On December 5th, 2022, right on time for the holiday season, Garden of Dreams held a holiday experience for Dariel, a young person from our partner SCAN-Harbor. Dariel, an avid hockey player and fan who dreams of one day playing professionally, had been playing youth hockey with broken glasses for months and Garden of Dreams knew the perfect holiday gift would be a pair of new playing glasses! Since Santa is not currently in the Rangers line-up, current player Chris Kreider was the one to deliver these glasses along with a customized portable Rangers locker. The locker included a full set of playing gear, ice skates, Rangers swag, and to top it all off, Chris gifted him his personal hockey sticks!
We know this night is one Dariel will never forget, but we couldn’t just stop there. Dariel came back to the arena a few weeks later to serve as the “Honorary Starter” for the New York Rangers on Garden of Dreams Night! He was able to stand beside Chris Kreider during starting line-up introductions. What a special holiday season for a deserving young person!