10NYPD’s top cop spreads cheer in Bayside
QUEENS WEEKLY, DEC. 23, 2018
Commissioner joins officers, Santa and popular characters to St. Mary’s Hospital for Children
BY JENNA BAGCAL
New York City police officers,
including the NYPD’s
top cop, hosted an afternoon
of holiday fun in Bayside for
patients and their families.
Dozens of children at St.
Mary’s Hospital for Children
were joined by Police
Commissioner James
O’Neill and NYPD officers
from all five boroughs Dec.
13 for the sixth annual event
that featured presents, photo
ops with popular characters
and an appearance from
Santa Claus himself.
Husband and wife team
Terry and Bernice Brienza
started the event in 2013
when they were brainstorming
ways to spread some holiday
cheer to kids who were
“stuck inside” during this
time of year.
“We realized that being
stuck inside was kind of terrible,
imagine being stuck
in a hospital. So a bunch
of guys got together, put
money in a pool and bought
some presents,” Terry
Brienza said. “We reached
out to a bunch of hospitals
in the area, St. Mary’s was
very opened to the idea of
us coming down here and
that was it. We came down,
got amazing feedback from
both the hospital and the
cops that participated.”
He added that every
year, they try to make the
event “bigger and better”
than the last.
The Brienzas’ children
participated in the
holiday event for the first
time this year in order for
them to learn the importance
of giving back to the
community, according to
Bernice Brienza.
“As a mother, it’s an
amazing feeling to me. It’s
very rewarding as a mother,
as a police officer and as a
citizen,” she said.
Kids and their families
were treated to holiday
sing-a-longs and visits from
superheroes and cartoon
characters including Anna
and Elsa from Frozen, Mr.
Met, Spiderman, Wonder
Woman and MacGruff the
Crime Dog.
Police officers from the five boroughs visited children at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children. Photos by Jenna Bagcal
There were plenty of gifts to go around.
Attendees were also visited
by NYPD horses and
several K-9 dogs.
The fun continued outside
as a motorcade of police
vehicles ushered in a
blue-suited Santa Claus,
who delighted the crowd in
an NYPD Emergency Services
Unit truck. Up in the
sky, an NYPD helicopter
wowed onlookers with exciting
aerial feats.
“I think it’s really important
for the NYPD to be
at St. Mary’s today,” O’Neill
said. “This is my second
year and it’s really inspirational
for us and this is
something that’s just done
by the police officers.”
“There’s no outside
funding; they do it. It
makes the kids feel good
but it really makes the
cops feel like they’re part
of this community,” he
added. “This is important
work that’s done here and
we want to make sure the
kids feel that people aren’t
forgetting about them.”
Elsa from “Frozen” stopped by to spend time with the kids.