MTA employees at the 161 St/Yankee Stadium subway station are bringing holiday cheer to families in need by providing free toys to children who use the South Bronx station.
The team has also decorated the station’s customer service center for the holiday, along with a creative “Elf on the Shelf” for the kids in the neighborhood to enjoy.
Esmeralda Pacheco, an MTA employee had the idea to try and bring the holiday spirit to her station. When she told her co-workers, they happily help her put it all together.
“I love doing things like this. It just brings us all together,” Pacheco said. “This is my home away from home. I love seeing the kids smile,” she added, saying that it was her main source of inspiration.
Pacheco said they first started decoration last year and wanted to make it a tradition, “this year we went harder than last year,” she said.
Kids are normally the first people to notice the added holiday fun to what’s a normal part of their commute, Pacheco said. Kids are the first to say happy holidays and interact with the MTA workers, so the workers were looking for a way to spread that love.
According to Pacheco, the idea is to approach random kids with their families and ask if they can give away the presents.
“They’ll be happy getting anything, but I just want to see them smile,” Pacheco said.
Maria Cora-Romero, another MTA worker at the station, said she had the idea to pull money between her and other co-workers to buy the presents because she thought it was a nice gesture for kids who might not get presents otherwise.
“It’s better for me to give than receive,” Cora-Romero said. “I’ll see their faces, their smiles. It makes me happy when I give something to the kids.”
According to Cora-Romero, there are a lot of kids who come through the station who could benefit from this. “I have some kids in mind for this,” she said.
“We don’t know if these kids will receive something for Christmas so I’m going to be thinking about them.”
Aasim Robertson has worked for the MTA for 25 years, said he wanted to support his co-workers in helping out kids in need. At the Yankee Stadium subway station, Robertson says there’s a community feel. “It’s my home,” he added.
“It’s about bringing joy to these kids who wouldn’t normally have it,” Robertson said.
Reach Lesley Cosme Torres at lcosmetorres@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
