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.
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
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.”
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.
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.
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.
The 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18 included a Wellness Fair featuring 10 local nonprofits. The Sophie Fund extends its sincere thanks to these mental health champions for increasing awareness, fighting stigma, and supporting those in need.
In remarks at the contest cwards Ceremony, De Boer spoke about her epic 38-mile relay swim the length of Cayuga Lake in August with fellow marathoner Bridgette Hobart. She and Hobart made their swim a fundraiser for The Sophie Fund and dedicated it to nephews they lost to suicide, Rowan and Corey, respectively.
“Rowan did not reach out for help,” De Boer recounted. “Rowan was a very intelligent, helpful, warm, loving human being. Twenty-one years old. If I had to speak to Rowan, or anyone else, any young people, I would say, ‘We know things get really hard, and they feel insurmountable. And many of us have been there. If you can just wait, and just talk about it. So many people care about you, love you, and want to help you.’”
The Sophie Fund provided De Boer and Hobart with plaques commemorating their marathon swim on August 8-9.
De Boer’s message was echoed by Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, an agency that provides mental health training and education and serves as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline call center for central New York.
“We field hundreds of calls every single day from people who reach out for support,” Bloss said.
“This is how this happens,” Bloss added, motioning to the event attendees. “People coming out and paying attention to mental health, talking about our feelings and our experiences were having, learning about the resources in our community. This is what is going to keep people alive, having these really tough conversations.”
National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County
Another speaker was Leila Wilmers, development director for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, a nonprofit that is the recipient of The Sophie Fund’s 2025 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign supporting community mental health.
“Our mission is to work alongside refugees and immigrants as they resettle and rebuild their lives in Tompkins County,” Wilmers said.
“We try to provide a comprehensive support service. We’re there from the beginning when people first arrive. We help find housing. We help through donation drives to get people furnished apartments. Then we provide longer-term support. We operate with a huge network of volunteers and we’re always welcoming new people to get involved in helping provide support for families that are coming.”
Ithaca Welcomes Refugees
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York
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