Jamie Pomilio-Mulcahy hangs posters in businesses along Butternut Street on Syracuse's north side.
/ Matt Mulcahy.
She boldly steps into the darkened interior of another north side corner market. They all have different names like "Family Food Mart", "Number One Convenience Store" or "Mr. Smokey's Grocery". Most of the proprietors of these Butternut Street stores speak Arabic. Their customers stretch across every race, creed and color. Their common bond is need. It ranges from moderate to desperate poverty. Jamie Pomilio-Mulcahy fearlessly walks from one door to the next spreading the good news about the latest Healthy Pet Clinic coming to their neighborhood.
No sooner does she leave another stack of school bus yellow fliers on a store counter next to Western Union displays and just in front of smoking paraphenalia someone picks up one up and tells her how they need to bring their dog or cat to the next Clinic. One white woman explains she has five children and she needs help with booster shots for her lab/pit bull mix. A black man shares the story of his elderly mother and her tiny dog that needs veterinary care. A Latina grabs a flier and flashes the brightest of smiles thrilled that she has an opportunity to keep her pet healthy.
The walk down seven or eight blocks takes Jamie past "Father's Heart Ministries" that does a service in Swahili. The excursion visits a Vietnamese store where English is accentuated with gestures and affirmative shakes of the head to add meaning to otherwise challenging communication.
There are run down walk up flats. A handful of owner occupied single family homes. Small businesses and more people walking the streets that perhaps anywhere else in the city. They stop in the new Dollar General store or the Save-a-Lot. Every business welcomes the posters about the Healthy Pet Clinic offered a few blocks away on the campus of Assumption Church. At the tiny box of a bottle return shop people get hit with the smell of stale beer on the way in and struck by the importance of each of those nickel deposits on the way out. The people waiting in line to return a bag of bottles, that might help put food on the table, made sure two posters went up there.
Toward the end of the Butternut Street walk Jamie passes a group of Sudanese women as she enters the Pavone's pizza shop. Inside the staff is speaking a mix of English and Italian. Not too many years ago the Italian families made up much of the richness of the north side fabric. Times now are different. They too are more than happy to post the Pet Clinic fliers understanding the need to help their neighbors.
The offer to help their dog or cat with an exam, vaccinations, flea and tick treatment and more for $10 is not exactly salvation to lives filled with daily challenges. But, it is a small helping hand that ensures a little more joy in their lives.
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