Borough President Eric Adams joined the Salvation Army of Greater New York (SA) last week to distribute toys donated to families and children in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)’ Howard Houses development in Brownsville for the holiday.
Adams and Jennifer Goff, Director of Community Engagement for SA, collected about 1,000 toys to give out at the entrance to the main building. The distribution event comes amid an unprecedented holiday season, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make in-person gatherings challenging and the vaccine hasn’t been widely distributed just yet.
Adams said they will be giving out pajamas, toys, and books to children throughout the city. Goff said it was important to the SA to make sure children didn’t wake up on Christmas gifts, and it wasn’t too late for people to donate to that cause.
Jerome Lily, 55, a proud grandfather who brought his three grandkids to get presents, said that events like this were important to families who have lost parents this year. “His father was just killed,” said Lily, pointing to his grandchildren Alana and Darius.
“We need to save the kids when we have an opportunity. We need to be out here every day not just once something happens,” said Lily speaking about gun violence in the community.
“Some people may look at these boxes and see toys only but they’re not. They really define Christmas in a real way,” said Adams, speaking about his troubled childhood. “I would not have had a Christmas without the Salvation Army. I would not have had Thanksgiving dinners without the Salvation Army. I would not have had a safe space without them.”
Community leaders, like Lisa Kenner, have been working all year with Adam’s office to give out PPE’s and information to fight back in the COVID-19 crisis, said Adams. He also encouraged the crowd to limit in-person gatherings, wear masks, maintain social distance, and get tested regularly.
“It’s so important. We want to keep down the numbers and not have a peak again in the city. Brooklyn lost more residents to COVID-19 than any other county,” said Adams. “We don’t want that to happen again.”
