Oh, sister!
The nuns who just recently sold the sprawling Angel Guardian home in Dyker Heights to an unknown developer apparently sent over a cleanup crew to haul away three dumpsters worth of unopened toys from the former orphanage just three days before Christmas, according to the office of Councilman Vincent Gentile (D—Bay Ridge) and a source at the Narrows Senior Center.
Gentile was on the scene for a Christmas party at the center — which occupies space inside the massive building — around midday on Dec. 22 when he claims to have spotted the crew filling up the dumpsters, according to his spokesman. Gentile moved to salvage whatever toys he could by reaching out to local organizations to see who could pick up the playthings, his spokesman said, and some of the seniors on hand even dove to grab the brand-new gifts that were strewn all over the street to give to their grandchildren for Christmas, the source at the center said.
The Sisters of Mercy’s move to trash the toys in the midst of the holiday season was heartless, Gentile said.
“In this season of giving, with dozens of toy drives taking place across the city, to see an entity like the Sisters of Mercy — or, should I say, the ‘Sisters of No Mercy’ — throwing out unopened children’s toys is an inexplicable disgrace,” he said.
Gentile arranged to send the toys he saved to the local Guild for Exceptional Children’s preschool in Dyker Heights, a spokeswoman at the Guild confirmed. The preschool caters to kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Gentile also said through a spokesman that the Sisters should ensure that the mystery developer it chose “should honor the community’s calls for affordable housing and-or a school on the property, as to do this in the cloak of secrecy is not a way to deal with the community in good faith.”
The Sisters of Mercy did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
