Mary Nelson Youth Center founder Mary Nelson is the subject of a new USA TODAY feature. The story traces her path from caring for her younger siblings in central New York’s migrant labor camps to building one of Syracuse’s most trusted community resources.
It follows how a single backyard school-supply giveaway on the city’s South Side grew into a full youth center on South Salina Street, offering daily meals, a food pantry, computer access, job placement, legal counseling, and more, and looks ahead to Mary’s vision for an expanded building with an indoor gym and transitional housing for homeless youth.
As Mary puts it, she wants families “to know they have somewhere safe to go.”
