Ithaca

Support the Chill Challenge!

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So you thought it was cold outside? Spare a warm thought—and a donation—for the brave souls taking a polar plunge in Cayuga Lake on New Year’s Day to collect funds for addiction recovery.

Let the polar plunge begin!

The 11th Annual Ithaca Chill Challenge: Dip or Dodge! aims to raise $50,000 for Ithaca Community Recovery (ICR), a nonprofit organization that provides a safe, affordable, and welcoming space for people in recovery from addiction.

CLICK HERE to make a donation to the Ithaca Chill Challenge

ICR has served as a home base for the recovery community for more than a quarter century. Located at 518 West Seneca Street, it provides 12-step programs, recovery-themed yoga, other support services, and fellowship every day of the year. ICR helps build a vibrant community of care and resilience.

The Ithaca Chill Challenge has been a beloved tradition since 2015, merging fundraising with fun as hundreds of participants raise money from friends and family. The event includes cake, prizes for the top fundraisers, and awards for best costumes.

Chill Challenge of New Year’s Past

The human polar bears will jump into Cayuga Lake from the Ithaca Yacht Club at 1 p.m. on January 1. Donors decide their participant’s fate: in making a contribution, they either pledge to “dip” them into the icy waters or let them “dodge” the plunge.

Spectators are welcome—”bring a camera,” the organizers say. The Yacht Club is located at 1090 Glenwood Road in Ithaca. The lake’s water temperature is expected to hover just above freezing on New Year’s Day; the weather forecast projects the ambient air temperature around 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the “feels like” temperature around 6 degrees.

Vying for Best Costume Award

“The Ithaca Chill Challenge is a vital part of what makes our city thrive,” said Mayor Robert Cantelmo, one of this year’s participant-fundraisers and an event speaker. “This event brings our community together for a day of fun and camaraderie, while raising essential funds for Ithaca Community Recovery, which is a backbone institution for public health. Supporting recovery is a core investment in the health, safety, and future of every one of our neighborhoods.”

Another speaker is John Rowley, a retired Tompkins County judge who was instrumental in founding the Tompkins County Family Treatment Court in 2001.

“In my experience, a stable, safe space like Ithaca Community Recovery is an indispensable element of long-term healing and restored citizenship,” said Rowley. “ICR offers a critical second chance for individuals and their families to rebuild their lives free from judgment. The Chill Challenge is how we, as a community, fund that foundation.”

Veronica Johnson is the chair of the Chill Challenge Committee.

“This event is much more than a quick dip in the lake—it’s a powerful commitment to recovery in Ithaca,” she said. “For 25 years, Ithaca Community Recovery has provided a safe, non-judgmental space for healing, and the Chill Challenge ensures we can continue that essential work.”

CLICK HERE to make a donation to the Ithaca Chill Challenge

“Friend of Children Award” for The Sophie Fund

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The Sophie Fund received the 2025 Friend of Children Award from the New York Association of School Psychologists at NYASP’s annual conference on November 13.

“The Sophie Fund has demonstrated unwavering commitment to transforming the lives of young people facing mental health challenges,” said Conference Co-Chair Taylor Ayres at the NYASP awards ceremony. “This exceptional nonprofit organization works tirelessly to create a vibrant community where young people thrive by supporting and enhancing mental well-being throughout the greater Ithaca area. Their innovative work exemplifies the spirit of this award by placing children’s well-being at the center of everything they do.”

Ayres cited The Sophie Fund’s “comprehensive approach, which includes implementing impactful mental health initiatives, reducing stigma around mental illness, advancing a Zero Suicide ethos, and serving as dedicated community advocates.”

Beth Taplitz, an Ithaca-based conference committee member, thanked The Sophie Fund for “your compassion and willingness to always be a resource for support whether it’s sharing resources via email, talking on the phone, or paying for professional development for local professionals.”

Taplitz added: “In Ithaca, we have seen and experienced The Sophie Fund’s community outreach first-hand, with students at our local schools and the larger community.”

Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, expressed his gratitude for NYASP’s recognition. He said the award was especially meaningful because his organization regards school psychologists as true heroes on the front lines every day meeting the challenges of youth mental health. He noted that the digital era and the accompanying spike in youth anxiety and depression makes the work of school psychologists even more difficult and necessary.

Beth Taplitz, Scott MacLeod, Taylor Ayres

NYASP’s 2025 conference, “School Psychologists Blazing Trails Together,” took place at the Downtown Ithaca Conference Center from November 13-15.

The Friend of Children Award is presented by the NYASP conference in appreciation of a local individual or organization whose dedication and work supports the lives of children and their families.

Per the tradition of supporting a local charity that aligns with its mission, NYASP also donated $1,258.10 in proceeds from its conference raffle to The Sophie Fund.

NYASP’s mission is to serve children, their families and the school community by promoting psychological well-being, excellence in education, and sensitivity to diversity through best practices in school psychology.

The Sophie Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and enhancing the mental well-being of young people in the greater Ithaca community. It is named for Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell University student who died by suicide in Ithaca in 2016.

At Cornell, a Haunted House for Mental Health

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The Senior Class of 2026 at Cornell University will not be spooked when it comes to talking about mental health. Class leaders recently threw a pre-Halloween Haunted House party to raise awareness and fight stigma, give first-year students a chance to de-stress, and collect donations in support of The Sophie Fund.

Zoinks! It’s a Zombie!

Students braved the rainy, chilly evening and lined up down the block for the October 25 “Haunted House on the Hill” event, held at Alpha Zeta, a co-ed, honors, social, and professional fraternity devoted to the advancement of agriculture and the life sciences.

Many arrived in costumes, such as a group of friends who dressed up like characters in the Wizard of Oz. One student put bat wings on their black cat, who got into the eerie spirit by perching herself in a window of the fraternity house.

Waiting for you

One of the amusements was an Escape Room, which required participants to sink their hands into mysterious boxes for the key to unlock the door—only to be startled to find themselves fishing in piles of sand and tanks of slime. Then there was the Zombie Walk, where attendees made their way through a gauntlet of streamers populated by Cornell seniors dressed as ghouls.

Zombie Walk

“I remember actually being scared from the Zombie Walk, and the zombies were even my friends!” said Alexa O. ’26. “I enjoyed the free roaming actors like the one with the pretend chainsaw,” said Bre S. ’26. “The doctors by the front with the body on the table were super scary,” said Emma D. ’28.

Cornell alum Miguel B. ’24 enjoyed being back on campus. “The haunted house felt like it brought together so many of my friends and people from all across campus for a fun night,” he said.

Scarecrow surgery

Promotions for the Haunted House read: “Come for a good cause and stay for a good time! Get ready for an evening that you won’t forget full of spookiness, fun, and philanthropy. We hope to see you and scare you.” The event was open to the Ithaca community as well as Cornell students.

The organizers said they lit upon the idea for a fun evening as a way of supporting students who may have become stressed in their first semester on campus not only due to usual factors like homesickness and academic workloads but also the sudden deaths of two fellow first-year students.

The organizers estimated that 250 students attended the Haunted House event. It raised more than $1,231.00 for The Sophie Fund, a mental health advocacy organization named for Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell fine arts student who died by suicide in 2016.

Haunted House volunteers

The organizers said they selected The Sophie Fund due to its work in the Ithaca community as well as on the Cornell campus. They said they were moved by the story of Sophie and also wanted to honor the life of a fellow Cornellian. “We admire your continued dedication to promoting mental health in the Ithaca community, especially with the college students. It is our honor to support the fund and its mental health initiatives,” the organizers said.

The Sophie Fund said it was “incredibly touched by this gesture to spread some joy and support mental health for your campus peers and the Ithaca community at large. You make us proud! Thank you!”

Life and Times of an Ithaca Baker

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The Sophie Fund presented Aušra Milano with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18 in recognition of the outstanding confections she entered every year since the event began in 2016.

Aušra Milano & friend receiving an award at the 2024 Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest

“We are constantly amazed at the creations that she whips up,” said contest emcee Gabriella da Silva Carr. “She uses all manner of unexpected ingredients: anything from black sesame seeds, tahini, and rose water; to cocoa powder, olive oil, and orange zest; to putting blackberries together with orchard apples.”

Carr also noted Milano’s creative decorations. “She has made cupcakes that resemble ice cream cones, and others in the form of a cup of coffee where the cup and saucer are also edible. Her frosting can be an extravagant floral arrangement or a simple-but-spooky Halloween look that she describes as a black-and-white photo.”

Milano always appreciated the mental health theme behind the contest. When the contest had to be held online in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, her entry form noted that many people were dying, struggling, or barely holding on. So that year, Carr explained, Milano created the ice cream cone cupcakes reminiscent of ice cream socials “to remind us of happy, hopeful, and joyful times when all was okay. Or at least seemed okay.”

Carr said that one year Milano submitted brown butter carrot cupcakes—her personal favorite—with a message that reflects the true spirit of the cupcake contest: “Simple, humble cupcakes, nothing too fancy, pure comfort and love.”

Milano called the Lifetime Achievement Award “a wonderful surprise,” adding “I feel truly honored and appreciated, it means a ton to me. I loved to bake since a very early age and that passion still continues.”

Milano said that she baked a lot of goods for various gatherings and events when her sons were in school, but since they graduated she had fewer occasions for her treats.

“That is why I am so happy there is Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest,” she said. “It gives me a chance to think about what could I bake next, an opportunity for me to experiment, be creative, and just get lost in a kitchen for a while. I love the event and have great joy participating every year.”

The thing Milano loves most about the contest, she said, is how many young people are involved.

“Young bakers, volunteers, so many happy smiling youthful faces,” she noted. “I think this brings so much important meaning to the event that is centered around mental health and support.”

10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes!

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The Sophie Fund celebrated a decade of Ithaca cupcakes on October 18 with a photo exhibition depicting highlights of the Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest through the years.

DOWNLOAD: “10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes!”

The exhibition was held at the History Center in Tompkins County in conjunction with the 10th annual contest which took place at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Ithaca Commons.

The exhibition featured some notable examples of beautifully decorated cupcakes, as well as posters displaying the Grand Prize and Youth Award winners from 2016–2024. A separate “Lifetime Achievement Award” poster showed the outstanding entries of perennial contestant Aušra Milano.

DOWNLOAD: Photo Exhibition Poster

DOWNLOAD: Grand Prize Winners 2016-2024

DOWNLOAD: Youth Award Winners 2016-2024

DOWNLOAD: Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

The Sophie Fund launched the contest in October 2016. One goal was to spread some joy in the town. Who doesn’t like to bake cupcakes, or eat them, or both? Another goal was to help start conversations about mental health.

The Sophie Fund was established by family and friends of Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell University student who died by suicide in Ithaca at age 23. Sophie was on a health leave of absence from college and working in the town’s restaurant scene. She loved baking cupcakes, and considered becoming a pastry chef one day and perhaps running her own bakery. Sadly, that day will not come. But Sophie’s zest for life lives in on in the cupcake baking contest she inspired. The emblem of the contest is the magenta, pink, yellow, and peacock blue image of a cupcake painted by Sophie.

Including the latest edition, 288 amateur bakers have entered the contest with a total of 1,878 cupcakes between 2016-2025. They delighted the judges with a wide range of themes: Greek mythology, bumblebees, Little Shop of Horrors, sharks, circus clowns, summer campfires, fall foliage, pumpkin patches, Day of the Dead traditions, Tim Burton films, Update apple picking, Ithaca waterfalls, and more. The contestants took home more than $8,000 in prizes.

The event is about more than cupcakes. It celebrates community. It brings together student volunteers from the college campuses, professionals from local bakeries serving as judges, musicians who support the cause, and generous sponsors from Ithaca businesses.

The mental health message is never far from view. A dozen or so local nonprofits create a wellness fair on the sidelines of the contest. The Sophie Fund partners with student groups to operate a “Cupcake Button” campaign each year to collect donations supporting Ithaca mental health providers.

DOWNLOAD: “10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes”