Author: Renée K. Gadoua
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24, according to the CDC. Know the signs, and start a conversation about mental health today.
Anh Minh Verity was about 7 the first time she tried to fast for an entire day during Ramadan. “Everyone else in my house was doing it and I felt a little left out,” she said. “I felt a little guilty so I wanted to do it, too. I failed halfway through.” Anh Minh, 11, isn’t yet expected to refrain from eating during the holy month of Ramadan. But as the youngest of three children in a Muslim family in Syracuse, she knows that Ramadan is a time to celebrate her faith and appreciate her blessings. “She’s not obligated to…
Rabbi Daniel Fellman, of Temple Concord, and his wife, Melissa, spend time with their children Zachary, 9, Jacob, 7, and Elizabeth, 3. Rabbi Daniel Fellman once asked his son this question on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar: “Were you the best boy you could be this year?” His son responded: “Sometimes.” That, said the rabbi at Syracuse’s Temple Society of Concord, was a pretty good answer from a child. “It’s probably even better than some adults,” he added. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sunset on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and runs through Wednesday, Oct.…
Eric was raised Roman Catholic. Jason grew up Pentecostal Christian. But their homosexuality doesn’t deter their relationship with God — or their son.
By midyear, most of Onondaga County’s 650 spots at on-site educational programs for preschoolers with special needs are full, and some programs have waiting lists. When Children’s Village, an Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES program at East Syracuse-Minoa’s Park Hill School, closes June 30, the waiting lists may get a little longer. Parents and guardians learned of the closure in October in a letter from Carol Feldmeier, Park Hill principal. Parents started a Facebook page in the fall in hopes they could rally resources to save the program, and some parents and providers hoped another site would partner with BOCES. But Colleen Viggiano,…