The smile on a child’s face when they find a gift under the Christmas tree is priceless.
Unfortunately, for many children, it is only a dream. But by supporting the Bright Christmas campaign, you can make that dream a reality for those less fortunate throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn and beyond.
The Tablet’s time-honored tradition of raising money to ensure every child has a gift to open on Christmas morning has officially begun, and we are asking our readers to contribute what they can to the 2025 Bright Christmas campaign.
The holiday fund goes back decades.
In the 1960s, Tablet Editor Don Zirkel saw the financial struggles many families faced in making the holidays happy, and Bright Christmas was born.
Zirkel then passed the baton to Ed Wilkinson (The Tablet’s Editor Emeritus) in 1985, who carried the torch for 35 years.
While it would be thrilling to report that the need has diminished, it has not.
The rising costs of essentials like housing, food, and energy, as well as the skyrocketing costs of health insurance, are among the biggest challenges families face. Overall, the cost of living is higher now than last year, according to government statistics.
Last year, the Bright Christmas campaign raised nearly $100,000. This year’s goal is to raise $110,000.
For nearly seven decades, readers have opened their hearts and wallets to meet these needs. Some send in a few dollars, while others make much larger contributions.
Last year, The Tablet heard from many schools, parishes, and ministries that were grateful for the support they received from the fund to help run their Christmas programs.
Bright Christmas offered a glimmer of hope to the families at St. Michael-St. Malachy Parish in East New York. Vanessa Garcia-Pinedo, the director of religious education at St. Michael-St. Malachy, called Bright Christmas a lifeline for some of the children and their families, who otherwise would not be able to share in the joyful spirit of the season.
“We use those funds to do different things to help, such as putting together meals, buying Christmas gifts, and being able to provide a little bit of hope for these families that have gone through so much,” Garcia-Pinedo said.
Bright Christmas donations also went to food banks and family shelters.
Thomas Neve, founder and executive director of Reaching-Out Community Services, said it is “the most wonderful time of the year for more than 600 children who received toys and met with Santa thanks to the generosity of The Tablet readers.”
Make a Difference Christmas co-founder Thomas Flood recalled when a 12-year-old girl asked the organization for oil for Christmas. Flood said he initially thought she was referring to body oil or oil for a diffuser. As it turned out, the girl meant oil for her home because they had no heat or hot water.
“So, on Christmas Eve, we had 60 gallons of heating oil delivered,” Flood said.
Flood and Ann Turner founded Make a Difference Christmas 29 years ago to collect and distribute Christmas gifts and essential items for children and families in need. Last year, with donations from Bright Christmas and others, the organization delivered gifts to 1,000 children. In addition, it provided 300 children with hats, gloves, socks, shoes or sneakers, two outfits, two pajamas, and one wish list item — ranging from a Barbie doll to a train set.
The joy of giving is a yearly tradition for many of our generous donors.
At Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, Father Francis Passenant invited his parishioners to contribute to a second collection for Bright Christmas and personally matched those contributions.
RELATED: Bright Christmas Tradition a Success Thanks to the Generosity of Readers
“I said, ‘I’m throwing the gauntlet out to you, so instead of throwing a dollar, throw in a 20. Instead of a five, throw in a 10,’ and it ended up being $995,” Father Passenant said.
He rounded that up to $1,000 and then added $1,001 of his own money, bringing the total to $2,001.
When asked about the significance of his adding the dollar, Father Passenant laughed and recalled the days when The Tablet would print the amount each parish gave and how adding the extra dollar would put his parish in the higher bracket.
Among the Diocese of Brooklyn churches and parishes receiving Bright Christmas funds were Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Jamaica, and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph-St. Teresa Avila in Prospect Heights, where then-rector Father Christopher Heanue said the money was used to buy gifts for the children of the parish to celebrate the Three Kings Day feast, and to help aid individual families who are struggling financially.
Sister Annelle Fitzpatrick of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood said they were grateful for the money they received, which helped refugee children from Ukraine and Afghanistan have a joyous Christmas.
Please keep reading The Tablet to learn how the campaign is progressing and discover the wonderful things that happen throughout Brooklyn and Queens because of your generosity.