Brown, Helliger, and KIEDC CEO Dillon, with photo of Mae Ola Riddick.
Santa’s uniformed helpers are out early this season, and this year they’ll include a whole class of new police recruits.
That was the good news Monday morning from Lt. Patricia Helliger, who is helping to spearhead the annual collection of toys, food, and winter clothing at the McDonald’s eatery on upper Whalley Avenue in honor and memory of Dixwell social justice pioneer Mae Ola Riddick.
The distribution will take place Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 22 and 23, from noon to 7 p.m. at the New Haven Police substation at 26 Charles St. A new class of police recruits has signed on to help serve as Satna’s elves.
Helliger, Foskey-Cyrus, holding antlers, Brown, Rodriguez, Dillon.
“We don’t turn anyone away, ” said Metashar Dillon, another chief organizer along with top Dixwell cop Lt. Sam Brown. Advanced registration of families in need is preferable. Dillon said already 4,000 people have registered, mainly from the city.
The place to register online is here, Kingdom International Economic Development Corporation (KIEDC), or by calling (860) 255‑4788. KIEDC is the temporary host for the Mae Ola Riddick (MOR) Foundation, which is in the process of finalizing its not-for-profit status, said Helliger.
Rodriguez and Foskey-Cyrus and Dora, of Dora’s Concert Adventures fame.
In addition to the Christmas distribution, the MOR group distributes turkeys for Thanksgiving. It headquarters itself at the police substation, which was the unofficial headquarters of Mae Ola Riddick’s also unofficial yet potent self-help and social justice advocacy network.
Riddick, known as “the chair lady,” died last year at age 71. SHe had inspired and mentored Helliger, Dillon, and a new crew of social services-minded neighbors and volunteers to carry on in her image.
On Monday, the three primo helpers along with other red-antler-bearing reindeer assistants, such as Newhallville Alder Brenda Fosky-Cyrus, transferred nearly 500 toys previously bought and stored at the McDonald’s by the store’s owner Joseph Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said he will spend approximately $15,000 this year on toys for Christmas and Three Kings Day and other supports in communities that host his nine McDonald’s franchise stores, including the newest in New Britain. There are plenty of bad things in the world, but this season, it is all about gratitude, and expressions of that virtue, he said.
Click here for a story about last year’s cornucopia of Barbies, books, and bats and balls, which were collected at Rodriguez’s Whalley Avenue McDonald’s as well.
Lt. Brown called him “a true Santa Claus.”
The newest crew of Santa’s helpers are in police recruit uniforms. That’s because two weeks ago Helliger, an instructor at the police academy, was conducting a session in cultural training. “I mentioned this [toy and clothing distribution effort] to them and talked about Mae Ola. A couple of the recruits asked how they can participate,” she said.
With the encouragement of the academy’s director, Lt. Max Joyner, most of the class is involved, said Helliger.
All their collection and distribution activities are voluntary and on their own time.
Helliger said some of the future officers, who will be hitting the streets as rookie cops this summer, will be on hand Dec. 22 and 23 for the distribution. Between now and then “they’ll be starting their community-based service early,” she added.
Then Helliger and the other helpers went back to packing Barbie Pilot, Dora’s Concert Adventures, a box of three Squinkies, many copies of each, into bags to be loaded on rented vans and transported to the substation.
Still needed before the distribution days are not so much toys as winter clothing for children ages 2 to 15. “Coats, hats, gloves, and toys for kids. We can never have too many,” Dillon said.
