PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Thanks to the generosity of the readers of The Tablet, the Christmas season was once again truly bright for children and families throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn and beyond.
Every year, The Tablet conducts the “Bright Christmas” campaign to ensure that no child goes without a gift on Christmas. This year the campaign raised $96,358.82, which helped push the total amount collected over the campaign’s past 10 years to nearly $1.6 million.
The donations helped various schools, churches, and organizations within the diocese make Christmas memorable for children and families during this holiday season.
Among this year’s recipients were diocesan parishes, including the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace in Coney Island, whose goal was to provide toys for underprivileged children at their annual Christmas celebration. According to the parish’s religious education coordinator, Maria Garces, Bright Christmas was a blessing for the children there.
“It’s all about putting a smile on a child’s face,” said Garces, explaining that “we want to make a difference, and we want these children to feel it in their hearts through our teaching and our love.”
Thanks to the Bright Christmas funds, the school was able to hold a surprise celebration for students after Sunday school class. Children who otherwise might not receive gifts were given toys and goodie bags.
Other churches and parishes receiving Bright Christmas funds included St. Michael-St. Malachy, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Church, and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph-St. Teresa Avila, where 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.
Father Victor Bolanos, pastor of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jamaica, uses the Bright Christmas funds for a live Nativity scene, including two camels, as well as a celebration party, complete with toys for the children in the parish, explaining: “When we ask for money it’s always such a great help. We just try to do as much as we can for the little ones.”
The Bright Christmas donations also went to soup kitchens and family shelters helping people receive a hot meal, clothes, and a gift on Christmas. Thomas Neve, founder and executive director of Reaching-Out Community Services called it “ ‘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.”
St. Francis Food Pantries & Shelters were able to keep grocery bags full, their soup kitchen open, and provide clothing and toys for over 10,000 families in need throughout New York City.
Ellen Edelman, executive director of Families, Fathers & Children, an organization that helps families affected by incarceration, credited the volunteers and the Bright Christmas fund for helping make Christmas happen for the children and their families.
“We are extremely grateful to the many people who contribute to Bright Christmas, because it makes a world of difference,” Edelman said. “They helped provide activities, including music and arts and crafts, a buffet dinner that families can enjoy together, and a toy for every child.”
Sister Annelle Fitzpatrick, of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, a religious community of over 500 Catholic women and 500 lay associates who live and minister in the U.S. and around the world, said that the sisters were grateful for the Bright Christmas funds they received, which allowed refugee children from Ukraine and Afghanistan to have a joyous Christmas.
Msgr. Richard Ahlemyer, pastor of St. Camillus-St. Virgilius Parish, who generously donated to the Bright Christmas fund after many years of relying on the donations when he served at parishes that needed the extra assistance, said, “When Bright Christmas came around, I said that now it’s time for me through this parish to pay back for the generosity that The Tablet’s Bright Christmas had given to me in my previous parishes. It’s like paying it forward or paying it back.”
The Tablet’s former business manager, Matthew Schiller, knows all too well the kind of difference Bright Christmas makes in people’s lives. He was directly involved with the campaign for over 20 years and learned firsthand how the funds raised would help put a toy in a child’s hands and a smile on their face.
Despite moving out of the diocese and leaving The Tablet in 1993, Schiller remains a loyal subscriber to the paper and a generous donor to the Bright Christmas campaign. And while there are countless charities worthy of donations during the holiday season, for Schiller Bright Christmas stands out.
“There are a couple of charities that I really believe in,” he explained. “But Bright Christmas is probably the biggest one. It’s because I know it’s in good hands.”
The Bright Christmas fund was started in the 1960s by Don Zirkel, then editor of The Tablet, who saw the financial struggles many families faced trying to make the holidays happy. In the early 1980s, The Tablet Editor Emeritus Ed Wilkinson took the reins and helped the Bright Christmas fund grow. And more than 60 years later, the tradition continues today.
And it’s not too late to help. Any additional funds received will be added to next year’s Bright Christmas campaign.