Families waited beneath heat lamps, standing in a line. Their breath was visible in the air. Someone nearby burned firewood.
The children are eager; they know that inside the warmth of the Brooklyn Homes Tenant Council are boxes full of presents with their names on them.
“We had a list of over 300 children. We have specific itemized gifts for them,” explained Rick Fontaine-Leandry with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE. Along with South Baltimore churches and community groups, MONSE organized the gift and turkey giveaway.
It’s part of an extended community stabilization effort. On July 2nd during the community’s annual block party, gunfire killed 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi. It injured 28 others. It was the worst mass shooting in Baltimore’s recent history.
But as Fontaine-Leandry pointed out, you wouldn’t know any of that from the joy felt now.
“You can see the children smiling. Not only is it just a holiday, but it’s a Brooklyn spirit that’s here. And you can feel it. It’s changed dramatically. There was a lot of trauma, a lot of fear, which is still, you know, prevalent,” he said. “However, it’s been just brought down to a low level because of our presence because of the stabilization… the outpour of donations and love from other organizations.”
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
