SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Upon first glance, Scott Upham and Tammy Schuh may seem like your average Strathmore residents. Upham works as a housing specialist for ACR Health, and Tammy Schuh is a sixth grade religion, math and science teacher at Most Holy Rosary School.
On top of their jobs, they also have a family to take care of. They are responsible for two energetic boys, 6-year-old Landon and 2-year-old Carson. Yet, even with the stress of the jobs and the kids, when the pandemic began last March, Upham and Schuh saw a growing need in the community and they decided to do something about it.
“We wanted to be remembered as some of the people that made a difference and actually stepped up to do something,” Upham said.
The couple decided to open the Shoppe at Strathmore, a food pantry that they run out of their front porch. The aim of the Shoppe is to help provide food items, such as rice, beans, and fresh produce to people and families in the community who are financially disadvantaged.
Upham and Schuh were inspired to start the food pantry when they came across an article in Syracuse.com about a couple who started a roadside stand with food and hygiene items.
“So we basically took that idea and ran with it,” Upham said. “We decided, why couldn’t we do something like that to help people?”
At first, Upham and Schuh thought that the Shoppe would only last a few weeks.
“We just said, we’re just going to try,” Schuh said. “We’ll give it a week, see what happens. Maybe it will last two weeks, that was our logic.”
However, in a small community, news travels fast, and support travels even faster. The couple was amazed at how the community continued to donate items, which kept the Shoppe alive.
“People saw what we were doing,” Upham said. “They reached out to us and they continued to reach out to us and said you know we’d like to help, what do you need?”
Because of the continued support from the community, what started out as 30 items on one table turned into thousands of items all donated by and for the community. As a result, the couple has helped to feed hundreds of families in the year since they opened. Schuh said that the people in Strathmore feel a strong desire to look out for each other.
“They call it Strathmore Strong,” Schuh said. “I think it started that way. The idea that Strathmore is going to support the people in our immediate area.”
Originally, the Shoppe was primarily receiving donations from the people who live in Strathmore. A year later, the Shoppe is receiving donations from as far away as Auburn.
Upham said that no matter how many days, weeks, or months pass the community continues to show how much they care about their members.
“People show up every time,” Upham said. “I can’t say enough about how great this neighborhood is. I mean, they’ve stepped up in ways that people can’t even imagine.”
Now that Upham and Schuh know they can count on the community to keep donating, they say that they have no intention of shutting down the Shoppe any time soon.
“If people continue to support, we will continue to keep it open,” Schuh said.
While Upham and Schuh are proud of what they founded, their next goal is encouraging others to step up and do the same.
“We’ll help anyone else that wants to get started,” Schuh said.” We’d love to see them all over the city or all over the area.”
If you would like to donate to the Shoppe at Strathmore, you can drop off items at 810 Stinard Avenue in Syracuse. They also take monetary donations through their Venmo, @ShoppeStrathmore. All of the money that they receive goes towards food items for the Shoppe.
