Christmas Initiatives
On December 21st the brothers of the Queens Alumni Chapter kicked off their Christmas Initiatives by providing toys and gifts for the Annual Holiday Children’s Christmas Party at Harlem Hospital Pediatrics Clinic. This event is a staple function to the Harlem community and serves over 200 families every year. Children and young adults along with their families were invited to spend the day engaging in social activities and building community. The highlight of this event was the “Gift Station”. Each patient who participates in the program was allowed to walk away with a gift. These gifts range from new toys and stuffed animals to gift cards and bath sets.
The brothers then followed up this initiative by participating in the Annual King of Kings event held at Roy Wilkins Park in the gym later that afternoon. This event is held each year by the King of Kings Foundation, Inc. which is is a New York City based not-for-profit corporation with 501(c) 3 status.The foundation was incorporated in 2005 , to target at-risk youth and to address a host of issues that hinder social, physical,economic cultural and spiritual growth that generally plague youth in urban communities via workshops and classes on (partial listing) gun violence, drug abuse, ten dating violence, gang violence, peer pressure, anger management, HIV/AIDS awareness. Other partners include the Sean Bell Foundation and numerous community dignitaries specifically in the Southeast region of Queens. This is the chapter's 3rd year participating in the event and we were able to supply toys to over 200 children from the age range of newborn up to 16.
Our third Christmas initiative of the year was our annual Adopt a Family this year held at the home of Ms. Allean Elam on December 22nd. The adopted family consisted of Ms. Elam, her 90 year old grandmother, 6 year old daughter, and 14 year old cousin. The children received coats, pajamas, hats, scarves, and other items while brothers provided dinner and fellowshipped with the family. The family also received a new microwave and dining room set to replace for items lost in their unfortunate fire that took place in June and displaced the family from their home. This is the extended family of Brother Derrick Isaac.
The chapter ended off the Christmas season with another Toys for Tots event held at the ACS Children's Center in Kips Bay Manhattan on Christmas Eve. This Center is a facility where children temporarily wait for Foster Care placement and Brother Trevor john is the director of the facility. We were able to give toys and winter accessories(hats and scarves) to males and females, age 12 and up. There are also younger children at the facility but teens are typically forgotten at this time of year and we wanted to do something to give them a better Christmas this year than they may have experienced in previous years. We were able to serve about 30 children at the center. The Christmas initiatives were made possible because of your continuous support of our fundraising efforts. Thank you.
