Nonprofit Spreads Holiday Joy To Hundreds Of Kids In Essex County – Patch.com

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of United Community Corporation. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Last weekend was a busy one for United Community Corporation. It hosted two Shop with a Hero events and a toy giveaway to reach over 350 families in the Newark and East Orange communities.

The weekend started off with United Community Corporation’s Shop with a Hero event Saturday morning. The Community Action Agency paired up with The City of Newark, Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Quiles to provide 109 children with $100 shopping sprees in downtown Newark. The children and their parent/guardian were accompanied by local heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic – police officers, firefighters, doctors, teachers, elected officials and more.

The City of Newark’s Department of Public Safety provided traffic control and was very present throughout the shopping route, which featured stores like Source of Knowledge Book Store, Urban Source, Game Stop, Regine’s, Nike Store, McDonald’s, and Newark’s Winter Village. Before leaving, each child received a gift bag of donated goodies and their parent/guardian received a bag of groceries courtesy of UCC’s Champion House food pantry and The Community FoodBank of New Jersey. NJCRI was on-site providing testing and COVID-19 vaccines.

The event couldn’t have been such a success without the generosity of its sponsors – Senator Cory Booker, New Jersey Children’s Foundation, Vision Healers, North Star Elite Realty, Investors Bank, Wilentz, Peapack-Gladstone Bank, NJCRI, Amerigroup, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center | RWJBarnabas Health, United Way of Greater Newark, Clinton Hill Community Action, Partners in Health, Audible, Turner Construction, the Vulcan Pioneers, McDonald’s, Melissa Prashad, Everett Johnson Esq., Mark Perry CPA, Dr. Julianne Walker, Dr. E. Asyah Aquil, and Dr. Torian Easterling. The event also received a sizable donation in honor of Craig Graves. Partnerships with the City of Newark, the Newark Board of Education, the Newark Police Department, the Newark Fire Department, and the Newark Department of Public Safety made this event possible.

“I don’t have one favorite moment from the Shop with a Hero event,” UCC Executive Director Craig Mainor said. “The kids’ faces. The heroes’ faces. All the moments really build on each other. The fact that UCC and the City of Newark could pull together and have such a successful event like Shop with a Hero brings so much joy to the community during the holidays and shows what we can accomplish when we work together.”

While Shop with a Hero was going on in downtown Newark, UCC’s Department of Youth, Family & Senior Services were at Vailsburg Park holding their annual Holiday Express Giveaway. In two hours, the UCC team gave out 350 toys to children and their families. The gifts were donated through Jersey Cares, Chosen Generation Church and Habitat for Humanity.

“This event was really important because a lot of parents ran out of unemployment and weren’t going to be able to give their children gifts,” UCC Director of Youth, Family & Senior Services Yucleidis Melendez said. “There were a lot of children smiling after receiving toys that their parents may not have been able to afford. Walking away from this event makes me happy because I know that UCC is following our mission of helping families in need.”

UCC was back at it Sunday with another Shop with a Hero event – this one penned “Shop with an Unstoppable Hero”. This time it was held in the Macy’s of the Livingston Mall and helped families from East Orange. Thanks to a generous donation from Macy’s to the Unstoppable Girls Foundation and UCC, 59 children and their parents and guardians were able to go on a $100 shopping spree in Macy’s. The event featured live music by student talents from Livingston Academy and Newark Vocational School, and NJPAC artist Kim Armstrong. The event was a collaboration between the City of East Orange, Unstoppable girls Foundation, UCC, and Grades for Life. The East Orange Fire Department, Livingston Police Department, and various other heroes participated in the special event.