THE ISSUE: It’s Friday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for area neighborhoods. Others are local stories of achievement, ingenuity, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light as we face critical issues in Pennsylvania and stressful developments in our nation and world. All of this uplifting news deserves a brighter spotlight, especially in this year-end holiday season.
Leading off, we were touched by the recent LNP | LancasterOnline article about Lancaster Township’s Dave Costarella, who “three nights a week during the winter months ... hops in his truck and drives through the streets of Lancaster city looking for homeless people who may need help.”
As reporter Enelly Betancourt explained, the 60-year-old Costarella greets those he comes across with, “Hey, it’s so good to see you.”
Then he asks their name.
“You have to look at them in the eye and say it from your soul,” Costarella told Betancourt. “That’s where everything starts, that’s how it needs to be and how it needs to stay. They need to know somebody is glad to see them.”
It’s a lovely approach and, by the way, one that we think would be beneficial in a wide range of daily human interactions. It’s a spirit we need more of in a society where our divisions sometimes emerge even before we have a chance for salutations.
Costarella has been doing his outreach for eight years, and he calls it “My People on the Streets.” Last winter, he helped about 50 homeless individuals each night that he was out.
“Three nights a week from mid-December through April, he loads up his small pickup truck with clothing, backpacks and blankets to give to people sleeping outdoors,” Betancourt reported. “He said so far this month he has distributed more than 20 sleeping bags and 50 blankets, along with gloves, hats and toiletries.”
Costarella stresses that he can’t change lives, but it’s clear he’s improving them, one overnight human contact at a time. And who’s to say that even the smallest show of kindness might not be what someone needs to get through another night, week or month? That’s its own kind of changing outcomes for the better.
There were 526 homeless individuals in Lancaster County during the last official count, which was made last January, says Deb Jones, director of human services for the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority, which oversees the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition.
Many groups and individuals work formally and informally to help those with no place to go. Costarella’s efforts, representing one angel among many, do not go unnoticed.
“I appreciate the wonderful work Dave is doing to address the needs of the unsheltered,” Jones told LNP | LancasterOnline.
It’s important work — done on icy-cold dark nights — that we should all appreciate, and be inspired by, and not just in this holiday season of goodwill.
In other good things:
— Quilts of Valor, a group within the Red Rose Quilters Guild, gave red, white and blue quilts to six Lancaster County veterans during a ceremony earlier this month at Hosanna Christian Fellowship Church in Lititz, LNP | LancasterOnline reported.
Those who received quilts were U.S. Army veterans Charles Bard, Ed Bookman and Daniel Duane; Marine Corps veterans Merle Rothfus and Eric Shellhamer; and Navy veteran Charles Hess.
“I hope they feel love that we made these quilts with,” said Vicki Bowman, group leader for Quilts of Valor. “I think that they all need a big hug — and that’s what wrapping them in the quilt is. It’s a hug from us to them.”
Learn more about the work done by Quilts of Valor at qovf.org.
— The holiday season is filled with so many wonderful little things that make it special. If you haven’t had a chance, check out the “Yuletide traditions” article that was compiled by LNP | LancasterOnline’s Jenelle Janci and featured in the Dec. 17 Sunday LNP | LancasterOnline (lanc.news/Yuletide2023).
With submissions spanning Ephrata, Willow Street, Columbia and more, it highlights seasonal traditions including church services, special ornaments, family gatherings, Christmas cookies, favorite books and, yes, fruitcake.
Give it a read and add to your holiday merriment.
— Finally, Lampeter-Strasburg School District students, employees and community members set a new school district record by collecting 2,230 toys this year for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program, the district reported in a news release.
The campaign got off to an amazing start when Lampeter-Strasburg High School 11th grader Liliana Bacon brought in multiple pallets filled with a total of 351 toys. Meanwhile, Lampeter Elementary School students and staff donated more than 1,200 of the toys.
“We are beyond grateful for the generosity and support the L-S community continuously demonstrates for others,” Jacklyn Potter, program specialist at Lampeter Elementary School and one of the district’s Toys for Tots coordinators, stated in the news release.
Thanks to the extraordinary efforts by all those in the school district — and the many others who donate to and work with the Toys for Tots program in Lancaster County — there will be many, many smiles on children’s faces around south-central Pennsylvania this Christmas.
