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Children and youths from programs within The New York Foundling, one of the oldest non-profit organizations serving children in the Bronx and throughout the city, gather to decorate wreaths at Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant as part of an annual holiday tradition.
Story by Marisol Rodríguez
Photos by Catherine Fonseca
The moment in which it is officially the start of the Christmas holiday season is unique for everyone.
Be it when the Christmas tree at home goes up, or upon first hearing the jingle of the bells of Salvation Army volunteers collecting donations throughout the City, it is then that the season has arrived.
For Bill Baccaglini, executive director of the New York Foundling, a non-profit organization dedicated to servicing inner-city youth and youth in the child welfare system, the season begins with a tradition founded eight years at an exclusive restaurant on Central Park South.
“For me, this kicks off the holiday season,” said Baccaglini. “It’s not the tree at Rockefeller Center, it’s the wreath-decorating at Mickey Mantle’s.”
He spoke as a group of approximately 25 Bronx children and youths from various programs within the New York Foundling organization decorated Christmas wreaths that will adorn Mickey Mantle’s restaurant during the month of December.
For Alan Shatz, New York Foundling’s director of community relations, the event is a chance to enjoy the children’s excitement during the day, which included a lunch and a visit from Santa. “The best part is seeing the kids smile,” said Shatz, who mentioned that many of the young participants eagerly return each year to help out.
Shatz also lauded the generosity of New York Foundling Board member Frank Villano, owner of Mickey Mantle’s, for continuing to host the event and Ariston Forest for annually donating the fresh pine wreathes for decoration.
All of the youth participants are connected to the New York Foundling, many as students of the organization’s charter school Mott Haven Academy. Others attend the Foundling’s Mott Haven Leadership Program, as well as Camp Felix, an over-night summer camp in Peekskill, which is operated and funded by the Foundling.
Marlin Colón, 16, a student at Cristo Rey High School in Harlem, proudly sported his Camp Felix sweatshirt. He been coming to Mickey Mantle’s for the past three years.
“When I first came, I was 13. It was a place I could be a kid,” said Colón. “I like coming now because I help the kids participate.”
In addition to spending his summers at Camp Felix, Marlin Colón is also a part of the Mott Haven Leadership Program, an after-school program for youth ages 8-17.
He works with the younger boys of the leadership program, which also has a separate girls group. He does so, he said, because it gives him the opportunity to give back to the same community he was raised in, and to prove stereotypes of inner-city youth wrong.
“I come from the South Bronx, [and] I can still be someone,” he said.
His sister, Cello Colón, 9, is a student at the Mott Haven Academy, where she said she especially enjoys learning to play the flute and piano in her music class. The decorated wreaths also serves a source of pride for the fourth-grader.
“We get to decorate wreaths and hang them up and say that it’s ours,” she said.
Yobalni Puello, an Inwood native currently residing in the Bronx, has been the progam’s acting director for the past six years, but has been involved with the New York Foundling for over 16 years. In addition to providing students homework help and recreational activities, the leadership program also facilitates group meetings, during which students bring up relevant problems such as getting along with their teachers, said Puello.
Surrounded by wreaths, Puello explained that the program is an important part of the students’ lives, giving them a sense of community and providing them with a safe haven. “We give them a sense of family,” he said. “It also gives them a place where they can be off the street and be safe.”
Before the children headed back to the Bronx, they lined up to get a treat from St. Nick, a role played by Bob Gibson, president of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Emerald Society, an Irish worker’s group. The Society has been collecting gifts for the Foundling gift-drive for the past 25 years. When they began, Gibson remembered collecting seven bags of toys, which this year has grown to four trucks worth of toy donations.
“We make sure every kid gets something,” Gibson said. “It may not be an X-Box, but they get their choice.”
This year children left Mickey Mantle’s with gifts including board games like Yahtzee, instruments and $25 Old Navy gift cards, among other choice items.
The wreath-decorating at Mickey Mantle’s is just one of the many ways the New York Foundling tries to engage youth in activities throughout the holiday season, said Bill Baccaglini. The organization also takes youth on trips to see shows like Big Apple Circus and the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Baccaglini said these activities are part of celebrating the holidays for his own family and thinks they should also be accessible to the children of the Foundling.
“There is no reason these kids shouldn’t get exposed to what my daughter is exposed to,” he said, noting the importance of having things to look forward to during the holiday season, especially for the children and youths the Foundling works with.
“Christmas can be a hard time, especially for kids in the system, because they aren’t with their families,” he said.
Among the group at Mickey Mantle’s was Tiffany Araya, 17, a student at Celia Cruz High School in the Bronx, who joined her younger brother, a student at Mott Haven Academy. Araya has been attending the event since eighth grade and now considers it a tradition she looks forward to every Christmas. She reflected on the holiday season as she enters adulthood and prepares to be a college student.
“When you’re young, it’s about the presents, but as you get older it’s more about being with family and friends,” said Araya. “It’s the one time of the year when everyone gets together. I like that.”
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