April Showers!

The crowd went wild for RBC’s Dos Toros Burrito Bowl dinner on Wednesday night; although the showstoppers for many were the tortilla chips and guacamole. Many smiling faces were seen walking away from the chips station with a mountain of delicious golden tortillas on their plates!

After the awesome dinner, the playroom was buzzing as everyone prepared for April Showers by decorating some fabulous umbrellas. Izayah decorated his mom’s umbrella, Liam went full Van Gogh with his umbrella, and Brianna inspired nature to bring a little color to the gloomy weather by painting a beautiful rainbow on her umbrella. Meanwhile, Sayla showed everyone that it wasn’t just her slippers that were stylish—her umbrella decorating skills were post-modern and unique! What with all these open umbrellas floating around, it’s a good thing no one in the house is superstitious…

Submitted by Federica von Erb

Carnival for a Cause

On Sunday, April 14th, the Youth Advisory Council threw an incredibly cheerful Carnival Party, complete with face painting, temporary tattoos, a ring toss, candy station, sand art, photo booth and more!

The YAC is comprised of a small group of students from various NYC high schools that come together to support families at the House through their schools and local communities. The Youth Advisory Council did a wonderful job at manning the stations and engaging the children, many coming back to play the ring toss and bowling game again and again. Happy faces and lively music flooded the playroom, creating an afternoon the children will remember fondly.

Submitted by Coli Bacharach

Egg’stravaganza!

It was a fun filled Easter Sunday at the House! Several Corporate and Community groups donated over 2, 000 eggs, candy and chocolate bunnies to make this a special holiday at the House. While volunteers served the families dinner the children were invited to pick out an Easter Basket and Easter Cookie or Chocolate Treat. This was not an easy task since there were so many shapes, colors and types of baskets to choose from and so many goodies to pick from.

While the families were finishing dinner, the Volunteers and Staff were busy hiding eggs all over the House in the Playroom, Lobby and Living Room. There were more eggs than hiding places! There wasn’t a spot in the house that wasn’t covered in brightly colored eggs. At 6:30 the kids were given the OK to start their hunt, and what a scramble of a start it was -- they went in all directions. It was a mad race to get as many eggs as they possibly could and they were experts at filling the baskets and shopping bags to the top with eggs filled with candy and toys. From the youngest child to the adults, smiles of joy filled the House.

Submitted By Helena Russo

Sock Hop!

What a wonderful time everyone had at the Monday Night Team’s annual sock hop! One of the Monday Night Team members, Shelly, puts on this event every year and it is a big hit at the house! The night started out with a delicious dinner in the dining room that consisted of fried chicken, mac and cheese, and vegetables.

Once things were winding down in the dining room, a group from the Stardust Diner came in to hype everyone up for the sock hop party. They brought in pink scarves, slap bracelets, sunglasses and more to get everyone pumped! They encouraged everyone to join them downstairs for dancing, games, face painting, photo booth and lots of sweet treats! The group from Stardust Diner even brought in fun stuffed animals as prizes for different games they put together. It was so special to see the kids playing together in the living room and all of the families had so much fun dancing the night away!

Submitted by Kelly Quane

Family, Food, FIESTA!

On Sunday, May 5 (aka Cinco de Mayo!!!), Josie Michelle Events transformed the dining room into a fiesta-themed dance hall fully decorated with sombreros, llamas, cactuses, and piñatas. Friends and family members of Josie and Michelle served the families a delicious catered taco buffet and also set up a beautiful display of Mexican sodas/juices and a table full of sweets!

After dinner, the kids enjoyed a fun dance party, which included fan favorite “Baby Shark” and the “Macarena”. When the fiesta ended at the end of the night, the kids reluctantly went home, carrying the goodie bags filled with hygiene kits from Josie and Michelle and the fun mini piñatas that they made with the Sunday night team.

Submitted by Kelly Chu

Floral Arrangements!

The House prepared for Mother’s Day with the Tuesday Night Team on May 7th by creating beautiful floral arrangements in glass vases and planting marigolds into miniature plastic bottle planters. The kids were able to pick from a variety of colorful roses, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, and more. The Tuesday Night Team members helped the kids cut the flowers and arrange them into stunning bouquets in the round glass fishbowls.

While some kids surprised their mothers with the flowers, other decided to arrange the flowers with their moms as part of a group activity. The families love this event and look forward to it every year!

On the other side of the playroom, Barbara and a few other Tuesday night team members helped the kids fill plastic bottle planters with dirt and marigold seeds to gift to the mothers of the House. We hope the flowers grow as much as the kids’ love for their mothers do!

Submitted by Kelly Chu