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As is
her custom, Jacqueline Weld Drake welcomed
the children’s choir of the Casita Maria Center for
Arts & Education to her Park Avenue residence.
Beautifully dressed, the students were excited to meet “Miss
Jackie” who had presents waiting for them under her
Christmas tree and, later, a splendid dinner. They sang Jingle
Bells, Silent Night, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, a
spirited Feliz Navidad, as well as a new anthem, Casita
María Está de Fiesta. “This
is what Christmas is all about“, declared the hostess, “This
evening makes us all so proud. We need a Christmas now and
all throughout the year.”
Felix Urrutia, Casita’s
new Executive Director explained, “Post-Covid, the mission
of Casita Maria is needed more than ever. School, tutoring,
finding a way to success, in all my years working with
students in the Bronx, our work has never been more
important.”
The
annual William E. Simon Scholarship award, in recognition of
academic excellence in a New York Roman Catholic High
School, was presented to Jorge Gabriel Neira Jr.,
who accepted with his mother Maria Jose Chusan-Neira and
his sister at his side. His ambition is to
become a doctor.
Guests
included board members Martha
Bograd, George Corton, Sissi Fleitas, Michele Gerber Klein, Alberto
Mariaca, as
well as Steven Aronson, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Mercedes
Levin, Alicia Lubowski-Jahn, Liz and Jeff Peek, Marc Rosen, and Sabrina
Wirth.
Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, the
oldest Latin charity in New York City, provides high quality
arts education to over 1,000 students each day. Located in
the country’s poorest zip code, the South Bronx, Casita
Maria creates a safe, welcoming community, enriching and
uplifting youth and families, and producing well-rounded
individuals who go on to fulfill their dreams.
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