NIA Kicks Off Christmas Season with a Series of Neighborhood Tree Lightings

NIA Community Services Network teamed up with State Senator Andrew Gounardes and City Council Member Justin Brannan to host a series of Christmas Tree Lightings last week at Dyker Park, Shore Road Park Gazebo, and the Investors Bank Dyker Heights branch.

Each evening event, held on December 4th-6th, brought 100 community goers to celebrate with Santa, hot chocolate, cookies, holiday music, and a number of talented carolers from NIA at PS 229, IS 30, PS/IS 121, and PS 186, as well as the Guild for Exceptional Children and the Xaverian Chorus. Attendees braved the cold to celebrate together as a community and spread the holiday cheer.

This marked NIA’s first-time hosting Christmas Tree Lightings for the community, in a year full of firsts for the organization! Most recently, NIA hosted the Annual Owl’s Head Park Halloween Festival with Gounardes and Brannan.

“We are so pleased to partner again with Senator Andrew Gounardes and Council Member Justin Brannan to continue this tradition of Christmas Tree Lightings for the community. We’re also proud to bring this tradition to Dyker Park for the first time with the support of our co-sponsors the Dyker Heights Civic Association,” said Mary Anne Cino, CEO of NIA.

Other notable attendees included NIA President Mike Bove, State Assembly Member Mathylde Frontus, 68th Precinct Commanding Officer Captain Robert Conwell, Brooklyn Cyclones mascot Sandy the Seagull, and Senior Vice President Ana Oliveira and President and COO Domenick A. Cama from Investors Bank, which sponsored the third Christmas Tree Lighting on Friday, December 6th.

About NIA Community Services Network

Since 1981, NIA Community Services Network has been actively engaged in creating solutions that address the problems our communities face throughout New York City. NIA currently serves nearly 9,000 thousand children, seniors, and families through access to free after-school programs, events, family guidance, parent education, literacy initiatives, and community assistance and referral services for seniors, veterans, and community members in need.

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