mental health awareness

Supporting Newcomers to Ithaca

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The Sophie Fund’s 2025 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign collected $1,119.00 for the Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR) organization. The campaign was spearheaded by several Cornell University student organizations: RISEUP Cornell; Cornell Circle K; Pre-Professional Association Towards Careers in Health (PATCH); Alpha Phi Omega Gamma Chapter, and Hotel Graduate Student Organization. Student leaders presented the donation check to IWR Executive Director Casey Verderosa at a luncheon at the Statler Hotel on February 20.

IWR Executive Director Casey Verderosa receives the “Cupcake Button” fundraising check

“RISEUP volunteered to support IWR because any help towards organizations that support refugees is crucial in this current political climate,” said Harmony Guan, RISEUP’s mental health committee lead.

“It is a great cause and a way to get the community together to collectively support and spread awareness,” she added. RISEUP stands for Realizing Integration, Support, and Education for Underserved Populations.

Click here to make a donation to Ithaca Welcomes Refugees

“We really appreciate everything that you all are doing,” Verderosa told the gathering. “Thank you for highlighting this issue and giving it attention. It’s really needed at this time.”

In the past 10 years, Verderosa said, IWR has aided more than 250 refugees from more than 15 countries. The organization helps them find housing and provides them with furniture collected in donation drives, linens and other housewares, and a two-week supply of basic groceries.

IWR operates “response projects” to assist refugees in their self-stated resettlement goals, most commonly finding jobs, enrolling children in school, taking English classes and driving lessons, and locating medical care.

IWR runs the Global Roots Play School to provide a nurturing environment for preschool age children while caregivers work, go to English classes, and perform other resettlement tasks.

IWR was established in December 2015 as an all-volunteer organization responding to the global displacement crisis in support of Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga, a federally designated refugee resettlement agency. IWR then increased its operations in 2021 after Catholic Charities closed its resettlement effort due to reduced refugee flows during the first Trump administration and the Covid-19 pandemic.

IWR holds new volunteer orientation sessions two to three times per year for needs ranging from supporting home move-ins, organizing donations drives, driving and/or accompanying newcomers to appointments, childcare, and interpreting. Volunteers are also sought for helping with events, communications, and fundraising.

Volunteer with IWR: Fill out an online form here and be contacted about future orientation sessions.

Donate items to IWR: Contact IWR donations team at welcome.home@ithacawelcomesrefugees.org.

Cornell students supporting Ithaca Welcomes Refugees

Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, thanked Verderosa for IWR’s work and expressed appreciation for the student organizations’ efforts to support IWR’s mission.

“The federal government’s crackdown on immigration has created fear and anxiety even for people who are legally in the United States,” said MacLeod. “Ithaca Welcomes Refugees provides practical support to new arrivals, but just as important it sends them a message of solidarity and compassion. Acts of kindness large and small benefit the mental health of the greater community.”

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.

Since 2017, the Cupcake Button campaigns have raised a total of $8,786.66 for nine 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; Ithaca Free Clinic; and Ithaca Welcomes Refugees.

UPDATED Tompkins Mental Health Support Resources

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The Mental Health Support and Crisis Services resource for Tompkins County has been updated for 2026.

The guide is a hyperlinked listing of essential local services for suicide prevention, psychotherapy, addiction recovery, sexual assault and domestic violence, and support groups. Click on the links for more detailed information about available services and programs.

The brief guide is compiled every year by The Sophie Fund in collaboration with Tompkins County Whole Health, Cayuga Health, Guthrie, and the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County.

DOWNLOAD PDF DOWNLOAD SHAREABLE Page 1 Page 2

Click HERE for other mental health guides compiled by The Sophie Fund

“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.”