Providing Hope and Happiness for the Holidays
This past season Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens (CCBQ) helped make the holidays extra special for those in need. With generous donations of toys, clothing, gift cards and other monetary donations as well as appreciated time from staff and volunteers, CCBQ was able to provide nearly 3,000 toys and $80,000 in $25.00 TD Bank gift cards to children and families throughout Brooklyn and Queens.
Prior to Christmas, CCBQ devoted two days to distributing the gifts at our central locations in Downtown Brooklyn and in Astoria, Queens to allow families to pick up toys for their children and have the gifts in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Toy Drives were set up as “Santa’s Toy Shop” to provide parents with the dignity to pick and choose for themselves appropriate gifts for their children. “Personal Elves” were available to assist parents in selecting the right gift for their children. Gift cards allowed families to have the pleasure of purchasing the gifts for their children.
The toy distributions were made possible by parishes, schools, organizations, individual donations, our Jazz and Cocktails Event in November which raised $40,000, as well as through our annual Employee Christmas Dollar Drive and our collaboration with The Hance Family Foundation. The Employee Christmas Dollar Drive is an agency-wide initiative which asks staff and their friends to contribute one dollar (or more) towards the purchase of gift cards for parents and their children. The 2016 Employee Christmas Dollar Drive raised $4,250.00, including monies raised by residents at our housing facilities. The Hance Family Foundation, which provides innovative, self-esteem educational programming for children in need, collected 900 toys throughout the New York City area.
With the help of volunteers and community members, CCBQ also delivered over 270 meals to homebound seniors and served a holiday lunch to approximately 70 seniors from CCBQ’s Ozone Park Senior Center in Jamaica, Queens on Christmas Day. This helped those without families share in a spirit of community while enjoying a delicious meal. The home delivered meals were provided and sponsored by Citymeals on Wheels.
On behalf of our children and families, we thank everyone who helped this holiday season in the true spirit of Christmas – making a difference in the lives of our neighbors.
See our Holiday 2016 Thank You Video!
