Author Topic: Heroes Blog Here!  (Read 6172 times)

Offline YitzyS

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Heroes Blog Here!
« on: May 26, 2020, 12:39:53 AM »
The age of Corona has given rise to a new generation of heroes. Healthcare workers have been granted the title, along with many others whose dormant selflessness has come to the surface under the unique set of circumstances we are now living with.

Upon reflection, I have come to realize that there have been so many here, on DDF, who have earned that distinction as well. Members of the DDF community who have answered the call and have become heroes in their own right, even from the safety of their home computers. I believe that many of them deserve to be recognized for their valor, beyond the simple gesture of hitting the like button.

That is the purpose of this thread. Here, members can nominate others as heroes. No, their payout won't be any greater than when they accrued likes. But garnering special mention is the least we can do for the heroes among us.


I would like to begin by nominating three heroes who come to mind:

@cgr has turned the unemployment help thread into a full-blown accounting office, answering all sorts of questions day and night for free.
She answers questions all day and night. The LRRC gets donations and a lot of government funding. She has evolved into a one-woman organization, answering all the questions for free.

I'm certain that she could advertise "Get help with UI for $100/hour" and she would have steady business. She chooses to be a free resource to everyone here.

@Iz and his team at the Coronavirus matching campaign thread, who have pulled in thousands of dollars for almanos and yesomim with their generosity and goodwill.

@Yehudaa has uploaded tens of documents of divrei Torah each Friday, so that DDFers can print and read over Shabbos.


Who are your heroes?

Offline YitzyS

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2020, 11:04:00 AM »
I would like to nominate @CountValentine for this:
I will donate 18 each to 13 campaigns. R' Yerachmiel Beiles to (including both) R' Yitzchok Zylberminc.
There is a catch. I read enough of these stories to last several lifetimes. Someone needs to setup and do it for me. Preferable someone I know. I will QP the money first if need be.
PM me.
ETA: If you have a preference you can choose 13 from the wiki.
While most on these forums are members of the Orthodox Jewish community and feel some sort of ethnic kinship to the numerous victims of Corona that were the subject of the collection campaigns, and in addition, they have a mitzva of maaser which obligates them to give a certain amount of charity in any event, Count Valentine's significant donation to Jewish corona victims bespeaks a level of selflessness and pure caring beyond the rest of us here. He reached into his pocket and parted with his money to help suffering people who he has never seen nor shares any ethnic connection.

That's a hero.

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2020, 11:45:42 AM »
I would like to nominate @CountValentine for this:While most on these forums are members of the Orthodox Jewish community and feel some sort of ethnic kinship to the numerous victims of Corona that were the subject of the collection campaigns, and in addition, they have a mitzva of maaser which obligates them to give a certain amount of charity in any event, Count Valentine's significant donation to Jewish corona victims bespeaks a level of selflessness and pure caring beyond the rest of us here. He reached into his pocket and parted with his money to help suffering people who he has never seen nor shares any ethnic connection.

That's a hero.

"A goy does care."
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Offline username

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2020, 11:50:58 AM »
M O T H E R S !

Offline Boruch Parnes

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2020, 11:54:39 AM »
@chbochur for taking hatzolah calls nonstop    from the most active members during covid    didnt stop 24/7

Offline JACKBLUE

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2020, 11:57:51 AM »
Myself, for being the best husband and father during these times!! ;D

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2020, 12:42:08 PM »
Myself, for being the best husband and father during these times!! ;D

And the worst, you’re the only husband/father for your family.
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Offline Lurker

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2020, 01:14:14 PM »
@Dan and the DDF mods. It can't be easy having your deals and travel forum hijacked by pandemic talk. Policing all the posts has it's challenges on a good day, and the heightened emotions and sensitivities of our times must make that a Herculean task now.

I can go on and on about the values of this forum through these times. The education, in terms of information disseminated from members' wide range of sources. The resources shared, changing the lives of members and entire communities. The money raised, with long lasting impact on families most of us will never meet. I will go so far as to say actual lives saved, in terms of people of influence spreading life-saving information they learned here to keep their communities safe.

For all of this, I am immensely grateful, and I cannot express that enough. Thank you!!
Failing at maintaining Lurker status.

Offline Joeymc

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2020, 01:27:13 PM »
@Dan and the DDF mods. It can't be easy having your deals and travel forum hijacked by pandemic talk. Policing all the posts has it's challenges on a good day, and the heightened emotions and sensitivities of our times must make that a Herculean task now.

I can go on and on about the values of this forum through these times. The education, in terms of information disseminated from members' wide range of sources. The resources shared, changing the lives of members and entire communities. The money raised, with long lasting impact on families most of us will never meet. I will go so far as to say actual lives saved, in terms of people of influence spreading life-saving information they learned here to keep their communities safe.

For all of this, I am immensely grateful, and I cannot express that enough. Thank you!!
+ 1MM
120 characters? Hmm, I wonder what I could write with 64 characters. Boy, it's gonna be hard to use up 15 characters. W-

Offline yelped

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2020, 02:38:32 PM »
Agreed to all of the above. I think I mentioned this before but a lot of us owe our early awareness to @yuneeq and to @chevron. They moved mountains to bring awareness of what was coming and in doing so, undoubtedly saved many lives.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to @aygart for his clarity, as always, and to @Lurker and @S209 for constantly keeping us in the know on the latest information on Covid19, and on ensuring we do not get blinded by emotional, political and other considerations.

Offline biobook

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2020, 04:41:13 PM »
I'd also like to express my appreciation to the DDFers who provided invaluable insight into what was going on.  From  OOT, I had followed the general news reports in Jan/Feb, but was clueless about how this was affecting the Jewish community up north till I took a peek at DDF just before Purim.  The names @yuneeq, @Dan and @chevron stick in my mind as some of the posters I relied on to provide information, especially links for further reading.  It was also helpful to hear the many disagreements among DDFers, which gave me a sense of the variety of ways people were responding to the situation.

Thanks to everyone here, I went shopping right after Purim for enough groceries and paper goods to last through Pesach, so was able to avoid the crowds and shortages that developed later on.


Offline Danfan27

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2020, 04:49:57 PM »
I don’t know who it was but someone warned us that a dairy shortage was coming. Thanks to him/her I  had enough cream cheese to bake for shavuos in advance and I have enough for “shmearing”.

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2020, 04:52:31 PM »
I don’t know who it was but someone warned us that a dairy shortage was coming. Thanks to him/her I  had enough cream cheese to bake for shavuos in advance and I have enough for “shmearing”.
@moko
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline YitzyS

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2020, 08:09:13 AM »
This is not specifically COVID related, but @jack6941 is a hero nevertheless IMO.

Is there a discussion anywhere about @jack6941 and his deals? How does he find them, why he has his own thread, who is he... I'm intrigued, and I assume this has been discussed before on DDF.
always wondered how you find these deals.
can you give some tips?
I sell on amazon, most of my day is spent browsing around amazon and all the other market places, between that and some other basic deal sites ( there are loads of such sites, some well known others not as much ), equals the bulk of the deals.
Wow! I was sure you use some sort of website that tracks Amazon prices and alerts you. I'm astounded that you find each deal manually. Kol Ha'kavod! The fact that you spend time finding and posting each one is truly remarkable. I can't count how many of your deals I've taken advantage of. Thank you!!

Offline joeb1

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2020, 08:22:38 AM »
My heroes are the People who post pop corn worthy conversations where people fight over nothing for pages and pages until dan gets fed up.
You kept up entertained for weeks on end and for this we are very appreciative. Would not have been the same without you guys.   

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #15 on: June 09, 2020, 08:25:19 AM »
My heroes are the People who post pop corn worthy conversations where people fight over nothing for pages and pages until dan gets fed up.
You kept up entertained for weeks on end and for this we are very appreciative. Would not have been the same without you guys.   

Downvote. I hope this won’t be the new normal for DDF (even for JS)...
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Offline jack6941

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2020, 09:27:49 AM »
This is not specifically COVID related, but @jack6941 is a hero nevertheless IMO.

While i truly appreciate the shout out @YitzyS , i have to humbly disagree. Apologies.
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Offline YitzyS

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #17 on: July 24, 2020, 03:42:09 PM »
I would like to begin by nominating three heroes who come to mind:

@cgr has turned the unemployment help thread into a full-blown accounting office, answering all sorts of questions day and night for free.
As time passes, I am only getting more and more impressed by the selflessness and dedication of @cgr . She has started numerous threads about all sorts of financial aid for struggling people, aside from her website which contains an encyclopedia of information.

Here are just some of the threads she started over the last four months:
Fee Waivers due to Coronavirus
Coronavirus Stimulus Aid Package
Residential Mortgages
Compassionate Helper Volunteer Program- NY
NY Rent Relief
Heath Insurance Premium Credits
IRS Tax Credits Available for Business (FFCRA and ERTC)
New York Forward Loan Fund
NJ Rent Assistance Program
NJ Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program
Main Street Lending Program
NY Rent Assistance Program
NJ Commercial Rent Relief

But most impressive is how she responds to every question, often for the fifth or sixth time, with endless patients and clarity. So many people are lost when it comes to these matters, and they cannot afford to hire accountants or lawyers, but they are helped through the work of @cgr . Her website has no advertisers, and she doesn't charge a penny for her services here on DDF.

Some people get involved in activism because it brings them attention, but this forum is anonymous. Some get involved because it's easy and exciting, but they get burned out when it drags on too long. It has been four months already, and she doesn't stop answering each question, often doing research in order to do so.

Here's just a simple post from today - the 2,544th post on a thread almost completely moderated by her - that gives a glimpse into the type of work she has done for others.

To the individual who reached out to me with an urgent case- I'm trying to respond but your inbox is full.

I'm jealous of your Olam Habah, @cgr .

Offline cholent

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #18 on: July 24, 2020, 03:48:41 PM »
As time passes, I am only getting more and more impressed by the selflessness and dedication of @cgr . She has started numerous threads about all sorts of financial aid for struggling people, aside from her website which contains an encyclopedia of information.

Here are just some of the threads she started over the last four months:
Fee Waivers due to Coronavirus
Coronavirus Stimulus Aid Package
Residential Mortgages
Compassionate Helper Volunteer Program- NY
NY Rent Relief
Heath Insurance Premium Credits
IRS Tax Credits Available for Business (FFCRA and ERTC)
New York Forward Loan Fund
NJ Rent Assistance Program
NJ Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program
Main Street Lending Program
NY Rent Assistance Program
NJ Commercial Rent Relief

But most impressive is how she responds to every question, often for the fifth or sixth time, with endless patients and clarity. So many people are lost when it comes to these matters, and they cannot afford to hire accountants or lawyers, but they are helped through the work of @cgr . Her website has no advertisers, and she doesn't charge a penny for her services here on DDF.

Some people get involved in activism because it brings them attention, but this forum is anonymous. Some get involved because it's easy and exciting, but they get burned out when it drags on too long. It has been four months already, and she doesn't stop answering each question, often doing research in order to do so.

Here's just a simple post from today - the 2,544th post on a thread almost completely moderated by her - that gives a glimpse into the type of work she has done for others.

I'm jealous of your Olam Habah, @cgr .
Can't agree with this enough
Don't ask stupid questions and you won't get stupid answers

Offline cgr

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Re: Heroes Blog Here!
« Reply #19 on: July 24, 2020, 04:15:50 PM »
I'm jealous of your Olam Habah, @cgr .

 :)
Thanks for voicing your appreciation.