Apply for Affordable Rentals

Rental applications are being accepted up to 5 p.m. May 12 for Bienestar Plaza, a new affordable 56-unit housing complex at 1520 Capitola Road in Live Oak to be completed this fall. Applicants must meet income guidelines and will be selected by lottery.

There will be 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units. Amenities include onsite laundry facilities and bike room, a courtyard and children’s play area, onsite resident services, events, and a community room with lounge area.

Constructed and operated by MidPen

Affordable Housing Open House: May 16

Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay will host an Affordable Housing Month open house 5-6:30 p.m. May 16 at Rodeo Creek Court, 2340 Harper St., Santa Cruz (cross street is Chanticleer Ave. Tour the homes at Rodeo Creek Court, Habitat’s 11-home development in the Live Oak neighborhood of Santa Cruz. A future homeowner will walk you through her soon-to-befinished home and share what homeownership means for her family. See www.habitatmontereybay.com

Housing, Bienestar Plaza is part of a 3.7-acre housing and health hub located on former redevelopment property once owned by the County of Santa Cruz. The County con- tributed more than $7.5 million toward the project.

Bienestar Plaza includes 40 projectbased Section 8 vouchers, of which 25 will be filled by the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz from its Section 8 waitlist. These units will have a local preference. The remaining 16 units will be filled through MidPen’s waitlist for this property. To apply, visit www.midpenhousing.org/bienestarplaza. Online applications are strongly encouraged. For questions, call (831) 318-6061 or email bienestarplaza@midpen-housing.org. Pre-applications may be submitted online or downloaded from the website. Forms are at a temporary leasing office at St. Stephens Apartments, 2510 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, between 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon. thru Fri. n

Awarded $5.6M Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day

Editor’s note: Senior Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El in Aptos was chosen to deliver convocation to California State Legislature on April 17, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here is what she said:

Hannah Senesh was born in Hungary in 1921. In 1943, at the height of World War II, she volunteered to go into Nazi-controlled areas in Europe to save Jewish lives.

She was one of 37 Jewish Special Operation recruits from Mandate Palestine who parachuted into Yugoslavia. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans, and aid in the rescue of those who had been captured by the Nazis.

After staying with the resistance fighters, known as the partisans, she was seized in German-occupied Hungary and executed by the Nazis in Budapest on 7 November 1944, at the age of 23.

She is known both for her courage and her poetry. The words of this song are from one of her poems, and they speak to the universal understanding that we are all connected through our hearts, our appreciation for the beauty of creation, resilience, and the powerful ways we elevate the memories of all who have worked to spread goodness and peace in the face of evil.

May they inspire us to continue this sacred work together. n www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/ through-the-lens/hannah-szenes.asp