For the past seven years NYARM has made the Christmas season a time to remember for those children less fortunate than our own. With the aide of Nelson Davis as Santa Claus and first Niki Eisenstein, now Joan Saberito leading the cause, we have brought Christmas toys, cookies and good cheer to various organizations.
This year we added two new schools that serve the mentally challenged children of New York. The New York Child Learning Institute in College Point, Queens came to our attention through Nelson Davis and Tom Browne of JAD Corporation of America. This small school of autistic children seeks to teach the children language, social and academic skills. With NYARM's $1500 contribution and Santa's visit we made Christmas a little brighter for children and staff alike.
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Joann Goldkrand, Principal Brooklyn Blue Feather; Rochelle Captan, Amalgamated Warbasse Houses; Barbara Sullivan, Lefrak Organization; Joan Saberito, Richter Properties; Nelson "Santa Claus" Davis, JAD Corporation of America; Donna Klein, NYARM Executive Director; Tom Maniuszko, Total Service Ltd.; Vince Callagy, Knickerbocker Village; Ben Jacobson, Benjamin Jacobson Painting and Wayne Reed, Northeast Plumbing Specialties. |
Our long time associate at Brooklyn Blue Feather, Sister Pat Lynch, was transferred to another school in the AHRC (Association for the Help of Retarded Children) family, AHRC at Francis of Paola. The NYARM Board of Directors felt we had worked with Sister Pat for too long to abandon her and decided to enlarge the budget and include her new school in our Christmas visits. This of course meant more work for Chairperson Joan Saberito, but she welcomed the challenge and couldn't be happier with the decision.
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| On line to see Santa |
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| A girl + Santa + puppy = LOVE |
The children at Francis of Paola are both mentally and physically challenged. On the whole, the children did not seem as severely handicapped as those children at Blue Feather. But they all react the same to Nelson "Santa Claus" Davis. With open arms they run to him, so happy to see the jolly man in red and white right there in their school. In expectation of his visit, some of the classes made pictures and cards for Santa and presented them to Nelson. This really touched us all.
But the Blue Feather school in downtown Brooklyn, its staff and children truly captured our hearts years ago. The school, located on Court Street in the shadow of the Gowannis Expressway, has a beautiful, but bare, backyard. Last year NYARM undertook a tremendous projectto outfit their backyard with a modern, safe playground, and were confident, that the members of the association would support it with their usual enthusiasm and generosity.
During the past year many members have volunteered time and money to this worthwhile cause. All through 1998 we contacted playground and padding manufacturers finally settling on a company who is ready to proceed.
The wonderful people at New York Cares, heard about our plans at the November 1997 meeting and have put us together with mural artists who will decorate the brick walls surrounding the playground. Ben Jacobson, Jacobson Painting has offered to donate all the paint for the murals.
We have spoken with
the fundraising people at AHRC to see if they can be of any service,
but the responsibility to fund this project is mostly ours. That's
where you, our loyal members and readers come in. Throughout the
year we hold 50/50 raffles at our monthly meetings and annual
events. So far we have raised $17,040 through these efforts. But
this is far short of the estimated $40,000 the project will eventually
cost.
NYARM wishes to acknowledge new manager member Robyn Sanderson
who heard about our playground fund and Christmas activities.
Through staff, families and friends Robyn raised $195 and dozens
of toys. The raffle at the dinner dance raised $3500 and the winner
of the $1000 grand prize, Joe Dee of JAD Bags, donated the money
back to the fund. NYARM is lucky to have such generous and caring
members.
Special thanks to Nelson Davis for being the one, true Santa Claus, Joan Saberito for all her hard work finding the perfect soft, stuffed animals at the lowest prices and the members of NYARM who come to help Santa deliver his message of love and caring: Vince Callagy, Rochelle Captan, Ben Jacobson, Tom Maniuszko, Deborah Morrell, Wayne Reed, Barbara Sullivan and Michael Wegielski.
Remember, every gift, every donation, no matter how small, is truly appreciated by the NYARM charity committee, the Board of Directors, the entire membership and of course, the children.
Please direct all
donations to NYARM, 853 Broadway, Suite 706, New York, NY 10003.
