Friday, January 17, 2025
The Uniondale Empowerment Resource Center held their inaugural Winter Wonderland to give back to the community during the holiday season. The organization partnered with the Uniondale library to host a holiday celebration with many different offerings for the community.
Santa and Mrs. Claus were seated in the back of the room for photo opportunities with kids and families. A long table was set up on the side and filled with a wide variety of free toys for kids to choose from, including wrestling figurines, Hot Wheels cars and small containers of Play-Doh.
Hot food was also distributed for free through Kappa Alpha Psi, and members of their youth mentorship program volunteered their afternoons to hand out the food to attendees. A face painter had a station in the corner of the room, and kids flocked to the booth for fun designs of their choice.
Vendors set up their booths just outside of the main room in the basement of the library, selling their goods and making their local presence known.
Girl Scout Troop 1570 of Uniondale gave a festive performance for attendees, singing Christmas carols. They first sang their songs with a crowd gathered around them, and then they walked around the room for the second part of their performance. Their singing was met with cheers and applause.
UERC is an organization started in 2024, and this was their first holiday celebration. Monica Mena, the organization’s event and program coordinator, shared that the goal of UERC is “to make Uniondale better.” The group strives to be present and connected in the community, including through holding events like this, according to Mena.
“We’ve wanted to give back to the community,” Mena said. “We wanted to make sure the residents know we’re here.”
The event was sponsored by different organizations, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Long Island American Chamber of Commerce and the Uniondale All Stars Little League.
