The holidays can be a very busy time of year and UCP of NYC employee Guido Ortenzio knows that firsthand. Ortenzio spent this holiday season volunteering his time to provide holiday magic throughout UCP by collecting 1,040 new coats.
With the help of friends family and business associates, Ortenzio was able to pull together not just coats, but children’s toys and even a few holiday parties.
Together with Nicole Levine and her daughter Vanesa, Ortenzio hosted a holiday party for UCP of NYC’s Children’s Program at Lawrence Avenue. Highlights of the party included the children singing along with a guitar player and singer, balloon-animal making and the distribution of a new toy and winter coat to each child.
Coat and toy collecting is nothing new for Ortenzio, who for the past nine years has also worked with supporter Cynthia Gomez on an Annual Winter Coat Drive for UCP of NYC. Gomez hosted a party for children’s program participants at UCP of NYC’s West End location in early December. Volunteers from Gomez’s dental practice and the Kabbalah Centre helped with face painting and caroling, and distributed to the children there new winter coats, 75 of which Ortenzio and his friends and family helped secure! Over the next few weeks, he will be distributing 300 coats out to UCP of NYC’s programs and residences.
Thank you to Guido, the volunteers and supporters who helped to make the holiday season that much brighter for so many.