Gifts for the children, gifts for the parents, a meal, and cookies--the families at The Kensington, the family shelter on McDonald Avenue near Church Avenue, will appreciate all of these.
Before the shelter opened in December 2015, neighborhood residents Catherine and Tracy volunteered to bring the neighborhood together to support the sheltered families in any way we're able to and to serve as liaisons between the neighborhood and the shelter.
Periodically throughout the year, they send e-mail to neighborhood residents with information about what the families need. Sometimes it's clothing, sometimes it's personal care products, sometimes it's holiday gifts, and sometimes it's participation at parties or other events.
To get on the mailing list for updates from Catherine and Tracy, send an e-mail to givemeshelterbk @ gmail.com.
And now, here's the e-mail they sent today.
Happy holidays to you all!
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Hello Neighbors!
We hope everyone is having a terrific autumn. A few weeks ago we threw a Halloween party for the kids at the shelter. A local resident, Beth Boyle Machlan, coordinated a bunch of NYU students to put on the event, which featured a visit from Spider-Man. A huge hit, as you can imagine.
We are now in the thick of planning our winter events. This neighborhood has always come through in a big way to make the families' holidays super-special and we know you will do it again. Now onto the details!
As you know, we try to provide three gifts for every child at the shelter, each chosen specifically for them with input from shelter staff. We have created an Amazon wishlist for this purpose. You can order from Amazon, or buy the same item elsewhere and mark as bought on the wishlist. Please do not wrap! We will be holding a wrapping event. https://amzn.to/2KEOPLk
We also try to provide a gift for the adults. As in the past, we hope to collect one new bath-and-body set or perfume/cologne for each parent. We have created an Amazon wishlist for convenience — https://amzn.to/2pxjSRQ — but you are also welcome to purchase elsewhere (or regift!) and bring or ship to the shelter.
The gifts will be handed out at the holiday party (details in a future email) and on Christmas morning. On Dec. 15, we will host a wrapping event at the shelter. If you would like to volunteer for that, you can sign up here (18+ for on-site volunteers please!): https://bit.ly/2Oxs1OG
We have two more ways to help out this season:
We are providing a harvest meal the day after Thanksgiving. You can sign up here to donate a cooked dish, dessert, paper goods or beverages (details in the link as well): https://bit.ly/2qzOqmq Shelter staff will handle serving the meal, so no volunteers are needed for this event.
And we are doing our cookie brigade again! If you would like to drop off some cookies at the shelter during the holiday weeks, sign up here: https://bit.ly/2XvUXuA
The shelter address is 385 McDonald Ave., Brooklyn NY 11218. All donations for these events should be marked attn: Uniquia Parker.
Thank you for all you do for our neighbors who are struggling. It's really a gift to the community and to us! We will send you one more email with further details on the Holiday party scheduled for Dec 22. In the meantime, stay warm!
Love,
Catherine and Tracy