ORCHID: To the Austintown Rotary and to Austintown Township Trustee Monica Deavers who help keep students at Austintown Local Schools warm when the mercury drops. The rotary exceeded its goal of donating 100 winter coats to students in need through its partnership with Operation Warm and a very generous donation by Deavers, who used some of her trustee pay to purchase 50 coats. All told, the organization was able to donate 104 coats. “I feel every child needs to be warm and should have a coat,” Deavers said. “It makes my heart warm knowing they won’t get cold.” It warms our heart to know there are groups like the Rotary and people like Deavers who have the community’s best interest in mind, especially some of the most vulnerable in the community.

ONION: To anyone who left their pet outside without adequate shelter during the recent snap of dangerously cold weather. It’s irresponsible, and frankly, heartless to subject an animal to those sort of conditions. Anyone who is caught committing this type of act should face criminal charges, have their animals taken away and be prevented from owning pets in the future.

Remember this good rule of thumb from the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County and Animal Charity of Ohio in Youngstown: “If it’s too cold for you, then it’s too cold for them.”

ORCHID: To Boardman-based art therapy nonprofit The Ryan Giambattista HELMS Foundation and to Cadence Care Network in Niles for partnering to expand the foundation’s community-based art therapy services into Trumbull County. While the exact programming available at Cadence Care Network is still being worked out, the move offers an excellent opportunity for the agency’s young clients to express themselves through art and meet their therapy needs. That’s invaluable since many might not be comfortable communicating in traditional ways.

ORCHID: To the officials and volunteers at the Warren Family Mission and the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley in Youngstown who beat back subzero temperatures to prepare and serve the agencies’ annual Christmas dinner over the holiday.

The weather, for sure, factored in fewer people attending both, but those who did benefited from a warm meal and fellowship — much needed for many anytime during the year, but especially during the holiday season.

We’re sure the recipients of the meals appreciated the effort, and we sure appreciate the efforts of the agencies to pull off successful events in the face of such harsh conditions.

ONION: To the young combatants who caused a ruckus the day after Christmas at Southern Park Mall in Boardman, no doubt disturbing shoppers returning gifts and hunting for bargains, and probably people spending time with family and friends.

Seriously, what reason could there be for a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl to come to blows? A boy? An insult? Whatever the reason, they did and now they face a criminal charge of unruliness in Mahoning County Juvenile Court.

The fight that broke out near one of the entrances / exits to Macy’s drew a large crowd and a large police presence; even police working off-duty securing at the mall had to call for help to help quell the disturbance.

In addition to the criminal charge, the girls are are no longer permitted to visit the mall for a period of time. If they are found guilty, the judge hearing the case might consider, if available, ordering each to perform some sort of community service at the mall and / or write an open apology letter for the disturbance they caused.

ORCHID: To everyone who has worked tirelessly to help secure new aircraft for the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, one of the largest job providers and economic drivers in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

The list of people is too long to name, but each one deserves kudos for his / her effort, which so far resulted in the station being selected as the preferred location to replace its aging eight C-130Hs with eight new C-130Js.

And an orchid to the reserve station and its personnel, too. It was picked to host the mission after what we can only assume was a rigorous site survey to assess the station on several factors, including infrastructure capacity, cost and community support, the last of which is in abundance across the region for the station.

But there is still work left to be done. The next step is an environmental impact analysis, which is expected to be complete in summer 2023 before a final basing decision is made. Still, being named the preferred location is quite an accomplishment and goes a long way toward ultimately securing the future of such a valuable asset in the Mahoning Valley.