The Lower Eastside Girls Club really outdid themselves with their towering Christmas tree this year. Located on First St. between First and Second Aves., across from the Girls Club Café, the tree is a whopping 25 ft. tall. It took two cranes from the Parks Department to set it up. Howard Hemsley, a neighbor and Girls Club booster, reported a heart-warming holiday anecdote that happened while he was preparing for the tree to be installed. “I was out early helping to clear parking spaces for the Parks vehicles to have access,” Hemsley said. “Since I was dressed in old clothes and there is a soup kitchen on my block, a kindly stranger offered me a pair of gloves — I had lost mine a few days before. I accepted them and said thank you. Now, that’s Christmas.”
