Pajama party palooza in Elmont

Christiano Marcello, Fenol C. LaRock and Antonio Marcello, executive directors of Elmont-based nonprofit Universal Interactions, have been giving back to their community for a long time. The holiday season inspired them to give back once more in 2023.

The three organized a Christmas pajama party through Universal Interactions and have been providing events and gifts for their community since 2022. More than 300 people showed up at their Christmas party at MBFNI Venue in Elmont on Dec. 22.

“Christmas is family, togetherness and believing in the unbelievable,” said Sonya Jones, a parent who brought her children to the pajama party.

Many families got together for the holiday event, where their children decorated Santa hats and took photos with Santa. There was also a 360-degree photo booth with various party props such as inflatable instruments, signs and colored wigs, where attendees could take photos.

The crowd enjoyed a dance performance by Bianca’s Dance Academy, and singers Corey J and Sebastian Jean-Baptiste performed.

The children all received presents from Universal Interactions in the spirit of the holiday season. The Marcellos and LaRock separated the presents by age group and gender. Santa gave out the presents during photo opportunities.

“I love that (Universal Interactions) gives out gifts to those more in need,” said Kyley Leveille, a child at the pajama party.

There was also a spread of refreshments available for attendees: a variety of cookies, hot chocolate dispensers with marshmallows, and candy canes layed out into heart shapes.

While the party depended very much on donations, a lot of it was paid for out-of-pocket by the Marcellos and LaRock.

The Marcellos and LaRock are also gathering donations for the Elmont Community Center to get built. They say it’s long overdue.

“We don’t have all of the funds together, but with God we were able to get donations together from all the community members,” Christiano said.

The Marcellos and LaRock have been giving back to their community since before they created Universal Interactions. Previously, they held a basketball tournament, back to school drives and toy drives. They finally decided that they needed to create a nonprofit organization to organize all of these events, and thus Universal Interactions was born.

“There’s unity in community,” LaRock said. “And what we’re doing here is trying to create unity.”

The Marcellos and LaRock want to bring the community together, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or gender.

To get this pajama party going, the Marcellos and LaRock went door-to-door asking for donations and advertising the event. This proved effective when over 300 people attended the event.

Many other organizations donated either funds or activities for the pajama party.

Meera Empowerment donated hot chocolate. Shoutcast Digital Mobile Billboard Truck donated an ad truck that was parked out front of the pajama party venue which played Christmas music. Tuff Program provided the 360 photo booth for attendees to have a keepsake from the event.

CGE Lab, Luxe Entertainment and Kristie Foundation each donated toys for the children. Gift of Giving Foundation provided the Christmas tree. Fiesta Time donated the balloon columns which decorated the venue. MBFNI Venue sponsored and hosted the event.

This spirit of donations is nothing new to Elmont, which hosts events like this year round.

“I’ve been in Elmont over 40 years and it’s always been a great, great, great community,” Jones said.