The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast - EP018: Lights in the Sky

Out now on all podcasting platforms, The Bay Ridge Digest Podcast episode 18. We find lights in the sky as our community comes together to support each other. 

Featured in this episode are these segments: 

• Christopher Safi on surviving pediatric cancer, founding Little Golden Light (@littlegoldenlight_org), and their upcoming September Gala  

• Michelle from Anthony’s Butcher & Deli (@anthonysbutcher) with your weeknight options

• Jana Zolle on all the things Peace By Piece Thrift Store and Community Center (@peacebypiecethrift) offers  

• July 1959 Local Politics and Bridge News

• Jaqueline Strano (@jmstrano) on her upcoming embroidery workshop at Curated Momentum (@curatedmomentum)

• The Dog Days of Summer

• Three doggy jokes with Freddie Friday (@freddiefridaystoryfuntime) with a PSA for the Itty Bitty Kitty Bay Ridge Cat Rescue (@ittybittykittynybayridge)

• Rob Burnett (@burnie_re) and Luisa Zapata (@luisa_inbayridge) with your real estate needs

• Looking ahead to the Harvest season and Old Home Week

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Transcript

SPEAKER_14 0:01

I think one of the things that I liked about Beyridge was that it felt like a small town and a big city. It's a very close-knit community, very family-oriented. I saw a lot of people coming together to support each other, which was very different from the other parts of the city that I had been in. Part of what I studied in school and the work I wanted to pursue was working with immigrants and refugees. And obviously, there's our community here is incredibly diverse, and there's a significant immigrant population here as well. So I liked that close-knit small town vibe of the community and still having the opportunity to like support the people who are building a new life here.

SPEAKER_09 0:52

Tonight we find lights in the sky as our community comes together to support each other. Subscribe to the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast everywhere you get a podcast. For more info and how to submit a story lead, please go to BayridgeDigest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing BayridgeDigest at gmail.com and follow on Instagram at Bayridge Digest. Hey, have you subscribed to the Bay Ridge Digest Monday morning roundup email yet? Subscribe for free at BayridgeDigest.com, and every Monday morning you'll receive my weekly email of important news and events happening in the Bay Ridge area. Know of important stories or upcoming events? Send them to me. My goal is to make this the most jam-packed Bay Ridge email out there. You can submit things to me in the forms at BayridgeDigest.com. Also for one monthly fee, your business's logo can appear in the weekly emails with a link out to the destination of your choice. Once again, that's one monthly fee to be featured in four to five emails per month. Interested in this and want to know more? Check out my media kit at BayridgeDigest.com. Already know you want to be a sponsor? Do so at patreon.com slash the Bayridge Digest. And if you're a person who wants to support, you can do so for $5 per month through Patreon. Click the Red Tier Personal Supporters tab in the memberships section.

SPEAKER_17 2:37

Sometimes I don't talk much about why my job on spending my time on helping children and family. I would die with no blackoma. And from eighteen months to I don't know the age, but from two thousand three to two thousand and seven, I would give them no blackoma. I'm a two-time four no blackoma cancer survival. Basically a very aggressive form of cancer. My brain and my spiral would let me to have long data facts from cancer. Wanted to remission in 2013 and 2015 to 2022. I kept relaping with multiple meningomas. Meningeoma did a glass of brain tumor that grow multiple times. No matter how much time you take it out, it can go back. Thank God. Last time I had this case was in 2021. So I was in seventh grade, I had meningioma. I was in high school, I had meningioma. Going into college, I had meningioma, and then once I was done with that in college I had a liver tumor.

SPEAKER_09 4:04

This is Christopher Safi, founder of Little Golden Light.

SPEAKER_17 4:09

Hi, my name is Christopher Safi. I am the founder of Little Golden Light and current president. I started Little Golden Light because of the journey that I had with cancer. A very difficult one, and I'm still dealing with the effect from cancer. Even today in my adulthood, even though I was a pediatric cancer survivor. Today I'm just gonna talk a little bit about my story and how it led to starting Little Golden Light from just a very small local pole drive to now trying to launch a comfortable child center transportation program for children with pediatric cancer and their families, and not worry about you know paying wide share company to take them or relying on a service that insurance company takes them with.

SPEAKER_09 5:07

As you just heard, Chris is a multiple-time cancer survivor. How did Little Golden Light start?

SPEAKER_17 5:14

So it would never end for me. I mean, just talking from 2015 to 2021, it was a never-ending health problem for me. From cancer, caused by cancer, from the chemo, from the radiation, message with your body. I was just MSK, I call that the hospital room, my condo in the city. I was always there. And you know, that timeline made me really realize missing things that didn't happen to me. The experience of transportation, how expensive it was. The good thing was people I didn't know used to come in and do activities with me, give me toys, candy, talk to me. At this moment of time, I was dealing with a lot of anger. That it was never ending, and anxiety and depression and all that, and just didn't want to deal with that. And at the same time, I was dealing with I couldn't relate to anybody of me going through this. So this is why I decided to start with the toy drive in high school. I never thought of it, I was doing it to give back. It blew up every year, it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So I kept going with the toy drive, went into college initially to do some form of business, but I didn't know. I fell into project management, which opened my eyes to nonprofit. I was more into construction management, project management. Now I worked for the city as a project manager, but that led me and opened up my eyes to understanding what nonprofit was. I mean, I really never knew what it was. I was just doing these toy drive, no names, nothing. It was just giving back. And it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and people wanted to get involved. So where does Little Golden Light's name come from? Little Golden Light just didn't come out of anywhere. When I first started this toy drive back in December of 2018, it was just a toy drive, never really had a name for it. When I started thinking of forming into a nonprofit back in like 2020, once I graduated high school, I was dealing a lot with my health and I was spending a lot of time in the hospital. One of the child specialists, someone in the hospital at work, they were very aware of my children. I mean, I was giving them so much toys, and then the following couple months later, I ended up in the hospital. Sometimes I was looking forward to nonprofit. I'm always looking for a name, and I always wanted golden. The color gold or gold ribbon represents Pediatric Cancer, which is September. That's why we do our gala, try to aim to keep it in September, because Pediatric Cancer wins this month. So I always wanted golden and I always wanted something to talk about children, and I always wanted to bring light to children who are battling pediatric cancer. I tried different names and then I landed on little golden light. Little rep against children, gold represents pediatric cancer, and bringing light to the children battling pediatric cancer. It has a very personal meaning, not just to me, but to the children who are going through cancer. Just always want to remind people, like from the title, who you're working with or who you're dealing with. And I have multiple stories of me opposing people I just don't know. They said to me, What is little golden light? It's you know cute as a duck holding a ribbon. You mind sharing with me? This is just reaching out to random people who may be interested in helping us. And I share the story, and people open up their hearts and open up their time to listen to the story of Little Golden Light and what he's trying to accomplish. One time I was at a job, and if we had a company, conversation shifted from me getting the job. I shifted the conversation because of the name of Little Golden Light. Where it led to that company did a fun way to fight. It attracts people, it makes them curious what is this name. It took some time for me, but it really means that to help children with cancer. Little Golden Light.

SPEAKER_09 9:37

As Chris mentioned, toy drives have been Little Golden Light's backbone. Their most significant toy drives come during the holiday season.

SPEAKER_17 9:45

I mean, the biggest one we ever had was last year. We did almost 15,000 toys. Well, we have enough toys to give out 10 different cancer hospitals in Manhattan. I would say Manhattan and throughout the world, including one of the McDonald's house. Also, we do quick fix in July. We save some toys because we have so much. I mean, even hospitals talents, we don't have room for them. So they reached back after us, we organized them with quickness in July. We're gonna be doing it this July. I have we're running a little late on it, but we're gonna get them in time for the month of July. That's just one of the months where they run low on toys. So it's crazy how we went from 480 toys. The first tour drive ever, to doing over 10,000 toys.

SPEAKER_09 10:30

Where are these toys? So you have like a warehouse somewhere or like a storage facility?

SPEAKER_17 10:35

I wish. I mean I wish if anyone wants to donate an empty store for us and be rich or we could use it for a nice tour drive, we would love to use that space for a couple months. No, I mean last year we really needed a space between my garage and my basement and a little bit of my living room because it showed up. So now this year we're really looking for a space to operate. If it could just be donated or tax examples to give it to you, you know. We just need it from November to January, just to get organized. No one coming in an hour just for us to work after hours. It's tough. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. A lot of fun.

SPEAKER_09 11:15

We'll pick up with Chris on forming Little Golden Light as a 501c3, the need for reliable pediatric cancer treatment transportation, and their upcoming September gala. Later in this episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Everything is home beat here. Family owned, we really appreciate local support. We also do custom orders. So if you wanted a certain type of sausage, you're looking for a lamb cut a certain way, a steak setup cut a certain size, those are old things that we can do here. We're going on about 11 years in this location with my dad and I here as partners. We're just really happy to be part of the community giving you guys quality meats, prepared food if you don't feel like cooking, even if it's a local Italian bread on a Sunday, boy gear for that as well. So come check us out and can't wait to see you.

SPEAKER_14 13:18

And then in 2020, COVID happened, and things with my previous job got really complicated, and so I started working full-time here, took on eventually the manager position, and so then in 2021 I moved to Bay Ridge to be closer to work, and I've lived here ever since.

SPEAKER_09 13:44

This is Yana Zoli.

SPEAKER_14 13:46

My name is Yana Zoli, and I am the general manager at Peace by Piece Thrift Store in Bay Ridge at 6931 Third Avenue. So our name is Peace by Piece, and that is spelled piece like love and peace by piece like a piece of a puzzle. There's a few meanings behind it, but on the surface, obviously we're thrift store, so everything comes to us one piece at a time, and we sell it one piece at a time. But the bigger picture of that is people and community are not built up all at once. It happens one piece at a time. And so our hope is that through every donated item, every price tag, every conversation, every relationship, every class, every volunteer, every team member, every part of our organization and operation is building up our neighbors and our community piece by piece. And through each of those small acts, our neighbors experience a little bit more peace. And so that is why we chose that name. So our vision is to support and welcome immigrants and newcomers to our community to see our community thrive together. Our mission to do that is to provide an affordable retail space that supports community programs and initiatives.

SPEAKER_09 15:03

She actually started volunteering at piece by piece before the location at 6931 Third Avenue even opened.

SPEAKER_14 15:10

We were literally in a storage unit, pricing clothes and home goods and those kinds of things. And then we were supposed to open in the spring of 2020, and then COVID happened, so we couldn't do that. And it took us three more months to open. But in those three months, we started to do food box distributions out on our sidewalk. And so I was part of the team that was giving out those boxes of food in that three-month window. And so even before we were formally open, we were running programs to support our neighbors in such a critical time.

SPEAKER_09 15:55

So, Jana, what are the programs being offered?

SPEAKER_14 15:58

All of our classes are on Mondays. We have our English as a second language, ESL. That's probably our biggest class at this point. And then every two weeks we also have a knitting and crochet group, and then we also have a weekly U.S. citizenship class.

SPEAKER_09 16:13

The ESL class, how many people are generally coming to something like that?

SPEAKER_14 16:17

We have at least five or six students, and not all of them come every week.

SPEAKER_09 16:21

Now, are these students from they all come from a similar background or totally so how are they communicating with each other?

SPEAKER_14 16:29

By practicing their English. Our current class, we have students from Egypt, Mexico, Ukraine, and Vietnam. So very different parts of the world and very different levels of English. And so the primary, I think a lot of the class conversation revolves around life in Bay Ridge and navigating all the things related to New York City, the public transit and all those things. And because they're at like different levels, the higher levels are able to help with the lower levels. So there's a lot of like that kind of collaboration and partnership in the class.

SPEAKER_09 17:07

Are you the one teaching? Now, how many languages do you speak?

SPEAKER_14 17:10

Basically, just one, but I've studied German in high school and I am currently learning Farsi because my husband's around.

SPEAKER_09 17:19

What kind of items does the store accept for resale?

SPEAKER_14 17:24

As I tell my staff what I'm training in the there are four categories of things we take: clothing, all kinds of clothing, shoes, jewelry, accessories. So all kinds of clothing, small housewares, toys, and media. So like your books, DVDs, CDs, those things. There's five categories of things we don't take, and that is furniture, baby furniture, such as strollers, car seats, cribs, those things, large electronics, medical supplies that includes wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, and feed.

SPEAKER_09 17:58

So if someone wants to bring their stuff to you, is this donation?

SPEAKER_14 18:04

Yes. We are entirely based on donations and the generosity of our neighbors.

SPEAKER_09 18:08

In terms of things people have donated here, what are some of the more memorable, ridiculous things that stood out to you?

SPEAKER_14 18:15

We have gotten all kinds of random and interesting things. I was reminded the other day that someone dropped off a stove one time. We've gotten samurai swords. They support our own programs. A lot of it goes into our feed box distribution as well as our classes. But we also partner with nonprofits like Children of the City to provide more programming, and some of our profit also supports them as well.

SPEAKER_09 18:45

Can you talk to me more about this food box distribution? So, what is going on with that right now?

SPEAKER_14 18:50

Typically, we do those about every two months. Our last one was in June. I don't have a date for our next one yet, but typically we open the sign-up one week before each event, and then people can come to the store with their photo ID and proof of address. They have to have a Bay Ridge address, and then they can register for one of the boxes, and then we reserve it for them on the day of the event.

SPEAKER_09 19:10

So, what kind of deals and other moments of note does piece by piece have going on this summer?

SPEAKER_14 19:14

We'll be out for the summer stroll on July 31st and 14th. Yeah, so we'll have extra inventory out on the sidewalk. We're also planning to do a fill-a-bag event. So we'll have piece-by-piece tote bags available and people can fill them and buy the bag for $10. We also have a loyalty card. So for every $15 that you spend in a visit, you get a stamp on the card. Once you fill up the card, you get $15 off. Thursdays we do double stamps, and then often during holidays or special events, we also do double stamps. So you get two stamps for every 15 you spend.

SPEAKER_09 19:52

To find out more info about the three courses Peace by Peace offers, please go to PeacebyPeastriftstores.org and click the events tab. And that's P E A C E P I E E C E. If you're interested in volunteering, you can stop by 6931 Third Avenue or call the store at 347-497-5332. All donation dropouts need to be received at this location. There's also a Fifth Avenue Retail at 8418 Fifth Avenue. You can follow on Instagram and Facebook at Peace by Peace Red. And on TikTok, at Peace by Peace NYC.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

And if you happen to be in Staten Island, there's also a location at the real five New York Lane.

SPEAKER_09 20:58

At about 10:30 at night. It's thunderstorming. We're supposed to get nearly two inches of rain by tomorrow. We're walking to my car on Shore Road, near my apartment at 9269. There's been Narrows Bridge controversy. Residents along the 7th Avenue route, whose homes were acquired by the city, began receiving their rent notices. Former landlords who are now tenants are furious. Mrs. Beatrice Tavillo at 7122 7th Avenue received a bill for $107 a month for her five rooms. Her former tenant upstairs, who used to pay her $75 a month, only has to pay the city $70. Many of the 1,600 families affected by the bridge are expected to protest the new rents. They're going to Supreme Court Justice J. Vincent Keeto, who presided at the condemnation proceedings. The Department of Real Estate defended the levies. They cited the rates as similar to other five and six room apartments elsewhere, also admitting the former homeowners would have to pay more for their apartments. Meet the Press should be signing on NBC as part of their monitor broadcast. Monitor is a weekend service offered by NBC to its affiliated stations. It's a magazine of the air, news, sports, comedy variety, music, celebrity interviews, and other short segments. It debuted in 1955 and has been a big hit with our generation of on-the-go listeners. Car radio is now standard, and portables are becoming more and more popular. Tonight our governor Nelson Rockefeller is a guest of the program.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Let's start with an easy one, Governor. Do you expect a deficit, a surplus, or a balanced budget for New York this year?

SPEAKER_10 22:57

Deficit.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Your controller, Mr. Levitt, says you're going to have a surplus of $130 million. Where does he get his surplus and where do you get your deficit?

SPEAKER_10 23:06

Well, I wish, frankly, Larry, that I felt he was right. It was one it would be a wonderful thing for the state. But my estimate is that we'll be between $100 and $150 million behind, as was originally estimated, then we'll have to borrow $100 and perhaps use another $50 from the Capital Reserve Fund.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Governor, if Mr. Levitt proves right and you prove wrong, and there is a surplus of $130 million, can the people of New York State expect a cut in their income taxes?

SPEAKER_10 23:40

Well, if I were faced with the circumstance which you say he predicts, uh, then I would have to uh consider the question which you raise. And it would be a great pleasure if I could do so.

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Uh, there are many political experts who believe that your increase in the income tax in New York uh was something of a political bunger and hurt you politically. Do you think it has hurt you any?

SPEAKER_09 24:06

A mass meeting to protest the city rent scale for Bay Ridge families has been announced for Monday, August 3rd. More than 200 former property owners say they'll be attending.

unknown 24:16

J.

SPEAKER_09 24:16

Gerald Shea, chairman of the Save Bay Ridge Committee, stated that the city has never been fair to Bay Ridge residents in the bridge matter. And he wouldn't be surprised if the rents are a way of retaliating against Bay Ridgians for fighting so hard to save their homes. In the end, all the rent protests will be temporary. Work is set to begin on the Narrows Bridge on Thursday, August 13th, near the site of the Staten Island anchorage at Fort Wadsworth. The bridge is scheduled to be completed by 1965. It's now only a matter of time before the families along both the 7th Avenue and Gowanis Expressway approach are evicted and their homes torn down in the name of progress. Interested in advertising your business on the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast? Get in touch with me at James at the Wallbreakers.com. Now, enjoy this teaser for Burning Gotham. What's Burning Gotham? It's an historically accurate audio fiction soap opera set in 1835 in New York City. I created, produced, directed, and co-wrote it. The first eight episodes are out anywhere you get a podcast, or at Burninggotham.com. Episodes are 10 to 15 minutes in length. Burning Gotham made the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival as an audio selection. Right now, experience New York City like you've never before.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

The speculation is out of control. The whole Republican gentleman!

SPEAKER_08 26:15

Will you make the right deal?

SPEAKER_13 26:16

Memories are short in New York. If you don't make a fortune, someone else will.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I know you've been bringing rosemary into port illegally. I have eyes and ears and noses and tongues everywhere.

SPEAKER_08 26:30

Or fall to greed.

SPEAKER_12 26:31

If I was caught with diamonds at any time, any time, my sister and I would have been gang raped and murdered. I do this for you. Look at what we got here, Brick Duck!

SPEAKER_15 26:41

Looks like we're caught as a dandy and a whore all alone on South Street with nowhere to hide. Ain't that right, boys? But whatever you choose, there's the choice.

SPEAKER_09 26:53

You just always make the same choice. The work for yourself. Just make sure you get out in time. Out now on your favorite podcast app. Burning Gotham. The 2022 Tribeca Select Audio soap opera. About the fastest growing city in the world and the opportunists who shaped it. To find out more, go to Burninggotham.com.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

I've shown Michael Price how he behaved. I'm self-taught.

SPEAKER_16 27:42

I started doing it about five years ago. Like I did not grow up with a grandmother who embroidered and taught me how to do it. I've always enjoyed art. I love art history in particular. I love stories. I love history. When I was probably in high school at some point, I was doing watercolors and acrylics and working in that area. I had gone to a museum. It was actually the JFK Library. And they had some of Jackie Kennedy's clothing on display. And I was fascinated with looking at those clothes and wondering, I wonder what those clothes would say if they could talk. That is kind of where my fascination with clothing as it pertains to an art form and as it pertains to history kind of came into being. And anytime I would go to a museum, I would go and look at the clothing and the fabrics and the embroidery, and I would just wonder what was this person's life like? What happened to them while they were wearing this? What happened to them when they were embroidering this tapestry? Like what was their day-to-day life like? I was always just fascinated with the stories that people could tell.

SPEAKER_09 29:05

This is Jacqueline Strano.

SPEAKER_16 29:09

Hi, my name is Jackie Strano. I am an embroidery artist that works under the name Recamo Strano. My work is less about decorative and more about storytelling. I work with vintage images and I embroider over them to create a visual narrative of women's stories. I've been doing this now for probably about four years, selling my artwork in galleries and at art fairs and craft fairs throughout the New York area. And I have been expanding my business slowly. I have been a resident of Bay Ridge now for over 10 years. I can't imagine living anywhere else at this point. I love it here.

SPEAKER_09 29:57

Jackie's originally from Boston, but moved to New York for college and never left. Her last name, Strano, translates to strange in Italian.

SPEAKER_16 30:07

So Ricamo Strano, my last name is Strano, which is Italian for strange. And Ricamo is embroidery. So yeah, there's a little bit of crossover there. It could be foreign too. You could use it as foreign strano. It's also strange, you know. It comes from a very specific area of Sicily. It's the only time that I've come across that name, is in the hometown where my um father's side of the family came from. It's not a very popular name. So we must have at some point immigrated to Sicily and they just called us weirdos.

SPEAKER_09 30:49

For those who don't know, what exactly is embroidery?

SPEAKER_16 30:52

So embroidering is a needlework technique. It goes back to probably as far back as the Roman times. It's often used to embellish fabrics, to design motifs. They became very popular in the royal courts to decorate their different fabrics in their dresses and for men as well. They also were used to tell stories. There are plenty of tapestries throughout Europe that tell stories of conquests, wars. Instead of a paintbrush, you use thread. And there's different types of stitches that you can learn to create different types of textures, different types of techniques that you can use to create different types of motifs. Also, you can just use it with the colors to create almost like a paintbrush effect. So some techniques you would look at it and you wouldn't even know that it's made from actual thread. So there's a multitude of different things that you can do with embroidery and embroidery thread. I've chosen to use vintage images that I heat, transfer onto fabrics, and I use that as my base. Some people use designs that they create, whether it's flower motifs or what have you, and you can use it to, again, in a more functional way for clothing, or you can use it to create pieces of artwork that you can hang on your ball.

SPEAKER_09 32:39

How did Jackie's embroidery journey begin?

SPEAKER_16 32:42

I got into fashion, but I got into the business aspect of it. So I was more into buying for retail stores and eventually planning. I was a planner for big retailers because, again, I didn't go into the design side of it because I wanted to make money, you know. It wasn't until a few years into it that I was like, you know, I'm just gonna go back to school. I'm gonna learn something that I really love. And that's what kind of spurred going back to me as a younger person and really enjoying art from more of a historical writing aspect, but also I started to paint more. I started to design ideas and things, and it just slowly came into being that I picked up a needle and a thread and boom. And then at one point I thought, I wonder if I heat transfer images onto fabric and use that and kind of create something, and then it kind of just organically grew. It was definitely a process that I went through.

SPEAKER_09 33:55

She's got a workshop coming up at Curated Momentum at 8514 Third Avenue on Saturday, August 1st, between 1 and 4 p.m. How did she find the space? What's the workshop all about?

SPEAKER_16 34:07

I actually just walked by their space one day. I was looking for a space to possibly have a workshop. I walked by, I sent them an email, they got back to me, we had a discussion, and it's a great space. It's got great light, they're great people, so I said, okay, let's try it. The workshop, we will work on a heat transferred image of Audrey Hepburn, and we will create her dress as well as flowers. The workshop will consist of four different stitches that you will learn throughout the three hours that will give you a nice foundation of embroidery. I will also explain the process of heat transferring images onto fabric. However, it's beyond the scope of the workshop to actually do it because then that workshop would be a little too long for everybody. But I will explain how to do it if they're interested in continuing to do it. And again, they'll have four stitches that they will solidly understand and that will help them build on the foundation of embroidery. They will walk away with a beautiful art piece that they can hang. They will always have access to me. If they have questions after they can sign up for my newsletter, I will definitely be having more workshops, teaching different techniques, different ideas. And if they have any questions or they need resources or whatever, I'm more than able to send them in the right direction.

SPEAKER_09 35:51

Hey Jackie, where can people buy tickets for the workshop? Find out other info about your products, and where you'll be this summer.

SPEAKER_16 35:58

They can go to my website, which is strangeembroidery.com. And if you sign up for my newsletter, you will get information about sales, my craft fairs, art fairs, workshops. And I also give first dibs on any new product that I have coming out. I do flash sales just for my subscribers. So to sign up for my newsletter is a great tool because you'll get insider information. You'll know exactly what I'm doing. And I do have people who follow my newsletter. When I have art fairs or craft fairs, a lot of the stuff that I have sometimes isn't on my website. They stop by, they say hi, pick up new stuff. So it's strangenbroidery.com. My Instagram account is JM Strano, S-T-R-A-N-L. And that also has all of my links in my bio to my website. I do sell patterns for people who are interested in embroidery. The patterns include video tutorial on how to do the stitches, as well as the breakdown of the colors that I use for each piece. Of course, you can use any colors you want, but if you want the piece to have the same colors as me, I break everything down. All the instructions are there. So that's another resource to get me.

SPEAKER_09 37:31

Once again, Jackie's website is strangeembroidery.com. Her Instagram is at JMstrano. For a direct link to her embroidery workshop and to buy art, use link tree slash R I C A M O S T R A N O. I'll have info for Jackie's workshop in my Bayridge Digest Monday morning roundup email. Sign up for that for free at Bayridge Digest.com. You've heard this term a million times, right? But do you know where it comes from? According to astrology, dog days occur in the summer, at the time of the rising of the dog star, Sirius, which sits in the constellation Canis Major, with a greater dog. It's also usually the hottest time of the year, and some say the most unwholesome. The summer of 1959 in Bay Ridge was no exception. That July, there were at least three reported cases of people being bit by dogs. One local vet speculated that it wasn't the heat, it was the humanity. The home reporter mentioned that, with kids home from school and out and about playing, as well as doors and yards open, dogs were more likely to get out. At the time, rabies shots given to dogs protected them for one to three years. And anytime someone was bitten by a stray, rabies shots had to be administered to the victim. Veterinarian Frank Weisher of 511 73rd Street made sure to mention that while there was really no cause for alarm, parents should make sure their children don't try to play with strange or stray dogs. Frederick Fred Friday back with another popular joke session. Here on the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast, isn't that right, producer? What's the deal with the dog biting stuff, you know? What are we writing ring segments on dog biting, you know? I don't know, Freddy. I'm just reporting the news. Yeah, well, here's some news. You're lucky the only thing I want to nibble on is some chocolate chip cookies, you know, people. Got some jokes today? Of course I got some jokes. But before we do that, please tell the people, you know, tell the people out there. Tell them why we're here. Well, as always, before our jokes, we'd like to mention the Itty Bitty Kitty Beyridge Cat Rescue. Stop in the Henry Hardy's at 9314 Third Avenue for more info and see if you can still donate 25 bucks and get a free t-shirt for helping to save these cats. Now all the proceeds go to vet visits, cat food, and supplies. You can also get in touch through their website at ittybittykitty ny.org, and you can donate that way as well. And t-shirt shipping is available if you don't live in the area. So to see more of the cats they're helping, where do they go, Freddy? You can visit the Instagram page, you know? Yeah, at ittybittykitty nybayridge. Yeah. Whatever my producer just said before, you know, we're reaching the dog days of summer, people. You know, we're already thinking about well, maybe some people they love the summer. I like summer, you know, even though uh my birthday is in October. But I like summer. But you know, maybe we're already thinking about apple pie, corn, you know, the harvest time stuff. So, anyway, the dog days of summer. Yeah, yeah, so I got some doggy jokes. Oh, you do? Oh yeah, I got doggy jokes, people. Get ready. What are you gonna tell them? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, people. First up, you know, this is gonna be a triple header, you know. What kind of markets do doggies like to avoid? What kind of markets do doggies like to avoid? I'll say it before you can. I'll say it twice. Okay. Come on, people, this one's obvious as a as a softball, you know. What kind of markets do doggies like to avoid? Yeah. Well, what kind? Flea markets. Sorry, Caesars Bay. We have a new eye. And maybe even whatever was gonna go where Century 21 used to be. Yeah, I got a better joke. And this one happened for real, you know? What happened for real? That's what I'm about to tell you. Well then how's it a joke? Well, listen. What happened to the poor old doggy when she had puppies on the side of the road? And it's sad too. What happened to the poor doggy when she had puppies on the side of the road? Yeah. You know what happened? No, I wasn't there. You told me you knew. You know what happened, people? She got a ticket for littering. And it's sad too. Like I said, she's a new mom. She don't got money to pay for that ticket. Oh boy. You got one more? Yeah, one more. What type of animal tells time the best? What type of animal tells time the best? Yeah, what type of animal tells time the best, people? I don't know. A watch dog. A watchdog. I'm so funny. Are you really? Yeah, I am. I am funny. Play us out. Well, if you'd like us to mention a specific animal rescue center, please email us where Freddy at bayridge digest at gmo.com. You know, care over me, Fred Friday. Or DM where at Bayridge Digest on Instagram. You can also see Freddy's archives of jokes and stories at Freddy Friday Story Fun Time on Instagram and at Freddie Friday on YouTube. And he spells his name F R E D D I E. Yeah, that's right. Get it right. But until next time, people, hope you're staying cool. Keep getting out there, keep breaking those walls, like he said. Freddie. To do. To do, people

SPEAKER_19 44:20

Hey guys, it's Rob Burnett here with Revived Residential.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Hi, I'm Luisa Zapata with Revived Residential. Rob and I are business partners and life partners.

SPEAKER_19 44:30

Our office is at 415 86th Street on the second floor above Wing Stop. If you need anything real estate related, whether it's residential or commercial, please feel free to reach out. We live in the neighborhood, work in the neighborhood. We love the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Our door is always open. We actually come to work every day with our dog if you ever want to compet a dog. My Instagram is Louisa underscore in Bayridge. So it's L-U-I-S-A underscore in Bayridge. And I'm always posting about, you know, what's going on in my life, neighborhood highlights, good restaurants, good shops. And Rob's Instagram is Bernie B-U-R-N-I-E underscore R-E. So we also have a website.

SPEAKER_19 45:12

www.reviveresidential.com.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

You can always reach out to us on our cell too. Mine is 917-832-5532. And Rob's is 631-872-8265.

SPEAKER_09 45:27

Love meeting new people, and we're here to help.com. If you're a regular listener of the Bay Ridge Diges podcast, and you hear everything from fully produced history segments to wacky jokes, thanks, Freddie, to narrative interviews. Here's a commercial spot. Special thanks to Brett Solomini for lending his vocal talent. See what else he's been up to at Brett Underscore Solomini on Instagram. That's B-R-E-T-T underscore S O L I M I N E I think I finally lost.

SPEAKER_07 46:42

Hello, sir. You what do you want? You know what I want. How could I possibly?

SPEAKER_08 46:52

You're roaming through the city. You have a voice. Use it. I'm trying to use it! Ah but are you using it correctly? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_09 47:06

Isn't it obvious? Script writing. Narrative nonfiction, audio fiction, editing, producing, mixing, directing, acting.

SPEAKER_07 47:18

What does this have to do with you following me through the street on a rainy night? Have you utilized any of this? No.

SPEAKER_09 47:30

Well then, it's time you launched a podcast, or at least some kind of audio production.

SPEAKER_07 47:35

Why would I need to do that?

SPEAKER_09 47:37

You're in one already.

SPEAKER_07 47:41

I am?

SPEAKER_09 47:42

What do you think this is? Stalking! No, you're in my commercial spot. I'm James Scully, I do all these things.

SPEAKER_07 47:50

Wait, you mean you wrote, directed, produced, and mixed this?

SPEAKER_09 47:54

Yep. Reach me at James at the Wallbreakers.com.

SPEAKER_07 48:01

Do I get paid for my time at least? I hope you like pepperoni on your pizza.

SPEAKER_17 48:16

2023 when little golden light officially became a five-183. A lot of momentum happened. And that's where we learned from picking up the tour drive. And then after the tour drive, we started doing a tweet bag and we did the mobile gaming card. It's basically a TV PS4. It's like on a card. And you can go from room to room and get play while we're going to treatment. But we donated two of those. This is where I realized I could do something much bigger. That's when 2024 I did the research with doctors, nurses, patients, everybody that involved. Most importantly the patient and the parent, but everyone around it I was involved with each patient going to cancer. And that's how we liked the idea of the van initiative. And then since then we've been talking and fundraising, and that's how we started the first gala last year. But everything that happens to me happened from prediactive cancer. And I'm still dealing with stuff at the moment right now, and it sucks. It really does. But what makes my day that can make somebody else's day. Help ease the anxiety and change the environment of the child going through cancer means a lot to me. You can't really prevent anxiety, but you can help manage it. Not everybody is lucky in these situations. You know, some people might not have a big family, and so everyone has a different situation, and that doesn't matter because little golden life is gonna be here for you and to help in any type of way.

SPEAKER_09 49:54

When we were last with Chris Safi, he spoke about his original toy drive initiatives and how successful they become. I asked him about the emotions he feels when he gives toys out to pediatric cancer patients.

SPEAKER_17 50:06

Well, in these moments it's not really about me. I see myself as a little kid when I was in the situation of being handed that toys and be completely distracted with my situation. That little moment, 5 to 10 minutes, 2 minutes, or whatever how long it is, if you see the joy on that child's face, I'll tell you one rule about Little Golden Light. Never tell a child how many toys you can take. When we do the toy drive, I we host the toy at my monitor's Christmas party. I have a lot of pictures and videos of the reaction. I don't post them because I don't like posting children in their situation. But the joy on their faces and the excitement and the room is shaking. And the parent, you know, say take one, take one. I'm like, hey, don't tell them nothing. Let him enjoy. This is his moment. This is his moment to forget. And the joy, the happiness. I'm just trying to not cry. Sometimes I step out of the room, I take a moment, and this is every time I drop off pool in any hospital. For my money, the Mount China, MSK, Cohen Children's Hospital, NYU. Same reaction for these kids. Sometimes you see a kid that's hooked up to the medication and and he has the pole and he just walk in in the playroom and then you come and you hand him a toy and he doesn't know you and you don't know him and you know he's not in a happy mood. He looks tired, he looks depressed, and then you hand him that toy, or you let him go and pick that toy. And you see the biggest smile, and his face turns a little red, and you see some color, and he forgets just the moment. And he's moving his hands and he's not scared, and he's grabbing that toy, he's opening it, and he's playing with it. Just a minute ago, we were scared because he had his hands straight or just bat at a certain angle because he had the IV in him. And he's moving around and the nurse is making sure the IV port stays next to him. It makes a very big difference. I mean, a toy changing the environment of the child, it took a treat bag that we do on Halloween. It really helped the child understand the difference between anxiety and pain. And that's what the number one thing I learned as me as a young adult going through cancer. Is when you try to find a way to keep anxiety away from pain, you can actually understand your pain level. Whatever your pain level is and you add the anxiety on top of it, it feels like the end of the world. You're crying, you're panicking, you don't know what's what. And that's something I dealt with all the time. And when I see that I could do that with giving toys and doing activities, and at the same time that they're getting excited, and I can talk to the parent, and the parent said, No, you don't understand what I'm going through, you don't understand what I'm trying to say. And then I tell her my story and I tell her why I'm doing this. Every day I work, I'm thinking of how I can help. I told you I did a lot of work with helping these children just forget for a moment what they're going through. And for me to speak with parents and social workers and doctors and nurses and explain the mission, you know, at the end of the day, it's little golden light. It's not me. You know, people have passion in playing sports. My passion is how can I help? And what more can I do? Goal of Little Golden Light is to be in a position where it could be one phone call away for a solution for this patient. It's definitely an expensive mission, it's doing a lot of good work, and I pour my heart and feelings into it. I take it very personal and remembering myself in this situation and saying to myself, what was not given to me when I was in this situation? And it's always quality over quantity. We want to do the best for everyone and as much as we can.

SPEAKER_09 54:43

You might have heard Chris mention before that Little Golden Light is fundraising towards buying a van to transport pediatric cancer patients to their appointments. He knows firsthand why this is such a need.

SPEAKER_17 54:57

One of the most expensive things going to catch is getting there. From the family aspect, we have to consider that mom and dad and the guardian are working. And a lot of these families they move, they sell, they stop work for a moment, and when they stop work, it does not mean they they're endured income. Everything in life still goes on. Your bills don't have to get paid, your mortgage, your rent, your groceries, you have other children, other siblings that we're not going through without a brother and a sister. And my dad and my mom want to stay with me, want to go back to work, they can switch. But when you're not going to work, you're not getting paid. Okay, you have some six days saved. Your company might have FMLA, but that doesn't mean you're getting paid. It's just an excuse that while you're out. And how much of your six days or your vacation days or whatever days you have are two weeks, three weeks, maybe a month, maybe you never took off and you saved them all and you used them all at once. Doesn't make sense. It really doesn't make sense. And then when you have to pay your gas bill, pay your insurance bill, go down to the city. Now you got toll. If you're coming from Jersey, going to a certain part of Manhattan, you gotta pay your toll. You have your gas bill, all these add up, and you're going there back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This is talking from my experience. You can come home, boom, take him back. Something going on with him. You end up there for two weeks, three months, or you come back. Oh, he finally come back. Then he would have oh, you send him, you know, you take the child back. So you just never know. You never know what happened to the reaction of the medication, to the procedures. It gets expensive. And this is where I thought of now. Let's think about the child perspective. It's scared. High anxiety. You would fight with your parents sometimes. I don't want to go, I don't want to go, I wanna go to school, I wanna go hang out with my friend. There wasn't times where I wanted to go. I mean, even now, I just even the days where I'm an adult, like as an adult, I realized I don't want to deal with this stuff no more. Well, you have to, but a child doesn't understand that. He doesn't understand the part where you have to, you need to do this for your survival. These are not reality you let the child face. So you have to make excuses, you gotta make it fun, but you still get it stuck in traffic in the everyday cars for the appointment. Now, for some families, they don't have a vehicle, they rely on what the insurance provides for them. And that doesn't come on time, and that's dirty, and that's all information coming from patient experience, social workers' experience, hospital, doctors, nurses, everyone that works in the medical field. I did my research and they all told me it's probably one of the worst systems when it comes to these patients to come to the appointment. One, they come three hours late to four hours late, even two hours late to the appointment. The point is they come late to the appointment. That affects the child treatment class. That backs up the clinic center, which keeps the patient, the child in the clinic for longer than needed because they're backed up. Two, after the treatment, they are waiting three to four hours. Maybe even the clinic closed. They can't close till these patients go home. Most of these families don't have the option to pay ride share, which is $70 to $90, almost $100 one way. This is just before tip and before taxes. I mean, I know I remember I spent over $180 for one trip to the city. We're talking 40 minutes. I'm talking from Bay Ridge to York Avenue. Upsturd. You can find a good deal ticket down to the coast. So this is where I started thinking, how can I change not little golden light? Yes, we'll continue doing the toy drive, we'll continue to do this little activity. But what is something little golden light can do to really make a change and help these children and families, the community in general, all at once? Transportation. Look at the problem. Let's look at okay, it's not clean, never on time. It's very expensive for patients to get this type of service if they don't have insurance. Insurance, I believe, only gives you 12 to 14 rides a year, or something like that, up to a premium due. That gets wiped out within two weeks. We want to focus on providing a solution for these families. One, the most important would be clean and on time and child-centered van. Have Xbox, probably have PlayStation, it'd be probably designed into a luxury/slash playroom style, which obviously safe for them to, you know, seat belts and all that safety stuff. We are not gonna be an emergency medical transportation. This is just for them to get to the appointment. So the parent is cool and calm and doesn't have to worry about who's picking on up, they're not gonna be late, they're gonna get them to the appointment on time. And two, the child distracted with that moment of an hour, two hours, take off the anxiety, put them in a happy mood until they get to their destination. So if the child's not feeling well, he can take a nap, he can, you know, the chair they're reclining, and work with a hospital or work with a clinic or whatever to do and taking these patients, one patient at a time, show the public that this is a service that people in hospitals can rely on. Not everything had to be about money. I mean, in situations like this, I don't believe this should be a business plan like a medical transportation company. I believe that I want to give the cheapest price to the hospital and the cheapest price to the patient. Now, we would love to make this free to the patient, and the way we would make it free is we would rely on donations and whatever the patient can pay. And I think that just by providing it free or providing in to the patient what you can pay, not $90, $40, none of that. What you could pay or share the link around, get some donations, keep us afloat. And I think just by doing this service, it would speak for itself to the public. To the point where I believe that you don't even need to charge these patients. I think we could really, really, really keep this afloat. Where we could keep the service on time and clean and child center and ultimate comfort. So these parents don't have to sweat the small things when it comes to you getting your appointment or coming home. That's where I really, really hope to see Little Golden Light heading to.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:15

So Little Golden Light will be holding their second annual gala at the Diker Beach Golf Course Grand Ballroom at 1030 86th Street on Saturday, September 19th. Hey Chris, give us some of the big deets.

SPEAKER_17 1:02:29

So the gala is gonna have a bunch of raffles. We are looking forward to any local businesses that would like to donate gift baskets, gift cards to promote your business. We're looking to do 20 to 30, maybe 35 different baskets of raffles. You could promote your business in the community. You can help the card at the same time. So you could donate a gift card. If you're a restaurant, we could do like a like the Taste of Brooklyn. So any restaurant want to be part of the Taste of Brooklyn. Or if we get gift cards from different parts of the city, it'll be like the taste of New York City, and then that'll be raffled off. If you're a local business, I'd like to purchase an ad. You'll be also mentioning our program and all that will be available. The ticket is $200. We got a three-course meal, cocktail hour, open bar. You're gonna have fun times. We're gonna talk a lot about the work we've done and what we're looking forward to. Energetic night. It's not gonna be a lot of talking. Don't worry. It's gonna be a formal party style event. And it's just gonna help us get to our goal. We're gonna honor three amazing people in our community. Frank Nakarado, Dr. Pierre Hindi, and we're also gonna be honoring the Cohen Children's Hospital team for all the work that I've done in the cancer community. Super informational night. And the night that's gonna make the Van Initiative a dream come true for these kids. Get together, community get together for helping kids with cancer. And where's Little Golden White with the process? We booked a place at that guy's beast course. We are running around like crazy. You know, we sit down in our board meeting and we think about things to do. Like, it's just like the small detail, like the centerpieces, table seatings, our goal is overthrowing the people. And it's just a lot of meeting people, connecting with people, being part of involving the community, going down your network list and reaching out. And today and yesterday I was walking around putting flyers up at local businesses, and it's just reaching out to people I can think of, you know, in my list of who can possibly help. It's gonna be definitely worth it, and it's gonna be super fun. So it's just like a lot of planning and prep and focusing on the small details. And once I got that done, I was able to focus on now like sales and just promoting in general for the gala. It's a lot of work, it's not easy, but it's definitely something I like to do. So it's something like when I come home from work, this is my hobby. I like to know that I have something to do, and it's helping somebody out. Not really into sports, you know. This is really my hobby. He's like, I just love it. I love doing it, especially the toy drive and anything with little golden light, I just love doing it. And time slides with me. I just oh my god, I gotta go to work. I gotta go to bed, I gotta work tomorrow in early morning. Like, that's how passionate I'm about it and prepping for the event.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:38

As Chris mentioned, tickets are $200 and sponsorships start at $250. For more info, including tickets and sponsorship and all other inquiries, please go to little goldenlight.org. You can follow on Instagram at LittleGoldenLight underscore org. And to reach out to Chris directly, please email LittleGoldenLight at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:13

And now light and it's sixty thousand theaters and service stations.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:21

Well, that brings us to the end of another episode of the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast. But don't worry, we're not leaving Bay Ridge. In fact, they say we're inviting everyone home.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:41

Hey, hello, looks like old home week on suspended tonight. Old home week has well, I wouldn't say that, not with millions of auto light resistors marked.

SPEAKER_18 1:06:50

There is a huge home on Ridge Boulevard, which is up on a hill at 75th Street where the stairs are. And I remember being little and seeing that and thinking, my gosh, is that a castle? What the heck is that about? And then started noticing old homes around, and my mom would point things out, and it just fascinated me. And then I began to realize how old this area was, and I started naturally just looking up stories about Bay Ridge and trying to find out what was behind homes and you know, old stores and anything like that. And that sparked I definitely wanted to be in a place that was old.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:30

Next time on the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast, we end July and welcome August with stories of the harvest, visiting old homes, and calling back to what really matters. Our community. Thank you to the guests, Rob Burnett, Amy Pagano Collins, Christopher Safi, Jacqueline Strano, Louisa Zapata, and Jana Zoli. Subscribe to the Bay Ridge Digest Monday morning roundup email for free at BayridgeDigest.com and join the more than 3,000 people who want more info on everything going on in Bay Ridge. For more info on how to submit a story lead, please go to BayridgeDigest.com. You can also get in touch by emailing BayridgeDigest at gmail.com. So until July 30th, my name is James Scully. This has been the Bay Ridge Digest Podcast episode 18. I'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you very much.