Heart of Gold gives magic of Christmas to moms, kids in NYC shelters
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- If you find yourself on 25th between 5th and 6th Avenues, you'd likely admire the fashions on display in one particular window.
Inside you've got an upscale boutique, a vintage shop, and a non-profit, with a heart of gold.
During the holidays, it all transforms into something even more special.
Every gift is wrapped with more than just paper and ribbon, it's wrapped with hope.
Most stores are focused on holiday sales, but this owner is busy playing Santa, or Mrs. Claus, turning her business into a holiday headquarters to make sure moms and children in New York City's shelter system experience the magic of the season.
In the heart of New York City, there's a workshop where elves are busy at work shopping, boxing, wrapping, and giving.
But few have a true heart of gold like this.
"I talked to Santa, and I'm like, okay, sled me down some toys," said Deborah Koenigsberger, Hearts of Gold.
"She's his little elf," Jaz said.
For three decades, she's been the heart behind "Hearts of Gold." This time of year, she's running her own workshop, making sure children living in the shelter system get to experience all the magic of Christmas.
"We work with 11 shelters, and we gather the names of all the children in those 11 shelters, hundreds of children, and we get their name, their gender, their size, their age, and we give them like a Santa bag with four toys, stuffed animals, books, and we packed them, and we wrapped them with care and then we cater the meals from Whole Foods, and we present. So everybody has a Christmas meal, and they have their toys, and moms get gifts," Koenigsberger said. "It's our duty and our pleasure to help who we can. We'll never say no if we can say yes."
That line sums up Koenigsberger and the organization.
It's the true meaning of the season, however, this work is year-round, and they just celebrated 30 years.
"So the mission is actually to help single homeless moms and their children survive the shelter system get out of the shelter system and thrive outside of, you know, a system," she said.
It was her own personal experience that led to the creation of the organization.
"In between home and work was Madison Square Park, which, as we all know, is now a gorgeous park, but it wasn't always a crack-harrowing, crazy place. And there was a young woman. She was 19 years old, and she was sleeping on the earth, on the dirt, with her 3-year-old daughter. And first, you know, I noticed her the first few times, and I thought, okay, that's but I didn't approach her," Koenigsberger said. "But eventually I got brave enough to say, can I get you something to eat, you know? And she accepted the food, and then over a couple of days, I would talk about why she was there. She said she was molested in the shelter, and she wasn't going back into shelter, and she was going to take her chances out there."
The story of that mother and child hit a nerve and sparked an idea. She just needed a little push from her idol who just so happens to be Stevie Wonder.
The song's inspiring lyrics say, "Take the time out to love someone reach your arms out and hug someone, be a king of some homeless one, we are one underneath the sun."
"What actually made me go do the charity work was a Stevie Wonder song. It's called take the time out. It's a little-known song, and it's about homelessness. I said self, you know, Steven wrote the sound for you to take some action, so you better get moving. And that's what really like. That was the catalyst that just I was like, okay, so I can help somebody, even if it's not everybody," Koenigsberger said.
So in 1994, after attending seven nights of Stevie Wonder's tour at Radio City, Hearts of Gold was born.
"So here is Noir et Blanc which is my 35-year-old French boutique," she said.
Running the organization alongside her businesses in Flatiron, Noir et Blanc, and The Vintage, growing both, hand-in-hand ever since.
"Here we're in the Thrifty Hog, which is called The Vintage Boutique. And everything in this boutique is donated, and all the proceeds support Hearts of Gold," she said. "The thrift store came to me because I had a lot of friends who were always trying to give me amazing things for the moms, but they were completely impractical, right? So a fur coat, you know, Prada heels, I'm like, they need more basic things than that."
One donation, one sale at a time.
"Our tagline is Gap to Gucci and everything in between, literally," she said.
The thrift store became a way to raise money for Hearts of Gold, but its importance now extends far beyond the monetary.
"I started a job training program for the moms and their older kids so they would work at the thrift store, get paid a living wage, and help them get the key that got them out of shelter into permanent housing. If you talk to moms about the little things that made a big change or had a big impact in their lives, they're just like, 'You know, Ms. Deb, I was always late for everything. You made me start to show up.' Because I would like to say, yeah, there's a protocol here. And you're coming to work, and you can't look like this," Koenigsberger said. "So all of the things that were just the way I was brought up was, like, presentable, be there, be on time, be responsible, just those things that nobody was instilling into them or saying that it mattered in their world. You know, because a lot of these young moms that are in these shelters, they kind of raised themselves."
To date, Hearts of Gold just surpassed 44,000 moms and kids helped.
One of those kids, now a mom of two, is Jazleen.
She was just 5 years old when her mom ended up in a shelter, and when she first met Koenigsberger.
"I think the change is more determined, and just kind of seeing my mom kind of have somebody be there and be that person for her, it was like, wow, she kind of, you could see her brighten up a lot more for us, for me growing up, it was like, oh, this is a whole other oh, I got a new family," Jaz said. "And just every milestone I've had like she's been there. Even now, to me giving birth to my youngest daughter. She was in the room with me."
It shows how genuine and how real the support is and the impact it can have.
"A lot of what she does is to show you love, to show you how to stand on your feet, to show you that you know living in the shelter does not have to be your story. Does not have to be all of who you are," Jaz said.
From that first fateful meeting all those years ago, through life's ups and downs, and holidays spent together.
"I have seen her stay up and stay in the office, wrapping gifts until like 12 o'clock, midnight, just her by herself, just there, just getting it done," Jaz said.
No one know's Koenigsberger's golden heart like Jaz. She said it's so important for the children they help.
"It's like, oh, Santa didn't forget me. I'm here as Santa knows, where I live, and Santa didn't forget me." Jaz said.
"When I am done delivering toys, I am so full of Christmas. For me, that's Christmas. Then I celebrate with my family. But for me, the just the rush of knowing that we're opening presents and they're opening presents too, that is, for me, Christmas," Koenigsberger said.
Along with each gift wrapped with care, comes a smile on a child's face, and an important reminder to give back no matter the season.
It proves that sometimes the greatest gifts come wrapped in hope, or in this case, with Hearts of Gold.
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