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December: Holiday Season at the Center

by News and Events

Support CFL in the last two days of 2024!

This holiday season, the Center for Family Life is so grateful for supporters like you who make the work we do possible. With your support, at this special time of year we go above and beyond in all of our programs to share holiday foods, gifts and clothing with the families who come to our doors.  

Thanks to your contributions, between Thanksgiving and Christmas the Center was able to provide over 400 turkeys to neighbors in Sunset Park! We are especially grateful to NYC Council Member Alexa Aviles, New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes, City Harvest, and the Skanska company for their generous contributions to the Center for Family Life’s food pantry this holiday season. Donations of turkeys and all the trimmings helped more of our neighbors to have festive and fulfilling feasts this year.

 We are also grateful for the generosity of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church — who donated so many toys to the Center — and for our case planners in the Family Counseling Program who distributed the gifts to parents.  

Our Adult Employment Program also provided toys and hosted a toy giveaway, where families picked up wrapped presents for their children. Some parents came to the Center while their children were in school, and sometimes it was a family affair to pick up gifts!

CFL’s School Based Youth and Community Programs were also busy this holiday season hosting holiday sing-alongs, plays, and gingerbread house-making events in the 11 schools where we offer afterschool programming to in Sunset Park. 

Additionally, we are grateful for our wonderful Board of Directors who donated scarfs and gloves to the Center, and for a holiday grant from the United Neighborhood Houses which allowed our Family and Community Supports Program to buy winter coats and holiday gifts for community members in need. As we head toward the coldest months of winter, it’s more important than ever that our neighbors have protective and warm clothing to get them through this winter. Your end of year donation today will help us to ensure that there is one less neighbor without food or warm winter clothing. If you haven’t already, please consider donating to the Center. 

It’s always been our mission to be a resource to our neighbors in Sunset Park; seeing everyone come-and-go from the Center — whether to give or receive gifts — made us grateful to be in a community where we all strive to include each other in our festivities and celebrations. The ways we support each other in our community is, in and of itself, something to celebrate as we end 2024 and enter a new year. 

In utmost gratitude, and with warmest wishes for the New Year, 

The Center for Family Life in Sunset Park  

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December: Holidays in Sunset Park

by Economic Well-being ProgramsNews and Events

The holidays are an incredibly special time for family and friends to spend time together and celebrate, strengthening bonds and giving us all the chance to feel loved and appreciated. However, for those who are far from home, who have very limited financial resources even to satisfy basic needs, or who have no stable shelter or holiday gifts or food, the holidays can be a time where what we do not have and what we cannot give our children is especially painful.

This year has been difficult for many children and families in our community, as families with low wage jobs and little job security continue to deal with social, emotional and financial hardships as we move through the post-pandemic recovery. Since September 2022, thousands of new migrants have arrived in New York City. A majority of these families crossed the border with no belongings and are living in shelters or overcrowded apartments. Since these families are already experiencing significant financial constraints, most cannot afford warm clothing this winter, let alone holiday gifts and special meals.

To support our clients this season and to reduce their stress, we reached out to our friends, donors, our Board of Directors and community to help families celebrate the holidays!

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Our Community Services Program and Adult Employment Program have been busy this winter distributing warm clothing to clients. After hearing that many of our clients lack appropriate clothing for the cold, our generous donors and Board of Directors quickly helped us to purchase coats, hats, scarves and gloves to distribute. We are so glad that we can help to keep our community members warm this winter.

Each year, Center for Family Life’s Family Counseling and Adult Employment Programs purchase and accept donated gifts to give to our families in need. These items are delivered to CFL, wrapped and distributed to parents so that parents have gifts and toys to give to their children for the holidays. Thank you to everyone who supported the purchase of these gifts, the children were so excited!

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With your help, children and their families received gifts through our Family Counseling and Adult Employment Programs!

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Every holiday season is busy for us here at CFL, especially for those in our food pantry who work extra hard to put together special food packages. In November, in addition to our regular distribution, our food pantry gave out 240 turkeys for families to take home for their Thanksgiving dinners!

We are truly so grateful to everyone who helped make this a joyous holiday season for our clients, we could not do this without your support. We are proud to have such dedicated partners and excited to continue to serve our wonderful community in 2024.

From all of us at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, warm wishes for a

Happy New Year!

LLs

Celebrating Community 2023

by News and Events

On October 5th, we celebrated our annual Celebrating Community event at the Stone Park Cafe, where we honored Leroy Street Studio as well as Charlie Allen and the firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

In addition, we were thrilled to recognize the 40th anniversary of “Life Lines” Community Arts Project!

In celebration of the nationally-recognized program Life Lines, we created a documentary showing how the program has grown since 1982 and exploring its impact on Sunset Park youth and the overall community over four decades. We would like to thank all Life Lines staff members and participants, both past and present, for being a part of this program and everyone who contributed to this documentary for making it so incredibly special!

To watch the full documentary, click here!

Our 2023 Honorees

Our Community Hero
Leroy Street Studio

In 2018 we partnered with the designers of the interim Sunset Park Library, Leroy Street Studio, who collaborated with participants in our Life Lines Visual Arts Troupe to create a welcoming and vibrant space with the use of art. In 2021, the library was recognized as one of the winners of the Library Building Design Award, one of only five libraries selected in the United States.

We are so glad that Leroy Street Studio has remained a dedicated partner to Center for Family Life in Sunset Park and are honored to have worked on such an important community project together.

Our Corporate Hero
Charlie Allen & Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

After becoming an independent organization, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park sought the expertise of Charlie Allen and his team at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP on our governance project. This project was a complex and time-consuming undertaking and we would like to thank Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Charlie Allen for providing exceptional pro bono service to our organization.

Special Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Board of Directors, esteemed guests State Senator Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, Congressional Field Representative Mayra Molina from the office of Congressman Dan Goldman, Deputy Borough President Kim Council, Deputy Commissioner Susan Haskell form the Department of Youth and Community Development, Deputy Commissioner Jackie Martin from the Administration for Children’s Services, along with CFL staff members and all of those who attended and supported our event.

We are so grateful to have such wonderful partners to help us serve the Sunset Park community!

Our school-based staff speakers! From left to right: Taide Acevedo, Stephanie Ruiz, Shanice Peters, Johnny Tapia, and Andy Li

The Extra Mile 2023

by News and Events

On June 7th, we celebrated our incredible school-based staff and leaders-in-training at our annual Extra Mile event! We are so glad that our guests were able to hear the unique experiences of these outstanding young adults and to appreciate their journey along our “ladder of leadership.” 

 

Our Co-Executive Directors Julia Jean-Francois and Julie Stein Brockway with our school-based staff presenters and Councilmember Alexa Aviles, who personally congratulated our staff on behalf of City Council!

Read below to learn about our school-based staff members’ journeys up the ladder!

Taide Acevedo: Taide was born and raised in Sunset Park, starting her journey with CFL as a 5-year-old participant in the afterschool program at

PS 503/506. As a teen, Taide started volunteering her time at PS 503/506 and joined the Counselor-in-Training Program. Later, she graduated from Sunset Park High School, the first public high school in the neighborhood, and climbed just about every rung of leadership in the school-based programs. Taide is now the Program Director at PS 971 and has a MSW from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.

Andy Li: Andy is a junior at Telecommunications High School. He is a graduate of Sunset Park Prep (M.S. 821), where he participated in the “Life Lines” program for all three years. Andy has been a Leader-in-Training (LIT) since 10th grade and still participates in the Life Lines high school program.

Shanice Peters: Shanice was part of the first graduating class from Sunset Park High School where she spent all four years involved in the Life Lines program by participating in their performing arts troupes. Throughout her time at CFL, she has been a participant, group leader, high school advisor, LIT supervisor, an assistant and director of the Life Lines Summer Arts Camp, and a Program Coordinator for Life Lines. Shanice is now the Program Director at MS 136 and holds a MSW from Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.

Stephanie Ruiz: Over the years, Stephanie has climbed up the ladder of leadership in the school-based programs including office aid, assistant group leader, group leader, CIT coordinator, high school advisor, and activity specialist. Stephanie is now the PS 169 Co-Director, has her BSW, and is attending Hunter College to obtain her MSW!

Johnny Tapia: Johnny started CFL in 2015 as a Life Lines group leader. He has also been a high school advisor, LIT supervisor, parent liaison, activity specialist, CIT supervisor, and an AmeriCorps supervisor. This summer, Johnny has been promoted to Program Coordinator and will co-lead the PS 94 program.

 

Bonnie Greaves, Vice-Chair
Our Board Vice-Chair, Bonnie Greaves
Tim Sheehan, Chair
Our Board Chair, Tim Sheehan

Thank you to our Board of Directors, esteemed guests NY City Councilwoman Alexa Aviles and Congressional Field Representative Mayra Molina from the office of Congressman Dan Goldman, along with CFL staff members and all of those who attended and supported our special event. We are so proud of our young leaders and are excited to see them continue to grow!

 

Toy drive hosted by Minnie's Bar in Sunset Park!

December: Holiday Giving!

by News and Events

While the holidays are meant to be a time of giving, joy and celebration amongst family and friends, they can also be a source of great stress. Many of our clients at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park do not have enough income to buy holiday gifts for their families. Instead, they must decide whether to celebrate the holidays or to be able to provide basic necessities for their families like rent or groceries.

In our third holiday season with the COVID-19 pandemic, our clients continue to deal with its lasting effects including long term financial hardship from job loss and extended illness. In addition, Sunset Park has seen the recent arrival of migrant families from Central and South America who are living in shelters and overcrowded apartments and do not have the financial means to obtain basic necessities, let alone purchase holiday gifts.

To combat these challenges, we have witnessed an outpouring of kindness and support by our community to help others to celebrate the holidays. We are so grateful for everyone that has contributed to making this a holiday season of celebration and happiness!

Children helping out at the Minnie's event toy drive!
Children helping out at the Minnie's event toy drive!

This holiday season, many individuals have reached out to us to offer their help to supply gifts to the clients we serve!

One of Sunset Park’s local establishments, Minnie’s Bar, hosted a weeklong toy drive to support clients in our Family Counseling Program. In collaboration with teachers from Sunset Park High School, this toy drive produced numerous bags of toys and allowed Sunset Park locals and visitors to come together in celebration of community and the holiday season! Our Co-Director of Family Counseling, Jen Wittlin, attended the drive to thank those that donated and to speak further about our Family Counseling Program and the clients we serve.

We also received nearly 100 items including socks, gloves, hats, toys and gift cards from a giving tree that was organized by employees of Webster Bank! These items were delivered to our clients before the holidays, allowing them to celebrate with their families without the financial burden of purchasing gifts.

CFLSP’s Family Counseling Program created an Amazon Wish List with gifts that people could purchase for our families. We received generous monetary donations to allow us to purchase these items as well as had many of our supporters purchase gifts directly. St. Michael’s Church also donated toys to our Family Counseling Program, which was organized by a former staff member of CFLSP. In addition, one of our Board members donated a generous supply of children’s books!

Gifts provided by the giving tree at Webster Bank!
Gifts provided by the giving tree at Webster Bank!

One of our case planners shared a personal anecdote about her client that received gifts from CFLSP as well as our holiday package, provided by our food pantry. This client shared how emotional and thankful she was to be able to provide a gift for her son to open on Christmas. This woman, who is a survivor of intimate partner violence and spent last Christmas at a shelter, celebrated the holiday at her own home with her son and mother this year. Our case planner described this mom as being “resilient and strong,” while expressing how grateful she is “that CFL can make this happen for many more families in similar situations” this holiday season!

Jen Wittlin also shared an experience she had when 3 mothers with 4 children came to the office asking for gifts for their children. These mothers had come to CFLSP in the past to receive assistance as newly arrived migrants. These mothers knew that they could seek help here at Center for Family Life, which is why they chose to return. We were able to provide the mothers with gifts for their children, who were so thankful to give them toys to play with. Jen said how this is an example of “what a grounding force CFL is in the community” and shows how people “feel supported here” knowing “we will be there for them.”

CFL staff ready to distribute gifts to families!
CFL staff ready to distribute gifts to families!

Thank you to those who made all of this possible and who allowed those in our community to celebrate with loved ones! We are grateful for everyone who contributed to our holiday appeal whether it be through monetary donations or through direct gift giving. With your support, our Adult Employment Program and Family Counseling Program were able to provide gifts to 105 families with 210 children for the holidays! We are proud and excited to continue to serve our community in the new year.

From all of us at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, we wish you a Happy New Year!