Page 34 - January 2016

Ray Casiano shares the reindeer he made with a new friend who apparently enjoyed Holiday for Hope.
Reindeer games and more
Holiday for Hope provides another year of life-changing moments for at-risk kids...and a Lodge 7 member
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Amidst the good times, good feelings and goodwill filling the Broadway Armory on Dec. 19, Chicago FOP President Dean Angelo, Sr. spotted the essence of Holiday for Hope. On the 28th edition of this monstrous Christmas party the Dreams For Kids Foundation throws for at-risk youth each year, there was Lodge 7 First Vice-Pres- ident Ray Casiano was making reindeer with one of the children.
“That’s just great,” President Angelo said as he smiled.
“What kind of shocked me, was the fact that I was helping these kids make Christmas cards, and the cards they made were all addressed to their moms,” Casiano noted. “In writing, they were telling how much they loved their moms. That was pure innocence, and as they grow up, I hope that innocence continues.”
Holiday for Hope again provided a day of arts and crafts, sports activities, a performance by the Jesse White Tumblers, enough of Chicago’s finest food to feed nearly 1,800 people who attended and gift bags from Santa for every girl and boy. But underneath all the fun and frolic, a sensation swept up everybody in the room.
Clearly, it was a day for hope, and it’s a day that has brought Dorothy Hillard back for the 28th consecutive year. An original Dreams For Kids board member, the wife of former Chicago Police Department Superintendent Terry Hillard has been at every Holiday for Hope helping kids with the art projects just like she did this year.
Dreams For Kids Founder Tom Tuohy described this aura as a reminder that on any day, anything is possible. And nothing con- firmed this more than the smile that overcame Casiano when making reindeer.
Like everybody in the room, Hillard looks forward to the part of the day when Santa and his helpers start handing out the bags of toys to the kids. But there is something else that has brought her back every year.
“I went there thinking I was going to give those kids part of my world and what really happened is that they gave me part of their world,” Casiano explained. “What they gave me was a bigger gift than I could have ever given them.”
“I really enjoy meeting and greeting the volunteers, the dedicated ones who are still around,” she said. “I want to be known as one of the ones who will always stick with it.”
Prior to the opening of this one-day amusement park, Tuohy addressed the army of volunteers that included Pat Fioretto, the
34 CHICAGO LODGE 7 n JANUARY 2016
attorney who serves Lodge 7, his wife Maria and their three teenagers, with a simple message: “If you have a moment today when you can change somebody’s life, take the time to have those conversations.”
Casiano was one of many who seized the day to do just that. And he not only marveled at the reindeer crafted out of construction paper and few odds and ends, but also at the Christmas cards many of the kids were writing.