COVID-19 News

Skills4Care Offers Essential Childcare Services

Long Beach is facing unprecedented challenges and real difficulties as the coronavirus tears through the community. In response, a collaboration of public agencies and providers in Long Beach are focusing immediately on childcare. Skills4Care Essential Childcare is a part of this response

Rhiannon Acree, R.N., founder of Cambrian Homecare’s non-profit Skills4Care, states, “Skills4Care offers crucial and timely childcare to our essential worker community. Healthcare personnel and frontline responders need to go to work during this pandemic. In order to meet an urgent need to support essential workers, Skills4Care helps these families by offering pre-vetted, qualified childcare at their home.”

Skills4Care is the employer and the childcare worker is paid weekly. The childcare worker is trained in COVID-19 protocols. Details about the Skills4Care Essential Childcare program are at www.essentialchildcare.org.

If you are a qualified childcare worker, register at the site.

For further information, email info@skills4care.com

For background information on the collaboration between Cambrian’s Skills4Care and the Pacific Gateway Workforce Partnership, review the City of Long Beach March 31 press release at https://www.pacific-gateway.org/aboutflexmarket

Skills4Care is committed to offering community support and practical solutions by caring for the children of essential frontline workers. In its initial mission, Skills4Care helped families with information about Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke, or other illnesses. Support groups, coping strategies and safe lifting and transferring techniques were offered, with hands-on training.

“We will continue to provide individualized resources to our families, now with the addition of childcare,” Acree said.

Live Opera on Naples Island

During this uncertain time, The Gondola Getaway is giving Naples Island residents a reason to smile while keeping their Gondoliers employed.

“Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, gondoliers are serenading the Naples canals and bringing some normalcy to the neighborhood. We have a very unique neighborhood that has had Gondoliers “row”ming the canals for the past 38 years, said Michael Otolini, founder of The Gondola Getaway.

Otolini added “It’s been extra quiet without the crooning Gondoliers. I thought I would at least bring back the beautiful sounds to the Island. It’s been quite uplifting and unique! Residents in the balconies and patios requesting songs, applauding and evening singing along!”

Located across from the Naples Islands and adjacent to Belmont Shore, the unique, all-outdoor Gondola Getaway is home to the only authentic Venetian fleet in America. The Gondola Getaway was founded back in 1982 under the concept of bringing the old-world charm of the gondola back into the canals of Naples Islands.

Gondolas were first introduced into the area back in 1903 when the islands were developed into a Venetian style neighborhood replete with grand canals and romantic bridges. Over the past 38-plus years, the Gondola Getaway has strived to bring authenticity and a high level of service to its many guests. The Gondola Getaway is open daily, except on major holidays, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

For more information, visit GondolaGetawayInc.com.

LBCC Commencement Moves to June 12

Long Beach City College rescheduled and revised its annual Commencement exercises as a virtual ceremony to take place on Friday, June 12, at 5 p.m. Local chef and LBCC alumnus, Visoth Tarak Ouk, better known as Chef T, will serve as the 2020 Commencement keynote speaker.

In reaction to the physical distancing necessary to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the college will produce an online platform and recorded ceremony for those receiving their Associate Degree of Arts, Associate Degree of Sciences and Certificates of Achievement. LBCC graduates, friends and family will be able to watch the virtual ceremony from www.LBCC.edu on June 12 at 5 p.m.

Chef T is a graduate of Long Beach City College’s Culinary Arts Program and has gone on to become a local celebrity as the executive chef in Long Beach restaurants.

“For a second-generation kid from an immigrant family, this is an amazing honor to return to LBCC as this year’s Commencement Speaker,” said Chef T. “Who knew that the student who had to walk three hours to LBCC would one day be the one to offer advice to the Class of 2020?”

Get Back to Work!

Business owners looking for tips on restarting their enterprise after an unexpected shut-down are invited to hear Laura Gonzalez, Ph.D., associate professor of finance at CSU Long Beach speak to members of the Executives Association of Long Beach.

The Zoom presentation will be Monday noon, May 18, and is open to non-members as well. To receive an invitation, send your name, company and e-mail address to: longbeachexecs@gmail.com.