Reflections of Travel to the United States

As a four-decade Certified Travel Agent, international airline employee, researcher, writer, teacher, and photographer, travel, whether for pleasure or business purposes, has always been a significant and an integral part of my life. Some 400 trips to every portion of the globe, by means of road, rail, sea, and air, entailed destinations both mundane and exotic. This article focuses on those in the United States.

New York:
Originally accessed by Floyd Bennett Field–New York’s first municipal airport–Manhattan, experienced from the water with island-circling boat cruises, was channeled through its museum, theater, and restaurant arteries, and from the heights of its Empire State Building and no-longer existence World Trade Center. It became the threshold to its Lower-, Mid-, and Upper-Hudson Valleys, which were characterized by Bear Mountain, West Point, the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, the vintage aircraft Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, dinners in the Culinary Institute of America, plays at the Rhinebeck Center for the Performing Arts, and visits to the Hudson River School of Painters venues. Continue reading

Paycheck Protection Program

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a loan designed by the US Govt, and implemented by the SBA, to provide a direct and immediate incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll, and thus avoid large scale job losses, because the SMBs create over 50% of the total jobs across America.

SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks, and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.

You can apply through any existing SBA 7(a) lender, or through any federally insured depository institution, federally insured credit union, and Farm Credit System institution that is participating. Other regulated lenders will be available to make these loans once they are approved and enrolled in the program.

Lenders may begin processing loan applications as soon as April 3, 2020.
The Paycheck Protection Program will be available through June 30, 2020.
Please check with your local lender whether it’s participating in the program.

Who Can Apply
The following entities affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19) may be eligible:

  • Any small business concern that meets SBA’s size standards (either the industry based sized standard or the alternative size standard)
  • Any business, 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization, 501(c)(19) Veterans organization, or Tribal business concern (sec. 31(b)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act) with the greater of: 500 employees, or that meets the SBA industry size standard if more than 500.
  • Any business with a NAICS Code that begins with 72 (Accommodations and Food Services) with more than one physical location, and employs less than 500 per location
  • Sole proprietors, Independent Contractors, and Self-employed persons.

Please see this page to learn more details. Thanks.
https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp

Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, Pet Services in Philadelphia, PA

PAWS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to saving Philadelphia’s homeless and at-risk animals. PAWS is the city’s largest rescue partner and provider of low-cost, basic veterinary care for pet owners and rescue organizations that cannot otherwise access or afford it. Through its three no-kill shelters, foster care network, and special events, PAWS finds loving homes for thousands of animals each year. PAWS is working to make Philadelphia a no-kill city where every healthy and treatable pet is guaranteed a home. Continue reading