One group is looking to make the city “greener” with buckets of white paint.

The White Roof Project, a group that aims to cool Earth one tar covered roof at time, is looking for a nonprofit or housing development in Astoria to paint, according to Board Treasurer and Secretary Paul Davis.

Queens’ iconic rust bucket may be getting a spit shine and lead role in a movie.

A gang of local fellas and one curious passerby are looking to raise funds for various projects that would rejuvenate the New York State Pavilion and memorialize its unsung champions in a documentary, all in anticipation of the 50th Anniversary of the 1964-65 World’s Fair.

Today’s subject comes to us thanks to an old upstate friend who just recently bought a home and is quickly scheduling a myriad of projects to keep him busy. Being a chef, most of his attention is pointed directly at the kitchen, appliances and all, and his first idea was to repaint his kitchen cabinet doors before putting on a set of designs; I almost immediately shot down the idea of putting various sorts of proteins on them. Honestly, who wants to see a chicken on a cabinet…when they’re about to eat chicken?

Smiling, cheerful and with a touch of Southern charm, a group of Baptist missionaries from North Carolina painted lampposts in Rufus King Park in Jamaica on Friday. Despite the blistering heat, they worked diligently, with brushes and buckets filled with black paint, giving a fresh coat to each post.

The group, called the North Carolina Baptist Men, travel each summer to various communities around the country and world helping neighborhoods in any way they can. This year they partnered with New Hope Christian Church in Jamaica and that’s how they ended up painting posts in the park.

Today's subject comes to us thanks to my cousin's college roommate, who just recently bought a home upstate and sent me a kind e-mail telling me about some projects he was thinking about undertaking. Being a chef, most of his major wants surround the kitchen and his first idea was to repaint his kitchen cabinet doors before putting on a set of designs; we spit-balled and decided that cooking utensils and accessories would make a great theme.

No matter how hard the water came this year, how fast it rushed down narrow side streets and into residents’ basements, leaving in its wake destroyed possessions and a mangled mess of downed trees and snarled wires, South Queens residents did what they’ve always done —tried to stand tall and, when they saw their neighbors’ ceilings crumbling, dropped everything to lend a helping hand.

Steadier than the water, but often seeming even more powerful, this outpouring of help from residents erupted after Hurricane Irene’s devastation, then again when thousands of people banded together to fight cancer — a disease that this year claimed far too many of the people who were essential stitches in closely knit communities — and, most recently, to remind the daughters of slain Police Officer Peter Figoski that they have the emotional and financial backing of South Queens.

Twenty-six ex-cons were honored last week for having earned GEDs in the last year by the Fortune Society, a nonprofit group in Long Island City where they attended GED prep classes.

They were the lone graduates among an estimated 200 people who attended these courses, according to John Gordon, a math teacher and administrator at the program, putting them among the top 13 percent of their peers.

   District Council #9 is recruiting metal finishing apprentices through March 24 or until 500 applications have been handed out, whichever comes first. Applications must be obtained in person from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the union offices, located at 45-15 36 St. in Long Island City.

   Applicants must be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma or GED and be able to perform the work required, as determined by site evaluation and their attesting to the physical conditions listed on the application. Those include:

District Council #9 is recruiting metal finishing apprentices through March 24 or until 500 applications have been handed out, whichever comes first. Applications must be obtained in person from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the union offices, located at 45-15 36 St. in Long Island City.

She is a single mother and a bridge painter, scaling some of the city’s most iconic structures and carrying 65-pound buckets to apply a fresh coat.

Great reporting

The starting point for the latest exhibition at the Sculpture Center is a parable by Franz Kafka about traditions that change as a result of a bizarre recurrence.

The past year may go down in the books as one one of the most exacting in recent history.

Volunteers, including teens, children and community organizers, didn’t let a little rain keep them from grabbing a few paintbrushes and buckets and spending their Saturday morning ridding Richmond Hill of graffiti.

Dozens of Forest Hills kids stand proudly in front of a freshly repainted restaurant wall formerly covered with graffiti at the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard Saturday morning. With brushes, rollers and buckets of gray paint in hand, 16 elementary age kids and more than 30 students from Forest Hills High School’s Academy of Public Service Program refurbished three vandalized walls in the neighborhood. Local police shepherded the youngsters in five large vans, sirens blaring, to each location. The graffiti paint over was organized by Heidi Chain, president of the 112th Precinct Community Council. —Colin Gustafson

One week after the hit and run killing of a 59 year old man in Forest Hills, safety advocates are echoing what residents and business owners along Queens Boulevard have known for a long time—that the roadway is still an accident waiting to happen.

With its graffitied brick exterior and hulking metal door, Local Project looks more like an abandoned factory than an art gallery. Yet once inside—from the lingering smell of still-damp paint to the cigarette smoke drifting through the air—it becomes apparent that this is the home of artists.

No sooner had graffiti vandals hit an Astoria senior center than a group of local students were out removing it.

Do you live in Queens and plan on having a baby in a couple of years? Want to know how pesticides in food and chemicals in plastics could affect your child’s health? What about lead paint or mold? And how might genetics, physical activity and your own exposure to environmental factors influence this equation?

If you crave a Martha Stewart fix now that she’s out of commission for awhile, there’s a new gal in town from Jackson Heights who will satisfy all those needs.

In what has seemingly become his mantra, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ opposition leader Arnhim Eustace has painted a very bleak picture of the economy, claiming that it is in a crisis and grossly mismanaged by the two-year-old, incumbent Unity Labor Party administration of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves.

Rosemarie Iacovone, the president of the Metro-Forest Chamber of Commerce, reserved three hours, 7 to 10 p.m., on Monday, July 24th to wage an ongoing war against graffiti along Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills.