Leave the gun take the cannoli (9)

An icy grey pentimento in  the deep blue December sky was the first hint that there was something special in the air over Sunset Park.   A string of unseasonably  balmy   days inexplicably  gave way to 6 inches of snow on the afternoon  of Children of the City’s annual Holiday Super Saturday Event. 

  Months in the making, this party was the culmination of a  week long marathon of collecting, sorting and wrapping gifts for  600 families living below the poverty line in soutwest Brooklyn.  

Joyce Mattera, Daniel  Ramos, Marty Raymond and Melissa Perez   orchestrated  every aspect of  the Christmas project from soliciting donations to recruiting volunteers and making sure that  each  gift was  wrapped,  labled and delivered on time.   

Wrapping was never my forte, so I relied on the kindness and expertise of Elizabeth and Jocelyn Greenwald form Park Prep Academy in New Jersey to help me make a dent in the pile of “creativity kits” donated by New York Cares. 

Rumors around the local schoolyard claimed that   Santa  was on a tight budget.  So,  many of the   kids were  convinced they’d be forgotten.  Most of the letters were requests for clothes, sneakers or toys for a younger sibling.    

A virtual round of applause to all of the donors  and  volunteers who helped to make the holidays happier for the  1100 kids who celebrated with Children of the City.    Santa couldn’t have done it without  you!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 25th, 2009 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Children's Charities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.