Maimonides kicks off 17th annual celebration of light

Let there be light!

The 17th annual Celebration of Light – marked in parishesthroughout the borough as the holiday season gets underway –kicked off at Maimonides Medical Center on November 16.

The program, which started at Visitation Monastery in 1995, hasgrown to 29 parishes. The medical center provides each church witha $1,000 grant to use towards Christmas trees, lights anddecorations.

We started the program with a gesture of regard for interest inthe health and well-being of people in these various parishes,explained Pam Brier, president of Maimonides. We do supportcommunity-based programs, whether they be religious ornon-religious. We look to do things that are good for people in aglobal sense.

Brian Long, of Long and DeLosa Construction, helped fund theprogram when it began in 1995. He is still part of it today. Webasically give parishes seed money, Long said. They take it andwatch it grow.

As each parish was presented with its check, soft Christmasmusic played and guests enjoyed the room’s décor. Connie Barone,manager of patient relations, transformed the hospital’s boardroominto a Winter Wonderland with candles, angels, red and greenconfetti and festive candy on each table.

Father David Cassato of St. Athanasius Church gave theinvocation. We are blessed by the angelic presence of MaimonidesMedical Center, he said.

Brier said being a part of the Celebration of Light is aprivilege. It warms our heart and we hope in turn it warms yours,she told the smiling crowd. It’s a small gesture that not onlyheals the sick and gets them on their feet, but it helps theirsouls as well.

For the 2011 Celebration of Light schedule, as well as all otherlightings around the borough, visit www.homereporternews.com