22 JANUARY 12 - JANUARY 18, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Toys donated to Coney homeless shelter
after Toys for Tots fails to collect gifts
BY JAIME DEJESUS
JDEJESUS@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
It was a Christmas miracle for kids
living in homeless shelters in Coney
Island.
The youngsters enjoyed the bounty
of a box of playthings collected at The
Home Reporter, 9733 Fourth Avenue,
for Toys for Tots, after the organization
failed to show up to collect them
by Friday, December 22, 2017, the last
workday before the holiday.
Faced with a stack of toys, Lori
Pedone, vice president of events for
Schneps Communications and the
Star Network, began looking to find a
group that would accept them.
Fortuitously, she received a phone
call from Mathylde Frontus, a Coney
Island resident and activist who had
been a recipient of the 40 Under 40
award hosted by Star Network, and
who is the former executive director
of Urban Neighborhood Services in
Coney Island.
“I called her because we haven’t
spoken for so long, and she said it
was a miracle,” Frontus said. “She
said she needed my help and told
me the situation. The donations
were supposed to go to the Marines.
They never came so she wondered
if I could find a way to use them. At
the time, nothing came to mind but
I just felt confident I could figure
something out so I said I’d take
them. It was right before Christmas
and I thought it would be a shame
not to find a good way to use the
toys.”
Once she hung up, Frontus rushed
to compile a list of nearby shelters to
see if they’d accept the gifts. “Then I
remembered, right in my own backyard,
there was a hotel on Stillwell
Avenue, the Sleep Inn, a portion of
which, through the Department of
Homeless Services, is dedicated to
homeless families and children, so I
called them and sure enough they said
yes,” Frontus recounted.
Frontus said the shelter had around
25 families with children. Once given
the green light, Pedone, Frontus and
family members gathered at the shelter
to set up the Christmas surprise for
the children living there. The event
was organized in 24 hours.
“It was held in the cafeteria lounge
and the hotel management told the
families to come down,” she said.
“We wore Santa hats, greeted them,
and told them to pick whatever toys
they wanted. The children were really
happy. They really appreciated
it.”
Along with the children, parents
were also grateful for the surprise
gifts.
“The parents really appreciated
it,” Frontus added. “People really
appreciate that others are thinking
about them. That’s what holiday cheer
means. When people feel like they’re
being remembered, it’s a nice feeling.
I felt happy and proud, and I felt like I
was like an agent of change. We can all
do that. I look at it as a larger life lesson
that all around us there are these opportunities
just to do something small
to help other people.”
St. Ephrem students spread the Christmas spirit
BY ROSALEEN DEGREGORIO
On the chilly night of December
15, 2017, excitement filled
the air as the children attending
St. Ephrem School got ready
to present their annual Christmas
concert.
The students from kindergarten,
and second, fourth, sixth and eighth
grades, gathered in the Monsignor
Peter V. Kane Hall to the delight of
their parents, family and faculty to
sing about the birth of the baby Jesus,
the spirit of giving and the festivities
celebrated during the Christmas
season.
Under the guidance of their music
teacher, Sister Mary Jane Maloney,
the students had been preparing
for the past few months. The classes
performed between three and four
songs for their audience. The next
concert will take place in the spring,
showing off the talents of the first,
third, fifth and seventh graders.
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Lori Pedone
Mathyde Frontus and family with the toys being distributed.
Photos courtesy of St. Ephrem School
The youngest performers, the kindergarten class, singing “Lullaby Sweet Jesus.”