Q House Celebration Brings Winter Joy

There were toys, every kind of toy, over 2,000 in all. There were remote-control cars and action figures and explorer kits and puzzles and Legos and Slime and board games and magnetic building blocks and light boxes and glow-in-the-dark basketballs and crystal balls, as well as dolls of every age, model, and style.

Under the brights lights of the Dixwell Community‑Q House gymnasium at the first annual Winter Wonderland Celebration toy giveaway on the Saturday before Christmas, there was music booming and people dancing and kids tearing around the hardwood floors, and snow swirling from a snow machine, and cotton candy, and Santa and Mrs. Claus perched on a sleigh for photo-ops.

No tickets were required for admission. On entry through a balloon-festooned archway, partygoers were handed a raffle ticket for the chance to win a flat-screen television or a PC or an electric scooter, or a one-night stay at the Marriott or Graduate hotels, as well as a wealth of Big-Box store gift cards. 

In the hallway, Kendrix Kelly was holding a rocket-building kit. ​“They gave us pizza and sweets, and they let you pick your own toys, and they don’t say what age you have to be,” he said with a certain wonder, as co-host Kristen Threatt appeared. 

“This is everything for me and Brian, seeing all these people, all these kids, happy and smiling,” said Threatt, referring to Brian Burkett Thompson, also his partner in the Eat Up Foundation and Gorilla Lemonade.

Threatt said the event was inspired by his daughter Krystal Pearl Threatt who was born and died on Dec. 25, 2012. 

“I wanted to do something special for her and I wanted to make her proud,” he said. ​“This area has been going through a lot, so we decided to pull out all the stops to show everyone some love, and also give kids a holiday experience they would never forget.” 

In early fall, the two started making calls, bringing Reese McLeod on board as event manager — ​“she made this whole thing go,” Threatt said — and enlisting sponsors that ranged from Yale New Haven Health and the New Haven Fire Department to the Spotlight Social Club and Whalley Sample Shop.

“The smaller businesses, it wasn’t in their budget, but they gave us what they could,” Threatt said, citing Erick Evans, owner of Good Brotha’s Detailing and Car Care, Rashaan Boyd from A Hustler’s Vibe, and DA’W.O.R.L.D. men’s streetwear​’s Hallie ​“Rock” Bolden for their efforts.

By October, the gathering group of supporters was meeting each Wednesday, combing through every detail, from recruiting volunteers, to decorations — Threatt highlighted the event-planning chops of Sikoyia LaChe’ for helping them realize their vision — to the idea of having a separate event in the morning for community members to get the clothes and household items they needed.

At every meeting, Threatt said, was Ray V. Boyd, who was handing out free copies of his book, ​“The Model Inmate,” at a table along the back wall of the gym. 

“Kris asked if I would support and I said without a doubt,” said Boyd who, in addition to authoring ​“The Model Inmate,” an account of his three decades of incarceration, is program manager for the Racial Justice Center at Yale Law School and founder of Next Level Empowerment Program to facilitate re-entry.

“We all understand the importance of our youth having positive role models, and the goal is to come together and share our stories, and stop kids from going into the system, show them there’s another way,” he said, as Diane X. Brown danced the salsa nearby. 

Brown, branch manager of Stetson Library, which is housed in the community center, offered the library for the morning event.

“I grew up right here and when I heard what Kris and Brian were planning, I reached out to them and said whatever I can do to help,” she said earlier that day as community members browsed displays of clothes, coats, and shoes, as well as hygiene bags.

“Kris and Brian are young Black men giving back, and they’re showing by example, as young Black men, this is how you give back, this is how you take care of your village, and they’re getting other people to join them,” she said.

Evidently so. There was Hallie ​“Rock” Bolden of DA’W.O.R.L.D. men’s streetwear contributing upwards of $10,000 in children’s clothes; Darrell Bellamy of TCB Films spending weeks soliciting donations of winter coats; and Tierra Soap​’s Addy Reyes Ramos adding her hand-crafted soaps, including Gorilla Lemonade soap, to the hygiene bags.

Brigitte Cogswell, who was volunteering at the event, said she viewed the shopping experience as an extension of Cornell-Scott Hill Health Center​’s role in the community with its food drives, health clinics, and other outreach.

“They’re able to sense and find out what it is that people need and meet them there,” said Cogswell, standing alongside her daughter, Agape Cogswell, social media specialist for Cornell-Scott, an event sponsor. 

She lauded the inclusion of toys collected in large part, Threatt said, by A Hustlers Vibe and Good Brotha’s Detailing and Car Care. 

“Adding toys to everything else gives it a holiday feel, so it’s not just what you need, it’s special,” she said.

For Alexis Miller, a member of New Haven’s Women in the NAACP (W.I.N.) committee, ​“we’re rooted in this community because we grew up here, and we’re about giving back and supporting,” she said. 

“It’s about understanding that anyone who comes in this morning is a shareholder in this community,” she said. ​“It’s not them to us, or us to them. No one is above anybody. We all have a role here.” 

At the Stetson entrance, Erica Bright, who was greeting families and checking them in with Breanna Evans, sounded a similar refrain. 

“We were tasked with coming up with a list of families that would benefit from support during the holidays,” said Bright, a school social worker at King-Robinson Middle School. 

She said she and Evans, the assistant principal at Ross-Woodward School, do something similar every year, but this was on a different scale. 

“So many organizations and community members coming together, this is something else,” she said. ​“But the goal is still the same, which is making everyone feel welcome and cared for, feel they’re a part of this.”

That rang true at the evening event, it seemed, for Candace, who asked that her last name not be used, as she danced with her kids and her mother by the Christmas tree to the pulsating beat of Run DMC’s ​“Christmas in Hollis.” 

“Awesome,” she said. ​“It’s good for our community, and they did a nice job with the decorations.”

Threatt was standing nearby, a grin on his face. 

“Just beautiful,” he said, over deejay Herman Ham, who was calling out the numbers for another raffle item. ​“No one’s pushing and shoving, there’s enough gifts for everyone, so many smiles and laughing.”

“Yep,” said young Kendrix Kelly, still clutching his rocket-building kit.