arily separated from service, the process can be completed within a few months, leaving them little time to find another job or find a mentor to help them plan for life after the military. These Veterans often struggle to afford necessities such as groceries, getting a haircut, or finding affordable housing because those services were provided to them while in service. These new challenges may seem like small obstacles, but these “smaller” issues are not the primary focus of federal/state Veteran programs. It is these very issues that I believe small businesses and communities can help these Veterans overcome such obstacles by providing these needed services. Like the Alexandria dental practice that opened its doors to Veterans and provided free examinations, other small businesses can also step up to fill the void of services not readily provided by the state/federal programs.
To illustrate my proposal, I hypothesize a situation where a barbershop offers its chairs for barber students to give veterans free or discounted haircuts. To obtain a Virginia Barber License, an applicant must complete 1100 hours of training that includes practical training that involves cutting hair. These students are generally unpaid or offer discounted prices for their cuts. To put this in perspective, my local barber charges me $26 to cut my hair and that does not include any shampoo or styling. For some veterans, they do not have the financial means to afford even a basic haircut like the one I pay for much less anything that would include any additional product. Allowing barber students to utilize the barbershop’s chairs for a weekend to cut Veteran’s hair offers a tremendous opportunity to all parties involved. Veterans would be able to get their needed haircuts, students would get hours towards obtaining a barber license, and the owner of the barbershop gets the positive publicity of helping both the Veterans and the student barbers. To further capitalize on the idea, the barbershop could partner or co-sponsor the event with a local restaurant to cater the event and invite Veteran groups like LSNV to support the event.
The mission to help our Veterans is never-ending, and it will take more than federal and state programs to help all of our Veterans. For some Veterans, they have no families, and their local community is the only support system they have. For a small dental clinic to open up its doors and offer free dental cleanings or a barbershop to open up its chairs to Veterans and students is a powerful gesture of kindness that can make a significant impact in a Veteran’s life. John Heywood coined the phrase “many hands make light work.” My hope is that communities and small businesses begin to come together to help our Veterans because it is the least we can do to show our support for their sacrifices.Catherine joined IDA Ireland in 2005 and has held a variety of roles in the intervening interval, including managing new and existing enterprise know-how business from the Silicon Valley and Europe territories. Catherine is a graduate of Business Studies and German from Trinity College Dublin.
UAT teaches students the way to use essentially the most advanced production tools and tips on how to apply design and promoting to new technology. Rising from the astronomical growth cycle of technology, University of Advancing Technology (UAT) college students are challenged to critique and weigh in on emerging technologies. Tech Goes Home (TGH), based in 2000, is a nationwide award-profitable nonprofit empowering communities to access and use digital instruments to beat barriers and advance lives. TGH prioritizes low-revenue and underserved populations, including people from challenged neighborhoods, these with out know-how at home, the unemployed and underemployed, people who do not speak English, and people with disabilities. We have experience implementing expertise for a range of various needs to help advisors of all business models fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.
Please note that as of December 7, What’s On has received a notification from the mall that Santa visits have been booked up for the duration of the festive period and will no longer be available.
Winter Wonderland is back at Abu Dhabi’s The Galleria Al Maryah Island.
There are ‘festive-themed sensory rooms’ located on level two of the mall, by the Food Court, and at the rooftop Family Park. The whole family will be able to dive straight into a magical Christmas experience with giant candy canes, air filled with the aroma of fresh gingerbread, sleighbells in the ‘snow’ – and presumably therefore ‘children’s faces all aglow’.
The Mall’s made-for-Insta Winter Village is one of the quickest ways we know to funnel the festive spirit straight into the bloodstream. An enchanted wilderness of giant baubles, illuminated reindeer and a central, nine-metre high Christmas tree.
The Galleria is also home to two of the few regional North Pole mail outposts, so the kiddlywinks can pop-in and send off their letters to Santa. But only if they’ve been good this year, and let’s face it, lockdown tested us all.
You’ll find the letterboxes on level three at Central Kitchens, and at the Winter Village on the ground floor.
Or if your wee-ones fancy a more personal way of delivering their Christmas wishlists, you can book them a meet and greet with the Man in Red on the santaatthegalleria.com website.
Frank chats with Father Christmas and his elves are available from Saturday to Wednesday between 10am to 9pm, and for Thursdays and Fridays it’s from 10am to 11pm.
Kids will also be able to get a contactless keepsake of their time with Santa, a photo, emailed directly to them on the spot.
Because this is a very special year, with special challenges and special considerations, we shouldn’t expect this special time of year to be any different.
Social distancing and the wearing of masks is still essential and The Galleria Al Maryah Island has put in place a number of measures to help limit crowding, ensure social distancing and a 360 degree level of the highest hygiene standards.
As of December 10 we’ll also get our first look at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Shopping Season. A massive new retail festival set across malls and shopping districts in the capital, with huge sales, promotions and unique shopping experiences.
Expect The Galleria to go hard. Snow joke.Explore unique heatstick flavors at affordable prices on the BUYHEETS website. Get the authentic essence of various flavored tobacco sticks such as menthol, cocoa, and more. These heatsticks will release the fragrant flavored smoke that includes the real tobacco essence to curb your nicotine craving. We are also a supplier of premium IQOS devices that functions on the phenomenal heat-not-burn technology. These devices provide a safe and completely healthy alternative to help you quit cigarette smoking. All our products are supplied at competitive prices and delivered on the day of purchase. You will also be benefited from free delivery if your order is for more than AED 400.Elias Rahbani, Lebanese Composer Who Sought New Sounds, Dies at 82
Elias Rahbani, Lebanese Composer Who Sought New Sounds, Dies at 82
On Friday evenings before the coronavirus came to Beirut, a pulsing crowd of partygoers would stomp on the roof of a warehouse overlooking the port dancing to music at once retro and fresh. Its beat was unstoppable, its sound a mix of lush Arab diva melody, French 1960s pop and disco.
The musical blend required no modern adaptation by a D.J. It was simply another Elias Rahbani experiment.
From the 1960s through the ’80s, Mr. Rahbani, a Lebanese composer and lyricist who died of Covid-19 on Jan. 4 at 82, wrote instant classics for the Arab world’s most idolized singers, commercial jingles, political anthems, film soundtracks and music for underground and experimental Arab artists.
The Rahbani sound was ubiquitous. Many Lebanese remember the jingles he wrote for Picon cheese or Rayovac batteries, or the love themes he composed for popular TV shows and movies like “Habibati” (“My Beloved One”) from 1974. His style changed often: he was among the first composers to combine Western electric instruments with traditional Arab ones and fuse Western genres — prog rock, funk, R&B — with traditional Lebanese dabke folk dance music.
“His music is engraved in the memory of all Lebanese,” said Ernesto Chahoud, a Lebanese D.J. who helps run Beirut Groove Collective, which hosted the warehouse parties. “He did great Arabic music, great Lebanese music, and at the same time he was doing all of these Western styles. That’s why it’s timeless. That’s why a lot of people today want to listen to his music.”
He was never the face of the songs, not like the celebrities he wrote for, including Fayrouz, the legendary Lebanese singer with the swooning voice, or Sabah, the film and music star with the golden hair. Still, along with his older brothers, Mansour and Assi Rahbani — the musical duo known as the Rahbani Brothers — Elias Rahbani was beloved across Lebanon’s political, religious and class divides.
Yet he had ambitions that transcended tiny Lebanon’s borders. One of his sons, Ghassan, said Mr. Rahbani had nearly signed a contract in 1976 with a French company that would have given him a wider audience and perhaps greater control over the rights to his music; it would also have meant a move to France. At the last minute, however, he was