News & Events
Gifts for Special Children Project at City Tech Honors
Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham for AIDS Work
Arango (left) and Graham
Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham, a pioneer in the area of public health for more than 20 years and former executive director of the Caribbean Women's Health Association, was among those recently honored by the Gifts for Special Children Project at New York City College of Technology (City Tech).
Graham serves with distinction on the New York City HIV Planning Council and oversees health care policy and related services for the Borough President. She is a powerful advocate for the health care needs of all Brooklyn residents and for the service providers who work to meet those needs.
Also honored at the Gifts Project's 17th annual awards ceremony was Alfred Arango, co-founder and executive director of Bronx-based Health Industry Resources Enterprises, Inc. and a former Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Community Development Agency. Arango has been at the forefront of the war against poverty for some 40 years, and throughout his career has distinguished himself by providing invaluable guidance and assistance in the areas of fiscal management and programmatic activities to numerous community-based organizations across the five boroughs, including those serving the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Professor Betancourt
In addition, the Gifts Project saluted the Children's Hope Foundation, a volunteer-based organization that has been working with an array of clinical and social services providers citywide since 1986 to improve the quality of life for young people living with HIV/AIDS, and Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). A longtime donor to the Gifts Project, HSMAI also gives support to the Children's Hope Foundation and other organizations dedicated to meeting the medical, social and related needs of individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Established in 1986 by City Tech Hospitality Management Professor Francisco Betancourt and a small group of caring and committed students, the Gifts Project is one of the oldest and most successful expressions of the College's longstanding commitment to community service. Over the years the project has collected and distributed more than 100,000 gifts to help brighten the winter holidays of tens of thousands of New York City youngsters living with HIV/AIDS.
Among the recipients of the thousands of recreational and educational gifts distributed this year to more than two dozen metropolitan area special care facilities serving the needs of youngsters and teenagers were Brooklyn's Turning Point/Discipleship and the Bronx's Leake and Watts, a foster care agency that was the Gifts Project's first recipient back in 1986.
Turning Point/Discipleship is a community-based service organization that provides a variety of ESL, GED, literacy, skills training, job search and placement, and HIV/AIDS counseling and crisis intervention programs, among other services, to some 22,000 men, women and children annually. Dr. Lenore Hildebrand, speaking for Turning Point, echoed a sentiment shared by the organizations the Gifts Project serves: "I just wanted to thank you and the members of the Gifts for Special Children's Project, on behalf of our staff and most of all our clients here at Turning Point/Discipleship, for the wonderful armloads of toys that we received at the awards ceremony. Once again, it will certainly make a lot of faces shine brightly this year when they open their little treasures."
Suzanne Santos of Leake and Watts added, "Some of the kids always come up to me and say, 'Am I getting this because I am sick?' I say, 'No, this is because we love you.'"
Betancourt, who is retiring after 21 years of service to the College, was honored as "New Yorker of the Week" by New York One News for his work with the Gifts for Special Children Project. The popular cable TV station repeatedly aired its profile of him on several days at the end of December. A transcript of the broadcast is on the station's website. Go to NY1 story →
 |
 |
 |
| Children's Hope Foundation's Scott Cotenoff receiving a plaque from City Tech Professor James Reid | HSMAI Big Apple Chapter President Brian Kotula receiving a plaque from Reid | Leake and Watt's Suzanne Santos, with City Tech Foundation Executive Director Jewel Escobar and Professor Betancourt |
Photos by Michele Forsten
