association Education Foundation's National Teach Children to Save Day began in 1997, thousands of bankers have taught money skills to more than one million students.

Honduran Mission for Lutheran HealthCare
In support of the New York Honduran Committee, eleven Lutheran HealthCare (LHC) volunteers traveled to Tela, Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, to provide free health care. The medical team examined more than 212 patients and performed 28 surgical procedures. The medical brigade performed health evaluations, hearing and speech screenings, and major and minor surgeries for children and adults. In addition, they provided fourteen people with hearing devices. “The medical mission is always geared first for children, however each year we see many adults that are in need as well,” says Mohan Kilaru, M.D., trauma surgeon at Lutheran Medical Center. “It’s our goal to help as many people as possible return to more normal, active lives, with the ability to work and contribute to their families.” In addition to paying their own expenses and using vacation time, the volunteers raised nearly $5,000 to purchase medical supplies and gifts for children.

Borough Legends on Celebrity Path at Botanic Gardens
On Wednesday, May 30, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined the president of Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) Scot Medbury and Chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation Robert B. Catell at this year’s Celebrity Path induction ceremony. Three distinguished Brooklynites were awarded bronze leaf stones, which will be placed in the beautiful Celebrity Path walkway near the Alfred T. White memorial in the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden at BBG. The honorees were the late Mad Magazine founder and mastermind William (“Bill”) Maxwell Gaines, Calypso songwriting legend Irving Burgie, and surprise honoree of the evening, Robert B. Catell, all joining the 157 other Brooklynites who have been honored at the Celebrity path since 1985.

Bringing Broadband Fight to Brooklyn
The New York City Broadband Advisory Committee, a joint commission between the Mayor’s office and the City Council, heard testimony on May 22 from Brooklyn residents about the need for high-speed Internet access across the city. The hearing was sponsored by Manhattan Council Member Gale A. Brewer, chair of the New York City Council’s Committee on Technology in Government, and was held in cooperation with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Council Members Albert Vann, Letitia James, Bill de Blasio, Vincent Gentile, Diana Reyna, Oliver Koppell, James Sanders and Simcha Felder. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps all submitted statements of support for the work of the Broadband Advisory Committee.

The United States ranks 15th in the number of broadband users per capita, and studies have found that of the 27 percent of U.S. households that do not use the Internet at all, they are more likely to have less education and lower incomes.