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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  

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!