Astoria Federal Savings Announces Winners of the 2008 Extraordinary People
in Our Neighborhoods Contest
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Astoria Federal Savings is
pleased to announce the winners of their Extraordinary People in Our
Neighborhoods Contest. This past spring, Astoria Federal sought nominations
for the contest from customers throughout their 86 neighborhood branches in
Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. Customers answered the
call by nominating truly impressive individuals from their communities, of
which twelve winners were selected. Astoria Federal's 2008 Wall Calendar
features the photos and stories of these extraordinary winners who live and
work around us. Complimentary copies of the calendar are available, while
supplies last, in all Astoria Federal branches.
Astoria Federal's Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing Brian
Edwards said, "This calendar provides us with a great opportunity to learn
about and honor remarkable people who live right in our neighborhoods,
which fits with our philosophy of 'Putting people first.' We know there are
many people who are making a notable difference in the lives of others or
have achieved something only few can achieve, and we want to honor them in
this special way."
And the twelve contest winners are:
-- Genevieve Piturro from Westchester is the founder of the "Pajama
Program." She has collected over 130,000 new pajamas for children in
shelters and foster care.
-- Rachel Ragone from Manorville is a 5th grader at Eastport/South Manor
Elementary School. She regularly donates 11" of her hair to "Locks of
Love," which makes real hair wigs for seriously ill children.
-- Irene Wierzbicki from Glen Head is a SeniorNet Volunteer at Education
and Assistance Corporation (Hempstead), and has donated thousands of
hours teaching older adults to become computer literate.
-- Kyle Orent from Northport, NY is a 3rd Grader at Ocean Avenue School.
He has raised over $20,000 for "Canine Companions for Independence"
from his lemonade stand and eBay charity sites.
-- Alexandria "Nandra" Best from Medford is a 5th Grader at Tremont
Elementary School. She single-handedly saved her mother's life by
safely getting her to a hospital.
-- Susan Scatena from Flushing is a Queens Librarian and winner of the
James Patterson PageTurner Award. She recently motivated 358 children
to read 4,654 books over the summer by promising to dye her hair purple
and sit in a tub of gelatin as their reward.
-- Douglas Whitehorn from Great Neck is a of member of Boy Scouts of
America who has achieved the Eagle Scout rank - a rank that less than
5% of all Boy Scouts nationwide achieve.
-- Michael and Madeline Vinson from South Ozone Park are the working
parents of eight. They adopted four children, have applied to adopt
three more, and just welcomed their first biological child.
-- Nicole O'Shea-Holohan from Mill Neck is an ESL Teacher at Oakwood
Primary Center in South Huntington. She is one of only two teachers in
New York State to earn National Board Certification in English as a New
Language the year she applied.
-- Ellen Stasko from Bayside is a working mom with two sons and a survivor
of multiple types of cancer for the past 15 years.
-- Jon Scieszka from Brooklyn is the founder of http://www.guysread.com, and is
an award-winning author of 32 children's books. He created Guys Read, a
website dedicated to encouraging boys to read.
-- Larry Tillotson from Glen Head is a retiree and amateur ice-skating
award winner. He still skates three days a week at 90 years of age.
Astoria Financial Corporation, with assets of $21.7 billion, is the
holding company for Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association.
Established in 1888, Astoria Federal is the largest thrift depository
headquartered in New York with deposits of $13.3 billion and embraces its
philosophy of "Putting people first" by providing the customers and local
communities it serves with quality financial products and services through
86 convenient banking office locations and multiple delivery channels,
including its enhanced website, http://www.astoriafederal.com. Astoria Federal
commands the fourth largest deposit market share in the attractive Long
Island market, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk
counties with a population exceeding that of 38 individual states. Astoria
Federal originates mortgage loans through its banking offices and loan
production offices in New York, an extensive broker network covering
twenty-four states, primarily the East Coast, and the District of Columbia,
and through correspondent relationships covering forty- one states and the
District of Columbia.
SOURCE Astoria Federal Savings
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Related links:
http://ir.astoriafederal.com/
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/104529.html/
CONTACT:
Irene Ferrall, VP/Director Marketing
Communications of Astoria Federal Savings, +1-516-327-7834,
iferrall@astoriafederal.com
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