Photo by Dave Warner—Members of the Gram Lorraine Children’s Christmas Program give Little Falls Mayor Deborah Kaufman (right) a tour of the presents collected this year. Forty-five families and seventy-four children will benefit from the donations.
By Ray Lenarcic
What started with a student at Herkimer County Community College wanting to do something after seeing a young boy and girl walking to school during a snowstorm dressed in threadbare jackets and walking in sneakers has evolved into a program that, over the past 40 years, brought Christmas joy to an estimated 25,000 area children. That student, Long Island’s own Kevin Dervin, after I told him to go for it, organized a fundraising drive that generated enough scratch to purchase winter coats for nearly a hundred kids attending a local elementary school. His efforts morphed into the Adopt-A-Child Program, which attracted scores of sponsors who purchased a coat, four items of clothing, and a toy, book, or game of choice for deserving students attending schools in Little Falls, Mohawk, Ilion, Frankfort, Mount Markham, Owen D. Young, Fort Plain, and the BOCES Migrant Educational Program. Adopt-A-Child changed its name to Gram Lorraine Children’s Christmas Program in 2001.
This year, Gram Lorraine is in full swing. Most of the sponsors have been involved for years and include employees from Lexington Corp. (Patti Crozier), the faculty-staff-men’s soccer team at HCCC (Becky Ruffing), Feldmeier Corp., Greater Herkimer Lions Club (Dr. Conigliaro), Frankfort Kiwanis Club (Vinnie Palmieri) and scores of men and women who always purchase more than the required amount of gifts. Coordinators range from faculty members (Zoe Smith) to city employees (Kira Miller) to retirees (Barb Horwald) to housewives (Julie Crouse). They share in common the belief that giving is a whole lot more enjoyable than getting.
In addition to the aforementioned, blessed with the Christmas spirit, there are incredible donors whose generosity has enabled the program to meet the needs of latecomers and provide gift certificates for older siblings. And we can’t forget the places that allow us to collect and distribute the gifts-e.g., Holy Family Parish in the Falls, Working Solutions in Herkimer, and the Methodist Church in Ilion. Finally, kudos to New Hartford’s own Andrew James Snyder. The 17-year-old autistic young man has donated 10 Christmas trees to deserving families for the last several years. When asked why, he replied, “Every family should have one.”
Anyone interested in making a donation to Gram Lorraine can make the check out to HCHC-PO Box 622-Herkimer, N.Y. 13350. Your gift is tax-deductible. Anyone person or school interested in developing a program like ours can contact HCHC Director Kelly Brown at 315-867-3375. To all near and far-Happy Holidays!
R.J. Lenarcic-Coalition Founder