Even in an economic slump, more than 900 children were able to receive more than $40,000 worth of gifts at the annual North Bergen Children’s Christmas Party last weekend.
Fourteen years ago, Larry Gold, owner of Gold Coast Cleaners on Kennedy Boulevard, began to organize a golf outing to raise funds for the party with business partner Mario Marghella.
The first party raised around $4,000. In recent years, the duo’s fundraising has totaled more than $60,000. Even in this year’s financially stressful times, $42,000 was raised.
“It’s really moving.” – Larry Gold
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The children simply have to live in North Bergen to attend the party and receive a gift – it is not for any special category of kids.
Fun visits
The party lasted from the morning through the afternoon and refreshments were served. There were visits from holiday characters and town officials.
“I thought it was great watching these kids, seeing them get something at this time of year that they maybe wouldn’t have gotten, and now they’ve getting something special,” said Gold. “It’s really moving.”
Reached more people
Mayor Nicholas Sacco said that the party reached more children this year because it was better organized. In the past, parents and their children were told to come to the party at a certain time to receive their gifts. However, in years past, if they were late, they might be told that they would not be able to come in.
This year they were told that the week after the party, they could come to the North Bergen Recreation Center at a certain time to receive their gift.
“By doing so, the numbers were smaller inside, but the number of gifts given out was the same,” said Sacco.
Community involvement
Not only do members of the town government volunteer their time for the party, but many of the sponsors of Gold’s golf function are town businesses.
Some of the businesses that contributed to the party this year were Metropolitan Café, The Vitamin Shoppe, Victor’s Auto Body, Hudson Honda, Champion Construction, Capital One Bank, Shoprite of Columbia Park, and BJ’s Wholesale of North Bergen.
“Despite all of the economic problems in the country and in the area, we really worked hard at it and [we had] great results,” said Gold. “It was just a tremendous thing that the community pitched in and really helped.”
Gold said the reason he kept organizing the fundraiser for the party was because children are the next generation, and without that party, maybe they wouldn’t receive a Christmas gift.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.