Ithaca Free Clinic

The Sophie Fund’s 2024 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign collected $1,055.00 for the Ithaca Free Clinic.

The campaign was spearheaded by several Cornell University student organizations: Cornell Circle K; Pre-Professional Association Towards Careers in Health (PATCH); Alpha Phi Omega Gamma Chapter (APO); and Cornell Minds Matter.

Leah Goddard, Scott MacLeod, Hunter Leach

At a luncheon at the Statler Hotel on March 21, Circle K Co-Presidents Leah Goddard and Hunter Leach delivered a check for the Ithaca Free Clinic.

“Circle K was proud to support the Ithaca Free Clinic through the Sophie Fund fundraiser. Our Halloween-themed sugar cookie and apple cider sale brought our club together for a meaningful cause,” said Goddard.

“We’re especially thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the Free Clinic’s mission of providing compassionate, accessible healthcare, and we look forward to supporting this important work for years to come,” added Leach.

Click here to make a donation to the Ithaca Free Clinic

“Many thanks to The Sophie Fund and the Cornell students for raising such a sizable contribution! We are so grateful for your support!” said Ithaca Free Clinic Executive Director Norbert McCloskey.

The Ithaca Free Clinic provides medical and other health services to clients regardless of their ability to pay. It primarily serves individuals who are without health insurance, or whose health insurance does not cover the services they need.

According to McCloskey, the Free Clinic provides healthcare services to people who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid, are too young to be eligible for Medicare, and do not earn nearly enough to afford usable, low copay and low deductible health insurance plans available through the Affordable Care Act’s Market Place.

In the first eight months of 2024, the Free Clinic provided free health care services to 671 individuals (438 female patients and 233 male patients) in 1,269 scheduled appointments.

Representatives from PATCH, Cornell Circle K, Alpha Phi Omega, and Cornell Minds Matter

“PATCH is deeply committed to supporting equitable healthcare, so raising money for the Ithaca Free Clinic was incredibly meaningful to us,” said Lily Ehsan, PATCH’s community service co-chair.

“As future healthcare professionals, we’re proud to contribute to an organization that provides essential care to our local community regardless of income or insurance status. It was inspiring to see so many Cornell students come together in support of such an important cause.”

The Ithaca Free Clinic receives no federal or state financial funding, completely relying on community support in the form of monetary donations, in-kind donations, and the generous donation of the time and talent of its volunteers.

It opened in 2006 as one of the first to offer both primary medical and holistic care through an integrated model. The Ithaca Health Alliance is a 501(c)3 organization that sponsors and operates the Ithaca Free Clinic. The Alliance has been dedicated to seeking solutions to local healthcare challenges since 1997.

The Sophie Fund organizes the Cupcake Button campaign and the related Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest each fall to promote mental health awareness and raise monies for local nonprofits supporting community mental health. Donors receive a Cupcake Button featuring the image of a cupcake created by Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell art student who died by suicide in 2016 for whom The Sophie Fund is named.

Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, expressed his appreciation to the Cornell student organizations for supporting the Ithaca Free Clinic.

“It is gratifying to see Cornell students stepping up to partner with community organizations. The Sophie Fund is proud to work alongside Cornell organizations to advance mental health not only on their campus but in the greater Ithaca community as well.

“In these challenging times, all of us were especially passionate to support the Ithaca Free Clinic, and Norb McCloskey and his team, true champions of healthcare.”

MacLeod said that since 2017 the Cupcake Button campaigns have raised a total of $7,667.66 for eight local nonprofits supporting mental health: Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; the Village at Ithaca; The Learning Web; NAMI-Finger Lakes; Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca; and the Ithaca Free Clinic.

Mental health leaders in Tompkins County provided information about community services during The Sophie Fund’s 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 19.

Participating organizations included: Be Kind Ithaca; Free Hugs Ithaca; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York; Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; Ithaca Free Clinic; and Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force.

Ithaca Free Clinic’s Norbert McCloskey briefs Cornell students about his agency’s work

Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Norbert McCloskey, executive director of the Ithaca Free Clinic, which provides healthcare to individuals regardless of ability to pay, expressed gratitude for the support the agency receives from the community.

“I have had the honor for number of years now to work with an organization that does all that it can to make sure that people can access the healthcare that they need. We’re able to do that because all of our services are provided by community volunteers—everyone from MDs all the way down to the kind lady who comes in once a week and waters our plants,” McCloskey said.

Ithaca Free Clinic

McCloskey noted the connection between healthcare and mental health.

“Nothing really creates anxiety in the life of an individual than being ill and not being able to see a doctor, not being able to get the care that they need. Whether that care is primary family practice care, or acupuncture, or herbalism, or chiropractic, or occupational therapy, or seeing an optometrist to get the eyewear that they need in order to live a full and productive life.

“You probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that a significant number of people who come to our doors do suffer from a variety of mental health conditions. We are able to help them recognize that, and then steer them toward this vast array of organizations that we have in our community to get help that they need to live full, productive, happy, and joyful lives.”

Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, said that her agency has been able to expand its services beyond its role as a local call center for the national 988 Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline.

Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

She told the Awards Ceremony audience that SPCS now handles calls from 16 other New York State counties in addition to Tompkins County. She said her agency also launched a 24-hour “warm line” for people who are not in crisis yet need a person to talk to, as well as a 24-hour LGBTQ peer support line.

“It is so incredibly necessary. We need to have everyone talking about mental health all the time,” she said.

Bloss pointed people to SPCS’s newly redesigned website, “an incredible resource for mental health.”

“We really just want to get the word out and get people talking about mental health and suicide. Make it not a scary topic. We need to look at it like we look at our physical health,” she said.