“Beautiful! Keep going!” Lance Schatzman told a 5-year-old painting a pinwheel at the UFT’s Thanksgiving Luncheon for children living in temporary housing on Nov. 23.

Schatzman, a 3-K teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island, was speaking from behind the crafts table he was supervising as nearly 180 children moved from station to station throughout Shanker Hall at union headquarters in Manhattan. The kids enjoyed the dozens of activity tables and an early Thanksgiving dinner of chicken, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.

“Thanksgiving is all about coming together,” said UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell, the organizer of the annual event.

At the end, the students lined up to choose a new winter coat and pick out a new hat and gloves, thanks to the generosity of UFT members who contributed to the UFT Middle Schools Division’s coat drive.

UFT members, both in service and retired, donated 1,000 coats and contributed nearly $10,000. Whatever outerwear is not distributed at the event is given to schools that have high concentrations of students in temporary housing.

Vincent Corletta, an 8th-grade English teacher and the chapter leader at MS 137 in Queens, was a first-time volunteer at the event. As he bantered with a group of elementary students at his mask-making station, he said he enjoyed the event not only because it helped families get warm winter clothes but also because he got to see these students “just getting the chance to be typical kids, having fun on a Saturday.”

Students from the cosmetology program at Queens Technical HS staffed a “Beauty and Glam” station, where kids could have their hair styled or their nails and faces painted.

Megan Pomara, a cosmetology teacher at the school, said the luncheon was an important lesson for her students because they could see firsthand how thrilled the children were at the extra attention. “The social aspect of cosmetology is the most important — building connections and getting to know people,” she said.

One 3rd-grader, showing off her new hat to her four sisters, said her favorite part of the day was having her face painted. The girls made sure that their youngest sister, still an infant, got a present of a teddy bear.

Craylyn Dillard-Skinner, the technology teacher at PS 63 in the Bronx, has been volunteering for five years. What keeps her coming back to the UFT event, she says, are the smiles on the kids’ faces and a sense of responsibility to the broader community of children in New York City.

“It’s important that we continue the work that we do inside the schools, outside — because we know their lives don’t stop when they leave us.”