First Responders Lions partner with NYPD, DOC, and NYC’s youngest author for holiday cheers

On Friday, first Responders Lions Club partnered with the NYPD 63rd Precinct in Brooklyn, Stalwarts Youth, and the Department of Corrections to bring holiday cheer to area children. 

“This year was a unique collaboration since First Responders LC had never partnered with the Department of Corrections K-9 unit,” Guyanese-born Brooklyn resident Dimple Willabus, president of First Responders Lions Club, told Caribbean Life.

“The goal was to engage the children while they were waiting in line to see Santa and receive a present at the NYPD 63rd Precinct,” she added. “Since the temperature was frigid, we wanted to move the line as quickly as possible and to make the experience fun and exciting for the children.”

Willabus said it was the second year that the First Responders Lions Club partnered with the NYPD 63rd Precinct.

She said First Responders LC is a nonprofit organization and the first of its kind in New York State.

“The organization’s members are from the NYPD, corrections, and like-minded business professionals who support our First Responders,” Willabus said. “This location was ideal to host the toy giveaway since it is a central location in our neighborhood and close to a few schools.”

She said, “Parents came out in record numbers with their newborns and others with their various ages of children to meet a differently attired Santa, Police-Clause.”

Willabus said one of the Community Affairs officers, Thomas Podd, was dressed in a blue uniform and his badge to engage the children.

Additionally, she said the Department of Corrections K-9 team “understood the assignment well and executed with professionalism and enthusiasm towards the kids.”

She said the K-9 team engaged the children, “giving them an opportunity to touch the dogs, ask questions and take pictures.”

Willabus said each K-9 also wore a badge as “a form of expression that they were on duty serving, as well.

“The line moved quickly as each family received three copies of New York’s youngest author, Anaya Lee Willabus, books, a candy cane with Hershey’s chocolate, a gingerbread house, and each child, a present,” she said.

“We wanted to donate books along with the presents and other goodies because most kids play with their toys for a brief period and put them aside,” Willabus added. “With the three books, it’s a way to promote literacy and to encourage the kids to build a home library.”

She said this year’s toy giveaway was a success and “a sense of accomplishment since it was an educational and enlightened experience for the children and parents in attendance.”