By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

Normally, the year-end issue of the Star-Review is a retrospective of the year’s top news stories. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, which upended our way of life in many ways, 2020 is a year many of us would prefer to forget.

Fred Rogers, host of the long-running children’s television series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” often shared his mother’s wisdom in times of trouble.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,’” Mr. Rogers said. “To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.”

In lieu of rehashing the events of 2020, we are choosing to highlight the helpers — the people and organizations whose efforts  supported the members of the community most in need and buoyed their neighbors’ spirits.

Read on to meet the individuals and organizations who embodied the #CNYSTRONG spirit in 2020:

CNY Diaper Bank

As everyday essentials became scarce in stores and the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses and led to layoffs, diaper need  has grown greater than ever in the greater Syracuse area. In March, the CNY Diaper Bank created a COVID-19 crisis fund to help meet the community’s additional need.

“A lot of families that were getting by because they had a job are struggling because they’re not getting paid. We’re hearing from a lot more families every day who are scared,” CNY Diaper Bank founder Michela Hugo said in March.

The organization has doubled its diaper distribution, handing out more than 1.8 million diapers in 2020. Thanks to a $10,000 grant from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, the CNY Diaper Bank was able to host a series of distribution events this fall and winter. The Dec. 12 event provided diapers for more than 700 babies. Families also received pajamas and board books for their little ones.

“People don’t realize that diapers are not covered by government assistance,” Hugo told the Star-Review earlier this year. “We just want people to realize that there are a lot of families that struggle each month to afford diapers.”

The CanTeen

The pandemic has been especially hard on adolescents because of their developing brains and their need for social interaction, said Amy Venditte, assistant youth services director for the CanTeen, the after-school center that serves Cicero-North Syracuse High School and North Syracuse Junior High students.

“There’s some kids that are managing perfectly fine and there’s other kids that are really struggling with the isolation and not being able to see their friends,” Youth Services Director Toni Brauchle told the Star-Review earlier this year.

Throughout the spring and summer, when schools were closed, the CanTeen beefed up virtual outreach with an increased social media presence, phone calls and text messages, games over Zoom and socially distant park visits. In June, the CanTeen team delivered cakes to about 25 graduating seniors who regularly visited the center over their high school careers.

“We’ve had some really deep conversations with these kids [about] everything that’s happening in the world whether it’s the pandemic or Black Lives Matter or in June we had Pride Month,” Brauchle said.

To combat the isolation of remote-learning days, the CanTeen began hosting “Hot Spot” learning days on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November.

“We’re still connecting with kids but it looks far different from the traditional methods that we’re used to,” Brauchle said.

Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce

Each week, Executive Director Lucretia Hudzinski dutifully sends upbeat emails to the roughly 400 members of the Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. Her newsletters have included webinars on navigating the business troubles of the pandemic, invitations to weekly coffee talks on Zoom, and even mental health resources for business owners.

On Facebook, the chamber has hosted virtual ribbon cuttings and member showcases to celebrate new businesses and those persevering through the pandemic.

Our sister publication, Syracuse Woman Magazine, profiled Hudzinski in the December 2020 issue.

“We’ve been the connector, the piece that holds people together, and the piece that keeps you thinking about how you can keep reinventing your business,” Hudzinski said. “My favorite phrase is that your business is only shut down if you wish it to be. Because even while people were closed, they were still open for business in terms of their minds and ideas.”

Honorable mentions

There’s not enough newsprint to name everyone who helped their neighbors get through 2020, but we’ll try to squeeze in a few honorable mentions.

• Cicero Town Clerk Tracy Cosilmon: When the governor mandated a reduction in workforce for municipalities and businesses in March, Cosilmon’s office picked up the slack by answering calls for other departments on top of their regular clerking duties, which include issuing marriage licenses, hunting and fishing permits, and managing town records.

“Some of the folks have gone above and beyond to be flexible, and Tracy is one of them,” Town Supervisor Bill Meyer said.

“You can smile six feet away, and that’s what people need. I think that’s why people come here,” said Cosilmon, who was named to the 2020 Municipal Clerks Honor Roll in May.

• Onondaga County Board of Elections: Voter turnout in Onondaga County this year was the highest since 1960, with 237,538 people casting ballots. The BOE persevered despite a number of obstacles: the delay of spring elections, the logistics of early voting and an outbreak of COVID-19 that halted the counting of ballots for two weeks. After the grueling election season, the Republican-led Onondaga County Legislature included a $7,000 salary reduction for Election Commissioners Michele Sardo and Dustin Czarny in the 2021 budget, but Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon vetoed the pay cut.

• Café at 407/Ophelia’s Place: Thanks to a $30,000 operating grant from the CNY Community Foundation, Ophelia’s Place was able to continue providing support to those struggling with eating disorders because Café at 407 — which provides 35% of the agency’s budget — was closed in the first few months of the pandemic.

“Eating disorders essentially grow when they’re happening in secret. We knew that [isolation] would potentially be heightened during [the pandemic] and unfortunately that’s something we’re seeing come to fruition. The community component of treatment is vital,” Holly Lowery, chief operating officer of Ophelia’s Place, told the Star-Review in August.

Unfortunately, the café was forced to close once again Dec. 20, facing a $25,000 loss this year. In the weeks leading up to the café’s final day, the community raised more than $16,000 to close that gap. The café aims to reopen once the pandemic ends.