ORCHID: To the Oak Hill Collaborative under the leadership of Patrick Kerrigan and to Charter Communications Inc., doing business as Spectrum, for their successful efforts in narrowing the digital divide in the Mahoning Valley, particularly in Youngstown. For its part, Oak Hill over the past year has given away more than 500 computers and taught nearly 950 classes on navigating the internet. For its part, Spectrum recently donated $20,000 to the collaborative to add momentum to its noble and highly needed mission. How needed is it? Sadly, the city of Youngstown ranks as the second least digitally connected city — just behind No. 1 East Cleveland — in the entire Buckeye State.

ORCHID: To Scott Schulick for his longstanding gusto and results-oriented commitment to improving the city of Youngstown in a wide variety of domains. Most recently, Schulick was honored with the prestigious Sweet Grass Roots Award from Youngstown CityScape. The senior vice president for investments at Stifel has served as a CityScape board member for years and also used to lead the nonprofit as president. He’s also a fully charged engine powering dozens of other Youngstown and Mahoning Valley organizations and civic causes. Current CityScape Executive Director Sharon Letson rightly praised him for having “strengthened the very streets he walks on.” Residents can best show their appreciation for Schulick’s innumerable good works by taking part in CityScape’s planting day in and around downtown 9 a.m. to noon May 30 to ensure it goes down as the biggest and best one ever.

ORCHID: To Jackson-Milton Elementary School first grade teacher Corrine Tomaino and her 20 students for their spectacular results in a compassionate fundraising campaign for the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. As part of their Kindness Month activities throughout March, the students collected 2,565 snacks to be distributed to children and others staying at the Youngstown homeless shelter. Such an exercise in kindness brings a double whammy of benefits. Clearly, it benefits residents of the Mission who otherwise would not enjoy a special treat. But it also benefits the Jackson-Milton pupils in providing them a real-life lesson in kindness and caring for others in need. With so much going for it, Tomaino and other teachers throughout the Valley may want to consider proclaiming Kindness Month every month.

ONION: To perpetrators of so-called “grandchild-in-jail scams” for bilking scores of senior citizens out of their desperately needed savings. Just last week, an alert daughter prevented her parents from handing over $8,500 to deviant schemers who had called them, alleging their grandson was jailed on an OVI charge and needed the cash for bail. Sadly, this fraud is not unusual and often succeeds. U.S. Justice Department officials said last year they had charged 25 Canadian nationals in Vermont for carrying out a grandchild-in-jail scam that stole more than $21 million from residents in more than 40 states nationwide.

ORCHID: To Youngstown City Council for listening to the impassioned appeals of 7th Ward residents seeking funding for a new fence surrounding the recently renovated and updated Pemberton Park ballfield. Council last week unanimously approved spending $122,259 on a decorative black chain-linked fence to surround the venue. We’re hopeful the improvements will pay for themselves — and then some — by ushering in new contracts for using the field. Already, 103 games have been scheduled there for the coming season. Among those most enamored by the action must be 10-year-old standout baseball player Carmine Mullins who thanked council members and park board leaders for the improvements and encouraged support for the new fencing.

ONION: To the vandal or vandals who have been inexplicably and peculiarly targeting and damaging car-wash vacuum cleaners at ModWash businesses in the Mahoning Valley recently. As they were not coin-operated, no financial gain was in store for the hoodlum or hoodlums involved in such vandalism at the chain car wash in Liberty and Boardman, though more than $12,000 in damage was reported. Clearly, the destruction of business property was purely malicious. As such, we urge nothing short of a clean sweep for the guilty party or parties: swift arrest, speedy conviction and maximum punishment.

ORCHID: To building and construction seniors at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center for their expert workmanship in constructing a new 16-foot-by-36-foot outdoor stage for the Quaker Steak & Lube in Austintown. It replaces an aging and much smaller stage for use this summer for music, community events, and fundraisers in the restaurant’s expansive outdoor yard. Kudos also go to their instructor Ryan Benchwick, as well as Gervelis Law Firm for coordinating the project and Home Depot Austintown for donating all materials for the new stage. The project will reap communitywide benefits for years to come. As JoEllen Mrofchak, operations manager for The Gervelis Law Firm, put it, “The stage is something the whole community can enjoy — it’s a place where people can gather, celebrate and experience everything our area has to offer.”

ONION: To the not-so-sweet criminals who made off with a whopping 413,793 Kit Kat candy bars recently in Italy. According to manufacturer Nestle, the 12 tons of chocolate were stolen after leaving a production site last week. “Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” KitKat said in a statement. The problem is not isolated to our neighbors across the ocean. Cargo theft in the U.S. and Canada increased by over 25% in 2024, with some tracking data showing a 93% increase in theft volume between 2022 and 2024, according to the American Trucking Association. Such data makes a strong case for Congress to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which includes establishment of a badly needed national cargo theft database.