The Woman’s Club of Larchmont’s Philanthropy Committee made 25 Children’s Activity Kits to give children visiting their mothers in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility or the Taconic Correctional Facility. Each 2.5 gallon clear zip-lock bag was filled with a pack of crayons, coloring/activity book, writing notepad, a pen, deck of playing cards, packet of tissues and a card game of Uno.  

Children who visit their mothers in these facilities cannot bring anything inside. While missing their mothers, the children may have made a picture or designed a card in school but these must be left at home. Children’s Activity Kits were designed to be used during visitation.

Philanthropy Committee members Mary Ann Mazza, Judy O’Gorman, Georgia Jesse, Zsuzsanna Baan-Jonas, Deidre Winters, and Carolyn Gallaher enjoyed assembling the Activity Kits.

Mary Ann Mazza observed that the young children face “Significant challenges and hardships …due to the child’s separation from a parent. They are deprived of a normal childhood.” By assembling these kits she feels “Working on such a project shows someone cares.”  

Sharon Greist Ballen, Director of Programs at the Interfaith Prison Partnership, thanked the Committee for creating the Children’s Activity Kits “for the children and their incarcerated moms, who are so grateful to be able to ‘just’ be a mom and kid playing and making memories together.”