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Maimonides donates nearly 50k to churches for annual tree lighting event

December 9, 2024 Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Frank Naccarato, executive vice president of Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Brooklyn, addressing the crowd. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

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BOROUGH PARK — Maimonides Medical Center donated 46, $1,000 grants to local churches Dec. 2, at its 30th annual “Celebration of Light” event, a month-long series of tree lightings held at churches throughout the borough. Its purpose is to provide support to neighborhood houses of worship in their fundraising efforts and parish tree-lighting ceremonies, where parishioners have the opportunity to dedicate Christmas trees to lost loved ones.

Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello with his Service Award commemorating 30 years of dedication to the Celebration of Light program; Brian Long (center); and John DeLosa, vice president of Long and DeLosa Construction. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Celebration of Light, established in 1995 and sponsored by Maimonides, began with a donation to Visitation Monastery to help decorate their grounds for the Christmas season. Since then, the initiative has welcomed new parishes every year. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral are new to the initiative this year.

The event, held in the Maimonides Administration Building’s fifth floor boardroom, brought together the hospital’s clinical leaders with various representatives from churches in the surrounding communities. The tree lightings will run through the end of December.

Brian Long, founder of Celebration of Light (left), alongside Ken Gibbs, president and CEO of Maimonides Medical Center. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Brian Long, founder of Celebration of Light, told the Brooklyn Eagle that the event has clearly taken on a life of its own.

Msgr. David Cassato, Maimonides trustee and vicar for education at diocese of Brooklyn, at the podium. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

“Churches in Queens are doing it. It’s happening on Staten Island, New Jersey — and to think, it began 30 years ago,” Long said. “It’s tremendous. And the simplicity of the whole thing is a tree — a lighted tree and a nativity. Of course, some places do it up bigger than other places. I can see this thing going on beyond my lifetime; it will outlive me for sure.”

Ken Gibbs presenting Fr. Gerasimos Makris of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church a check for this year’s tree lighting event. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Ken Gibbs, president and CEO of Maimonides Medical Center, referenced the antithesis of light, explaining that when one talks about darkness in the world, they talk about the tearing of social fabric.

“It’s also about people being alone, the aging of population and separation of people,” Gibbs said. “All of you as [members of the clergy], the world of faith, your institutions are a central part of our social fabric. And our future is dependent upon our social fabric holding and growing.”

Clergy members and Maimonides executives pose for a picture. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Gibbs continued, “Maimonides has a saying, ‘Treat the patient, not the disease from which they are suffering,’ and we cannot do that without partnership with all of you.”

Maimonides Health, Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serves over 350,000 patients each year through the system’s three hospitals, 2,000 plus physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers.