Astoria Federal Savings Announces Winners of the 2008 Extraordinary People in Our Neighborhoods Contest LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Astoria Federal Savings is pleased to announce the winners of their Extraordinary People in Our Neighborhoods Contest. This past spring, Astoria Federal sought nominations for the contest from customers throughout their 86 neighborhood branches in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. Customers answered the call by nominating truly impressive individuals from their communities, of which twelve winners were selected. Astoria Federal's 2008 Wall Calendar features the photos and stories of these extraordinary winners who live and work around us. Complimentary copies of the calendar are available, while supplies last, in all Astoria Federal branches. Astoria Federal's Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing Brian Edwards said, "This calendar provides us with a great opportunity to learn about and honor remarkable people who live right in our neighborhoods, which fits with our philosophy of 'Putting people first.' We know there are many people who are making a notable difference in the lives of others or have achieved something only few can achieve, and we want to honor them in this special way." And the twelve contest winners are: -- Genevieve Piturro from Westchester is the founder of the "Pajama Program." She has collected over 130,000 new pajamas for children in shelters and foster care. -- Rachel Ragone from Manorville is a 5th grader at Eastport/South Manor Elementary School. She regularly donates 11" of her hair to "Locks of Love," which makes real hair wigs for seriously ill children. -- Irene Wierzbicki from Glen Head is a SeniorNet Volunteer at Education and Assistance Corporation (Hempstead), and has donated thousands of hours teaching older adults to become computer literate. -- Kyle Orent from Northport, NY is a 3rd Grader at Ocean Avenue School. He has raised over $20,000 for "Canine Companions for Independence" from his lemonade stand and eBay charity sites. -- Alexandria "Nandra" Best from Medford is a 5th Grader at Tremont Elementary School. She single-handedly saved her mother's life by safely getting her to a hospital. -- Susan Scatena from Flushing is a Queens Librarian and winner of the James Patterson PageTurner Award. She recently motivated 358 children to read 4,654 books over the summer by promising to dye her hair purple and sit in a tub of gelatin as their reward. -- Douglas Whitehorn from Great Neck is a of member of Boy Scouts of America who has achieved the Eagle Scout rank - a rank that less than 5% of all Boy Scouts nationwide achieve. -- Michael and Madeline Vinson from South Ozone Park are the working parents of eight. They adopted four children, have applied to adopt three more, and just welcomed their first biological child. -- Nicole O'Shea-Holohan from Mill Neck is an ESL Teacher at Oakwood Primary Center in South Huntington. She is one of only two teachers in New York State to earn National Board Certification in English as a New Language the year she applied. -- Ellen Stasko from Bayside is a working mom with two sons and a survivor of multiple types of cancer for the past 15 years. -- Jon Scieszka from Brooklyn is the founder of http://www.guysread.com/, and is an award-winning author of 32 children's books. He created Guys Read, a website dedicated to encouraging boys to read. -- Larry Tillotson from Glen Head is a retiree and amateur ice-skating award winner. He still skates three days a week at 90 years of age. Astoria Financial Corporation, with assets of $21.7 billion, is the holding company for Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association. Established in 1888, Astoria Federal is the largest thrift depository headquartered in New York with deposits of $13.3 billion and embraces its philosophy of "Putting people first" by providing the customers and local communities it serves with quality financial products and services through 86 convenient banking office locations and multiple delivery channels, including its enhanced website, http://www.astoriafederal.com/. Astoria Federal commands the fourth largest deposit market share in the attractive Long Island market, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties with a population exceeding that of 38 individual states. Astoria Federal originates mortgage loans through its banking offices and loan production offices in New York, an extensive broker network covering twenty-four states, primarily the East Coast, and the District of Columbia, and through correspondent relationships covering forty- one states and the District of Columbia. DATASOURCE: Astoria Federal Savings CONTACT: Irene Ferrall, VP/Director Marketing Communications of Astoria Federal Savings, +1-516-327-7834, Web site: http://ir.astoriafederal.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/104529.html

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