Each book was wrapped with bright wrapping paper, bows and gift tags with the hope of bring a smile to each child's face as they reached for their package.  Rebecca Brazzano of Thomson Hine (the force behind this event) commissioned the group to wrap these books with the understanding that this was likely to be the only gift that these children receive and that it should look beautiful.  Some folks were receiving on the job training to accomplish this task, while others were diligently working through their stacks of books in expert fashion curling ribbons and fastening bows.

Below is a collage of photos from the evening.

Clockwise: Phil Crowley, David Caldwell, Maxine Lothian and Ilene Karpf.

Balocco's excellent buffet!

NJCCA President (far right) Valerie Camara of Merck thanks the sponsors (font row from left) Karen Chin of Verizon Wireless and Rebecca Brazzano of Thompson Hine and (back row from second left) Jean Weiner of Haley Stuart, Ana Maria Garcia of sanofi-aventis and Larry Samilow of Update Legal for their support of the holiday outreach event held at Balocco's in Clifton on December 15. Debra Forman of Pinstripe Coaching (back row first left) was the evening speaker.

Husband Bruce and daughter Ayla join NJCCA Board Member Elitza Meyer to wrap children's books.

Chair of NJCCA's Career Management and Transition Committee Michael Prokop and NJCCA President Val Camara enjoy an engaging conversation.

Sandy Cantwell of Stampin Up organizes more than 200 books to help ensure that their wrapping was appropriate for the children's ages.

From left: Joe Muccia of Thompson Hine, Kristi Vaiden of Ernst & Young and Karen Chin of Verizon Wireless get ready to wrap children's books.

From left: Michael Shannon of Thompson Hine, Steve Parker of Ricoh, Evaleon Hill of C C.R. Bard, Derek Nagy of Ernst & Young, Joe Muccia of Thompson Hine and John Tsanas lend a hand in wrapping books for children.

Steve Parker of Ricoh and Jean Weiner of Haley Stuart enjoy networking.

From left: Larry Samilow of Update Legal and David Caldwell enjoy an engaging conversation

Debra Goldsmith of BASF and her husband Mark get ready to wrap children's books.

Rochelle Sobel of BASF and her husband Bill Perisch.

Karen Francis, Karen Chin, Kathy Murray, and Layli Alexander wrap children's books with colorful paper and bows.

BASF colleagues and family(from left) Moira Brophy, Suzanne Flaton-Origenes, Daniel Killeen, Karen Killeen, Mark Goldsmith and Debra Goldsmith wrap a stack of children's books.

Valerie Camara, NJCCA President and Debra Forman of Pinstripe Coaching