This year The Bridge 58th Annual Partners in Caring Awards Dinner will be held on June 8th at The Essex House. We are pleased to announce this year's Honorees -

• Individual Partner in Caring: Kenneth Fisher, Senior Partner at Fisher Brothers and Chairman of the Fisher House Foundation
• Corporate Partner in Caring: Howard Rothschild, President of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, Inc.
• Government Partner in Caring: Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried, NYC Assembly District 75

Please mark your calendars and we look forward to seeing you then!

Tomorrow the wonderful Bridge team of Carole Gordon, Director of Housing Development and Pat Callahan, Director of Vocational Services, who are involved in the creation and success of our Horticultural Program will be presenting at the Annual Horticultural Therapy Forum at the Horticultural Society of New York. The forum will be dedicated to horticultural therapy and the benefit it provides to the supportive housing community.

Horticultural therapy is an effective cognitive behavioral therapy that provides physical and emotional benefits as well as related health benefits, like exercise, learning a skill, access to healthy food, and a stronger sense of community connection. For the clients of The Bridge, eating and growing their own vegetables and fruits, coupled with working and being outdoors triggers both illness prevention and healing responses. Our Horticultural Program team will be presenting on the creation and progress of our Urban Farms. To see the full presentation please Download here.

Veterans housing at The Bridge has been a major focus. In response to the large number of homeless veterans who are also struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues, The Bridge has launched a veterans initiative. There are currently 4 residences now in various stages of development that will accomodate veterans in different ways. 

Bridge Gardens Veterans Residence -

This 17-unit building in the Bronx is under construction and scheduled to open in the spring of 2013. In addition to providing quality housing, the program will offer on-site support and case management services that will link the homeless veterans to appropriate services in the community including health, mental health, education and socialization. On January 6, 2012 we had a groundbreaking ceremony at which many distinguished government officials participated along with Bridge board members and staff.

Tilden Gardens - 

This 60-unit building will begin construction in February 2012 in Brooklyn and will provide housing with services for 45 homeless veterans with mental health conditions and 15 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 aging out of foster care or children’s residential treatment facilities. The program will provide on-site services and activities and a large urban farm where tenants can receive job training and paid employment and fresh vegetables.

Melrose Commons Veterans Residence - 

The 60-unit building to be developed in the Bronx on city-owned land (referred to as the new “Gateway to the South Bronx”) will be home to returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are homeless and have mental health conditions or substance abuse. The project will include a hydroponic greenhouse that will offer job training and paid employment to the veterans and fresh produce to all of the tenants. The project will also include green roofs and has received an Enterprise Green Communities grant to help in the development of green features. We expect to begin construction in late 2013 once the property is transferred to The Bridge and funding is secured.

Herkimer Street Veterans Residence - 

This 53-unit building in Brooklyn will be integrated housing which will provide housing and services to: 20 low income families (veterans and/or surviving spouses and children); 20 homeless veterans with mental health conditions; and 20 young adults aging out of foster care or children’s residential treatment facilities. The project, which will include solar energy and other green features, is in the design phase. It has received an allocation of 9% low income housing tax credits from NYS and we expect to begin construction in late fall 2012.  

Our Arts Program has been doing some amazing new things recently. From our ongoing partnership with MoMA where our artists exhibit every spring and summer, to the newly formed Friends of The Bridge Art Program group that supports our program, there are a lot of exciting things happening.

Because of our incredible Board of Directors we have now also started running exclusive art gallery tours for our Friends of the Bridge Art Program supporters around the city, the next of which is March 3rd in Midtown Manhattan. And of course, you can't miss the art show entitled "Expressions" running until April 8th at The Gallery of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

You may already be familiar with the work of our Bridge Group Artists, but you may not know the artists behind the masterpieces. We invite you to meet our Bridge Groups artists!

We are very excited to announce that Ron Garfunkel has joined our Board of Directors this past month. Ron is President and CEO of Service Directions, Inc., based in Yonkers, which is a family owned and operated business that has been providing laundry equipment and operating laundry facilities in thousands of residential and commercial properties all around the New York metropolitan area since 1952. Ron has been a partner with The Bridge for more than a decade helping us to professionalize laundry services for clients living in Bridge housing with better designed and more efficient laundry equipment, and excellent service, as well as being a strong supporter of our work.

Ron joined Service Directions, Inc. in 1967 after graduating college in 1963 and fulfilling a 3-year tour of duty in the Army as an officer and a spotter pilot in Vietnam in 1966. Under Ron’s leadership, Service Directions, Inc. supports many non-profit organizations including ARC of Westchester, St. Jude, Services for the Underserved and International Association for Handicapped Drivers.

Ron was awarded our Corporate Partner in Caring Award at the 2011 Partners in Caring Awards Dinner. He believes deeply in giving back to the community by contributing not only monetarily, but employing individuals with special needs in his company, and working to provide a cleaner, greener environment through the use of green machines that reduce fuel and water consumption. Ron Garfunkel is also a board member of the Lincoln Center Business Council and is a member of the Alumni Council of Lafayette Council. We are honored and thrilled to have him in The Bridge family. Cynthia Wainwright, President of the Board of Directors, said, “We are delighted that Ron has joined our Board. His knowledge of The Bridge, combined with his enthusiasm for the mission of The Bridge will be a great asset to the Board.”