Making holiday dreams come true

The holiday season is considered a time for enjoyment and to help ensure that more than a few children experience joy, Peninsula Kiwanis, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Inwood, the Five Towns Community Center, Lawrence school officials and the Five Towns Early Learning Center in Inwood joined forces once again to purchase about 700 toys and gifts at the Valley Stream Toys “R” Us last Thursday.
Hewlett-based Peninsula Kiwanis, who has members from the surrounding communities, holds its Christmas Dream Pancake Breakfast fundraiser in October and through that event raises the money it applies to its Christmas Dream program and now other charitable endeavors.
“Christmas Dream was formed 25 years ago this year by Pete and Mike Sobol, and Sister Virginia Downs, who used to live across the street from Our Lady of Good Counsel [Church],” said Inwood native and Hewlett resident Christopher McGrath, a Peninsula Kiwanis member. “I was involved with it from the start. At the beginning the thought was to provide toys to children of all faith during the holidays.”
McGrath said the program has expanded to provide 275 backpacks filled with school supplies this year, school snacks for children and 2,000 pair of kids underwear, winter clothing, Thanksgiving dinners, toothbrushes and tooth paste, along with 1,000 boxes of laundry detergent and an ESL program to help kids and their parents learn English.
“When we provided winter coats to two children earlier this month, they were amazed that they got to keep the coats and said they never had a winter before,” McGrath said. “All money raised goes to the children with no administrative costs.”

The We Care Foundation, a charitable arm of the Nassau County Bar Association, has also provided grant money to Christmas Dream, said McGrath, a Garden City-based lawyer.
Teachers, administrators and social workers at the Lawrence Primary School at Number Two School, Lawrence Childhood Center at Number Four School, Lawrence Elementary School at Broadway, Lawrence Middle School at Broadway Campus and the Early Learning Center identify the kids who will receive gifts.
“It starts with letters to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church that are then collected and collated, and the people who know those kids go out and shop for them,” said Pete Sobol, an Inwood resident who is president of the community center.
“We spent $10,745 on toys for the kids and the people who did the picking are the counselors and the school people who know these,” said East Rockaway resident Tom DelGiorno, a 27-year Kiwanis member. “All the individuals work hard and every dime goes to the children.”
Pepper Robinson, the executive director of the Early Learning Center, is one of shoppers. “The parents don’t have the time or money to buy presents,” she said. “They are paying basic needs such as the rent. Some go into debt for Christmas. This relieves them of some of stress. We know the kids and we wrap the gifs to make it an enjoyable experience for the kids. Christmas Dream does make dreams come true.”
To contribute a toy, drop it off at Sobol’s Distributor’s at 255 Sheridan Blvd. in Inwood. To donate, send a check made out to Christmas Dream and send it c/o Peninsula Kiwanis, P.O. Box 301, Hewlett, NY 11557.
“It is an unbelievable feeling to be a small part of the Christmas dream,” McGrath said.