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Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler warns landlords vs illegal, multiple bedspacers
By Cristina DC Pastor The Elmhurst, Queens apartment where housekeeper Wilma de Jesus lives looks like a maze for lab rats. The living room is creatively partitioned using book shelves, wall dividers, and bamboo screens. Each space has a futon or a sleeping bag a tenant calls her bedspace. Wilma shares this apartment with a […]
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‘When Strong Winds Blow:’ A children’s book with a message of hope
By Julie Stroud Typhoon Haiyan, known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, was the strongest typhoon ever recorded, with unprecedented wind speeds. Despite advanced warnings, Yolanda exacted a devastating toll on many Filipino provinces. Buildings and trees were leveled, and there was significant loss of life in the surge of water. Headwaters Relief Organization joined […]
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22 families displaced by Haiyan receive homes courtesy of Build a Shelter project
The Build A Shelter Project (BASP), a community-based and Consulate-led initiative aimed at building more than a hundred houses in four villages in Eastern Samar and Leyte in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, handed over 22 houses to 22 families in Barangay Pago in Tanauan, Leyte on April 23, 2015. Vivian Talambiras Cruz, one of […]
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Pommes Frites manager Jordan Cezar on East Village explosion: ‘Traumatizing!’
By Cristina DC Pastor It was around 3 p.m. of March 26, and Jordan Cezar, shift manager at Pommes Frites, was about to take his lunch at one corner of the restaurant when he experience a really loud explosion. He felt the room shake, and the poster décors on the walls and the kitchen pans […]
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Visiting the 9/11 museum and trying to make sense of what happened on that fateful day
By John Sapida I was a young child, around 9 years old, when the September 11 attacks happened. I do not remember much about my personal reaction, or if I had any, but I knew that amidst the emotions and confusion around me, this was something out of the ordinary. Recently, I decided to pay […]
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For Haiyan families, a bowl of soup can make a difference
By Melody Garcia-Muniz An all-volunteer Mobile Soup Kitchen for Kids (MSKK) was organized to feed children and families in dire need of assistance following the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm ever to hit the Philippines Formed immediately in the aftermath of the super typhoon in November 2013, MSKK went to Tacloban with […]
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Where there’s hurricane or bombing, there’s a warden eager to help
By Jen Furer In 2012, my sheltered view of America was shattered when I received this message on Facebook: “I am Lisa and I live in one of the Arab countries. I am searching for a Filipino community that can help me because I am very worried for my mother who is working with an […]
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A lost phone and then a storybook for kids: A family pays it forward
By Joseph Jerome Francia Almost a year ago today, I lost my iPhone at a car wash. I drove home a clean, shiny car, while ruefully estimating the cost of a replacement phone. Despondent, I thought: This has got to be my most expensive car wash. Minnie, my ever supportive wife, tried to console me. […]
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2 years after superstorm Sandy, how is RN hero Menchu de Luna Sanchez doing?
By Cristina DC Pastor She is still working at the NYU Langone Medical Center but in another department. She still lives in her Secaucus, New Jersey home with her husband Judith (yes, the girl’s name) and children Jude and Michelle, their home for the last 22 years. She still looks back with overflowing pride at […]