Three Kings Day Party Brings Families With DCF Cases Together

Three Kings Day is Friday and for a lot of households throughout Connecticut, particularly in Latino households, it’s a day of presents, custom and celebration.

The vacation commemorates the day that the Maji introduced presents to child Jesus.

The festivities received underway early in Glastonbury, the place the Division of Kids and Households (DCF) held a celebration Thursday evening at their pop-up Olive Department Toy Store.

With crowns, crafts, snacks and presents, the Three Kings Day celebration had children dancing and taking part in.

“Now we have this chance to have this house to supply free toys and presents to kids who’ve an open DCF case to households,“ DCF’s Jacqueline Ford mentioned.

All of the toys on the store have been donated in order that households working with DCF had the prospect to take house presents at no cost throughout a Christmas celebration final month.

“We had so many toys and presents leftover that we thought it would be a fantastic alternative to ask households again in,” Ford mentioned.

Two-year-old Elias made essentially the most of Three Kings Day.

“He simply is operating round like a maniac,” his mother Lori Catubig, of Glastonbury, mentioned.

Elias spent many of the evening with a buddy and a toy truck, together with giving his mother large kisses.

“His character is absolutely large. He’s simply the proper addition to our household,” Lori mentioned.

Lori and her husband Jay formally made Elias a part of the household on Nationwide Adoption Day in November.

“The feelings have been operating excessive,” she mentioned.

It got here after Lori went by way of a number of failed rounds of IVF. Then, the couple discovered precisely what they have been on the lookout for within the little boy.

“Met him and simply fell in love immediately,” she mentioned.

Elias was born with a medical complication that leaves him unable to make use of one arm, however Lori welcomed the prospect to make use of her expertise as an occupational therapist to provide him all of the specialised care he wants.

“Now we all know why we could not have conceived our personal – as a result of he was meant to be ours. That is really what we consider,” Lori mentioned.

The vacation gathering additionally means lots to mother Ashley Might-Williams and her 4 children.

“After they discovered that they received to design their very own little crowns and stuff, they have been simply all on board with it,” Might-Williams mentioned.

When the only mother beforehand had struggles with ingesting, she received related with DCF to undergo an in depth house rehab program.

“My children received to see the work that I did,” Might-Williams mentioned. “They belief me as a result of I’ve confirmed that, , I’ve put within the work.”

Now the household is celebrating collectively, having fun with new toys and an opportunity to play.

“This vacation season has shaped such lovely connections,” Ford mentioned.

The Three Kings Day celebration, additionally allowed these households to share within the vacation spirit.

“I would not be right here if it weren’t for folks giving again, and serving to out, and lending a hand,” Might-Williams mentioned.

Ford says DCF has been overwhelmed with toy donations from the neighborhood, which allowed them to host the Three Kings Day celebration. They hope to get extra all year long in order that they will proceed to open up the Olive Department Toy Store for various occasions.