Dwight “Doc” Gooden came to town Tuesday afternoon and distributed toys and joy to youngsters at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Christmas party for kids in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx.
Children from nearby shelters were also brought in.
The Cy Young Award pitcher of the Mets and Yankees distributed toys to 500 youngsters from homeless shelters in the Bronx and members of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.
“We are providing a holiday experience for youngsters who may otherwise not have it,” said Danny Quintero Executive Director of Kips Bay. “Kids from single parent homes filling an amazing void in their life.”
This was the tenth year that Quintero hosted the annual party for kids that included lunch, magic acts, gift giving from Gooden, and of course the visit from Santa.
Quintero, Executive Director of the Kips Bay Location for the past 20-years once again had volunteers pitch in from the design industry to assist with the gift giving and entertainment. He continues to make the event a tradition with support from the New York Yankees, Ray Negron, Hank’s Yanks and Alfred Zacagnino an independent entrepreneur.
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”184″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”100″ thumbnail_height=”75″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”0″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show as slideshow]” template=”/home/mofosports/nysd30/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/products/photocrati_nextgen/modules/ngglegacy/view/gallery-carousel.php” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Negron, the longtime Yankees consultant to the owner who got his first job as batboy from the late owner George Steinbrenner, also a writer and producer of film, has made this event a commitment and invited Gooden who is also a longtime friend.
“Twelve Years ago, I remember when I came back to the Yankees I was sitting with Mr. Steinbrenner and Tony Bruno the head of Yankee Global. I am happy Tony was there to witness the heart and soul of The Boss.”
Added Negron, “I said to him,(Steinbrenner) if it weren’t for you I would never have a chance to give back and he said to me ‘I want you to always do this for me’ and I promised him that I always would.”
Gooden said, “I love kids. What good is a life if you don’t have an impact on another life. These kids are trying. Give them a chance. They want it. This has always been the Steinbrenner way.”
And the efforts of Gooden, Negron, Zacagnino, Quintero and Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club gave every youngster a chance during this holiday season.
Comment Rich Mancuso: [email protected] Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso