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Local Woman Helps the Less Fortunate Local Woman Helps the Less Fortunate

Amy Rossi coordinates volunteers at the Samaritan Center in Syracuse.

By Arren Cuyler

The exterior of the Samaritan Center.
© 2021 Nicole Aponte

ARREN: The sound of volunteers storing goods for the less fortunate during the holiday season. The Samaritan Center offers a variety of volunteer services, giving those in Syracuse the opportunity to give back to the community.

ARREN: For the past 6 and a half years, Amy Rossi has taken charge as the Volunteer Coordinator at the Samaritan Center. Getting members of the community to get involved with helping the less fortunate.

AMY: “I schedule and recruit volunteers to come in and serve meals, clean up after meals and prepare meals.”

ARREN: Rossi hasn’t always taken the hands-on approach with helping the community, but the growth of her children inspired her to get involved.

AMY: “Previously I was a stay at home mom. My kids got older and grew up, so I wanted to give back to our community in any way possible, and I saw the Samaritan Center was hiring a part-time Volunteer Coordinator.”

ARREN: Aside from their daily services, one of Rossi’s favorite events held by the Samaritan Center occurs during the holiday Season.

AMY: “Every Christmas we have folks from our Jewish community come in and they will financially sponsor the Christmas themed meal. They’ll purchase a gift for each of our guests and usually its a travel mug with a pair of gloves, a hat, a scarf, hand warmers, chap stick, those sorts of things that our guests find it very difficult to access.”

ARREN: Rossi believes that this event allows her to build a special connection with the guests at the Samaritan Center.

AMY: ” Most of our guests aren’t receiving any gifts. They have a lack of support system, lack of family, maybe some of them are isolated from their family. So, we are very important to our guests and our volunteers are very important to our guests, so the gift just makes them feel valued and thought of, which is paramount in someone’s life.”

ARREN: That special bond that Rossi creates with her guests is what motivates her to keep going.

AMY: “A lot of our folks are just wanting the connection with another human being. Just a hot cup of coffee to sit down and to communicate with other people. So, I think that brings me joy, I feel like I’m doing good in the world, and I know this organization is really important to out guests. So, as long as we can keep it going, we’ll be here.”

ARREN: Rossi’s willingness to create these relationships with her guests and hands-on involvement makes her a great person to work with according to volunteer Chase Connolly.

CHASE: “Amy’s awesome, she’s so energetic. Every time you see her she has a smile on her face, she’s running around doing stuff. She could very easily hide in her office and not help, but she’s very hand-on in the work that the Samaritan Center does. You’ll see her helping out mopping the floor, doing the dishes, she’s just kind of a jack of all trades in that building.”

ARREN: Volunteer Tomas Posada believes her organization skills and ability to keep things simple is what makes her efficient as Volunteer Coordinator

TOMAS: “She’s really helpful at setting everything up. We knew where everything was, and how everything was supposed to go. She was just really good at leading the team and making sure everyone was doing their roles and knew what to do.”

ARREN: The Samaritan Center is a Soup kitchen that serves meals Every day of the year, including Breakfast Monday through Friday.
Contact Amy Rossi to be a Good Samaritan and volunteer along with her this holiday season.

Amy: “I think, I think it’s the right thing to do. If someone’s hungry or struggling, you have to be the support system in your own community.”

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The first significant snow of the winter has arrived, signaling the official start of the holiday season. When thinking of this time of year, one may think of the various gifts and treats that are shared between loved ones. However   some within the community  struggle the most this time of year.

The Samaritan Center is a soup kitchen that serves meals to the less fortunate every day of the year, even during storms and holidays. For more than six years, Amy Rossi has been working as the volunteer coordinator at the Samaritan Center. After previously being a stay-at-home mother, Amy wanted to be more involved with the community.

“Lately I’ve had to cancel volunteers because we have so many,” Rossi said. “But usually in January it dies down a lot and every July and August of each year it’s difficult to get volunteers in. But holidays, Christmas, volunteers are banging down the door here.”

Rossi said she thinks that vacations and family time decrease the rate of participation in July and August.

One of the biggest events the Samaritan Center hosts during this time is the annual Christmas dinner.

 

Volunteers have multiple roles at the Samaritan center, including serving food and washing dishes.
Volunteers have multiple roles at the Samaritan Center, including serving food and washing dishes.
© 2022 Arren Cuyler

“Every Christmas we have folks from our Jewish community come in and they will financially sponsor the Christmas-themed meal,” Rossi said. ” They’ll purchase a gift for each of our guests and usually it’s a travel mug with a pair of gloves, a hat, a scarf, hand warmers, chap stick, those sorts of things that our guests find it very difficult to access.”

Helping these guests is what motivates Rossi to continue giving back to the community. According to volunteer Chase Connolly, Rossi’s hands-on approach with the volunteers is what makes her such a great coordinator.

“Amy’s awesome, she’s so energetic. “Connolly said.  “Every time you see her, she has a smile on her face, she’s running around doing stuff.

“She could very easily hide in her office and not help, but she’s very hands-on in the work that the Samaritan Center does,” he added. “You’ll see her helping out mopping the floor, doing the dishes, she’s just kind of a jack-of -all trades in that building.”

Rossi said it’s one way she can give back to the community of Syracuse.

 

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