To thunderous applause and cheers from the hundreds of villagers packed in the John Bryan Center gym on Monday, Jan. 19 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — longtime villager and Community Outreach Specialist Florence Randolph received the year’s Peacemaker Award.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Randolph told the crowd, fighting back tears. “I say thank you to everyone in this room who has supported me. It has been my life’s journey to help those in need — to help all of you.”
Since 2018, Randolph has worked for the Yellow Springs Police Department as a community outreach specialist, providing social services to village residents, workers and visitors, and connecting individuals to material and mental health resources.
“Florence’s life and work are rooted in service, faith and a belief that every person deserves dignity, hope and support,” MLK Day Planning Committee Chair Linda Cox said before presenting the annual award.
“She brings a powerful sense of purpose to everything she does,” Cox added. “She is a voice of hope.”
By accepting the Peacemaker Award, Randolph joins the ranks of past local recipients, inclduing Bomani Moyenda, Joan Chappelle, Andree Bognar, Willa Dallas, Phyllis Jackson and other village activists and agents of change.
“Everything I do in my life is dedicated to Jesus Christ,” Randolph said. “Everyone I help is in my prayers — I pray for you all in the morning, when I’m with you, at night. You all are always covered by my prayers.”
According to the most recent Village Manager’s report, Randolph — as well as her co-specialist Danny Steck — served more than 160 individuals over the course of a single week earlier this month; the pair provided those folks with 44 food vouchers, four bus tokens, seven instances of advocacy for victims of a crime, rental assistance, utility assistance and more.
One of the individuals on the receiving end of Randolph’s aid approached the podium as she was delivering her “thank you” speech.
“Florence is an angel,” the man told the crowd. “She saved my life. She deserves everything she gets in life.”
Following the conferral of the Peacemaker Award, Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration continued with vocal arrangements by the World House Choir and a solo performance by Chloe Richardson; readings of student essays, (which will be published in a future issue of the News); a spoken word performance by humorist and oratory artist Phenom Brown; as well as a speech by the day’s featured speaker, activist and author Kevin Powell.
As is tradition for Yellow Springs’ celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the program concluded with a soup lunch. Owing to the morning’s frigid temperatures, the march that would have preceded the indoor program was canceled.
With longtime Executive Director Mike Montgomery having retired Jan. 9, Friends Care Community is stepping into a transitional period — one in which the nonprofit long-term care provider is asking itself, and the wider Yellow Springs community: How can Friends Care survive and thrive into the future, and what role will the community play in that effort?
The shift comes as Friends Care faces the same financial and structural pressures affecting long-term care facilities nationwide, but often intensified for nonprofit communities that are independent and not part of larger managed care organizations. Board President James Duffee told the News this month that Friends Care’s coming months will be focused on reassessing its services and, hopefully, deeper community engagement.
Duffee, a retired pediatrician who joined the Friends Care board a little over two years ago and became its president shortly thereafter, said the warning signs were already apparent when he arrived.
“When I joined the board, it was very clear that there was a developing financial crisis,” Duffee said. “But a crisis is an opportunity as well.”
Like many long-term care providers, Friends Care has been affected by payment rates, including Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, that have failed to keep pace with the cost of care; as the News reported last year, data from the CDC and health policy organization KFF reveal that Medicaid covers more than 60% of residents in nursing homes, about 20% of people in assisted living and more than half of all long-term care residents in the U.S. Duffee said rising costs and funding shortfalls have affected “all of healthcare, but long-term care in particular.”
According to a 2024 report from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, since 2020, more than 62,000 nursing home beds have been lost nationwide, and at least 774 nursing homes have closed, displacing 28,421 residents. In Ohio alone, 17 nursing homes closed in fiscal year 2023. Nationwide, 46% of nursing homes are limiting new admissions and 57% have wait lists.
Friends Care’s long mission of operating as an independent nonprofit, Duffee said, means the organization can’t respond to ongoing pressures by spreading costs across multiple sites or subsidizing losses in one area with profits from another, as would be the case if it were part of a large corporate health system. Adding to the strain, Duffee said, is managed care, an insurance model designed to control costs by steering patients within specific provider networks.
Particularly with regard to rehabilitation — a service offered by Friends Care — Duffee said managed care often means patients must actively request to recover at Friends Care rather than being referred there automatically, because corporate healthcare systems prefer to use their own, in-network, rehab units.
Duffee said part of the challenge is “right-sizing” the services Friends Care offers. In skilled nursing, census levels have lagged behind capacity; the facility currently operates 59 skilled-nursing beds, including 16 for rehabilitation, but Duffee said those beds are often underfilled. At the same time, Friends Care maintains strong demand for assisted living and independent living, with active wait lists for both.
That contrast prompted the organization to ask what services it should prioritize going forward. Friends Care circulated an informal community survey in late 2023, receiving about 100 responses. Duffee emphasized that it was a “survey of convenience,” not a scientific sample, but said the responses revealed some trends.
“What was important for the community were things like more independent-living units, more assisted-living units, memory care,” Duffee said. Respondents also expressed interest in home-based services for those who prefer to age in place, including home care and therapy programs.
“In general and particularly regarding memory care, in the words of one of the survey respondents, ‘the need will mushroom,’” Duffee said.
The Friends Care board also hired PMD Advisory Services to conduct a market feasibility analysis, aiming to understand what expanding services might look like. The study echoed feedback from the community, finding demand in the wider Miami Valley for additional independent living, assisted living and assisted living memory care.
The PMD study rated the Friends Care campus as a good location for continued investment, citing municipal utilities, zoning, vehicle access, proximity to Miami Township Fire-Rescue and YS Police Department, proximity to parks and recreation and churches and neighborhood safety as its strengths. It also identified weaknesses in the site, including limited public transit access and less-than-optimal proximity to a full-service hospital.
Friends Care currently maintains 11 independent-living residences and 20 assisted-living apartments. PMD recommended that Friends Care offer 20 additional independent-living duplex residences, 12 additional assisted-living beds and 24 assisted-living memory-care beds.
Another PMD study, focused on skilled nursing, recommended a shift toward a for-profit model — an option Duffee said the board rejected.
“We want to remain independent and remain community-based and not for profit,” he said.
The question, Duffee said, is how to move forward without losing that identity — and how to pay for it.
“I believe that can happen, but the pathway isn’t clear at this point, and we definitely need community support to do that,” Duffee said.
To help navigate that pathway, Friends Care contracted with AQORD, a health and human services organization rooted in Quaker and Mennonite traditions; Duffee said the choice of AQORD reflects the board’s commitment to Quaker values, which have informed the mission of Friends Care since it opened in 1980.
In working with AQORD, Friends Care brought in interim administrator Sean Riley to step in following the retirement of Mike Montgomery as executive director. Riley is employed by AQORD and will work with Friends Care on a short-term basis while the board conducts its own search for a permanent executive director.
“[Riley is] a consultant to the board,” Duffee said. “He’s not just putting his credentials on the wall and keeping the lights on.”
Riley is expected to evaluate internal processes and help Friends Care assess new service lines, including whether home-based programs and expanded memory-care options could be developed within Friends Care’s capacity.
“I don’t know what I don’t know,” Duffee said. “So Sean’s going to tell us what we don’t know.”
Any future expansion, Duffee said, will require significant investment, first through renovation of existing space, and later through potential additional units and programming. Friends Care has seen a modest uptick in donations over the past year, Duffee said, but large-scale, dedicated fundraising is on the horizon.
“We’re going to need to do a capital campaign within the next few years,” he said. “But what I’m interested in right now is social capital rather than financial capital. We need people’s awareness.”
Ultimately, Duffee said, Friends Care’s future will depend on whether the community sees the facility as both an asset and a shared responsibility.
“Very frankly, we need to make sure that Friends Care is here in five years, in 10 years, in 15 years,” he said. “We want to remain not for profit. We want to remain independent. We want to remain community-based — but that means the community needs to be engaged more.”
The News will continue to follow up with Friends Care Community as it develops plans for the future.
On Wednesday morning, Feb. 18, at around 8 a.m., firefighters and engines from five area departments rushed to a farm on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, about a mile west of village limits, to douse a fire that erupted near a home that was being demolished.
According to Miami Township Fire-Rescue Chief James Cannell, workers taking down the structure had intentionally set fire to a debris pile near the demolition site.
The fire was extinguished entirely about three hours after responders arrived on the scene, using 3,500 gallons of water, Cannell said. No injuries were reported.
Since Wednesday, Cannell said the incident has been reported to the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency for investigation of an unauthorized open burn.
“Unauthorized burning will not be tolerated due to the significant risks it creates,” Cannell wrote to the News.
“When crews respond to what is believed to be a structure fire, firefighters must prepare for worst-case scenarios, including the possibility of trapped occupants,” he said. “Such responses require substantial manpower and equipment, placing firefighters in harm’s way and temporarily removing critical emergency resources from their home communities.”
Cannell continued: “In addition to safety concerns, illegal burns contribute to air pollution and may violate local and regional environmental regulations. Residents who wish to burn brush or other approved natural materials are reminded that they must first contact their local fire department and obtain an authorized controlled burn permit. Permits ensure that burns are conducted safely, legally and under appropriate weather and environmental conditions.”
The News reached out to the property owner, Charles DeLacey, who purchased the 185-acre farm — as well as the dilapidated barn and home on the property — late last year. At the time of the fire and demolition of the unoccupied structures DeLacey was away, but he regretted the consequences of his contractors’ actions.
“It was embarrassing,” DeLacey said. “We are very sorry this issue interrupted the daily commute on this main thoroughfare.”
As previously reported in the News, the DeLacey and Coppock families are working to retool the large swath of farmland — which went under a conservation easement at the time of the purchase — into a regenerative farm for free-range livestock grazing.
DeLacey said they intend to build a new barn at 136 East Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, which will house the farm’s general store and “other parts of the operation.”
ED. NOTE: The print version of this story that appeared in the Feb. 20 issue of the News incorrectly stated that the fire occurred on Tuesday, Feb. 17. The story has been updated to reflect the correct date.
By Alissa Paolella
Long before it became a summer destination for young musicians from across the country, Friends Music Camp was established as a music program grounded in community life, shaped by Quaker values and designed to support young people both musically and socially.
In 1980, friends Peg Champney and Jean Putnam, members of the Yellow Springs Friends Meeting, created Friends Music Camp as a program rooted in Quaker principles without being formally religious. Since its inception, the camp has prioritized cooperation over competition, pairing daily music instruction with shared meals, group activities and periods of quiet reflection, according to the camp’s website.
The camp, which has been inactive since the pandemic lockdown, is poised to return July 5–19 at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. The tuition cost is $2,400 per camper, and scholarships are available. The camp welcomes young people ages 10–17 from all backgrounds to make music, learn and grow together in a supportive community rooted in kindness, empathy and inclusion, the camp’s website says.
Carol Simmons, a longtime Yellow Springs resident, current board member and Yellow Springs News village desk editor, said the camp was never intended to focus solely on technical achievement.
“Music is central, but it was never the whole point,” Simmons said. “The goal was to create a community that supported young people as whole human beings.”
Simmons became involved with Friends Music Camp after her own children attended. She later joined the board as a representative of the Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting, the regional Quaker organization that has long supported the camp.
“It was transformative for my kids,” she said. Simmons said hearing about similar experiences from other families helped motivate her to support the camp’s long-term continuation.
One of those former campers is Suzanne Hodgkins, Champney’s granddaughter, who now lives just outside of Yellow Springs and attended Friends Music Camp from 1998 to 2005. She said the camp played a significant role in her childhood, particularly during a period when she was experiencing bullying at school.
“If I hadn’t had Friends Music Camp, I don’t know who I would have become,” Hodgkins said. “It showed me that a truly accepting community is possible.”
Hodgkins first attended at age 10, studying piano before later switching her primary instrument to voice. Like all campers, she participated in the all-camp chorus — a structure, Simmons said, that supported the camp’s focus on unity and community building. Personal growth took precedence over rivalry.
“There was no sense of competition,” Simmons said. “Everybody performed. Everybody contributed.”
One consistent element of the camp day was “collection,” a period of silent reflection modeled after Quaker meetings. Simmons said those gatherings reflected the camp’s emphasis on presence and shared responsibility.
“It was about slowing down and being present with one another,” she said.
Hodgkins recalled those moments as especially meaningful.
“During collection, I could feel a palpable divine spirit of love in the room with us,” she said. “It was amazingly powerful for me.”
The same principles shaped how campers interacted outside of music instruction. Activities such as canoe trips, outdoor games and shared responsibilities were structured around consent, respect and accountability.
Over the course of a typical day, campers participate in instrument or voice lessons, ensemble rehearsals and the all-camp chorus. Campers share meals in a communal setting, followed by afternoon activities such as outdoor recreation, service projects or small-group workshops. Quiet periods and reflection sessions, like collection, are interspersed throughout the day to encourage mindfulness and strengthen the sense of community.
Though Friends Music Camp has been held at several locations over the years, its ties to Yellow Springs have remained strong. Annual benefit concerts brought campers and staff back to town, and many alumni later returned as teachers, counselors and volunteers. Simmons said the number of former campers who continued their involvement reflects the program’s influence.
After aging out of the program, Hodgkins spent summers in Yellow Springs while in college, working at the Yellow Springs News in the same bookkeeping role her grandmother once held.
“I didn’t grow up here full time,” Hodgkins said, “but Friends Music Camp is one of the reasons Yellow Springs always felt like home.”
As Friends Music Camp prepares to return this summer, organizers describe the revived program as an opportunity for students to step away from constant digital engagement and spend time in a shared, in-person community.
“If there was ever a time the world needed Friends Music Camp, it’s now,” Simmons said.
While many alumni have gone on to professional music careers, Simmons emphasized that the camp has never defined success solely by musical outcomes.
“Some kids become musicians. Some don’t,” she said. “What matters is that music remains part of their lives — and that they leave knowing they belong.”
For Hodgkins, that lesson has endured.
“I learned that acceptance isn’t just a word or an ideal,” she said, “but that an accepting community really is possible. That is game-changing.”
More information about Friends Music Camp, including its history, mission and current programming, is available at friendsmusiccamp.org, through the camp’s Facebook page or by emailing friendsmusiccamp@gmail.com. Registration is open for students ages 10–17, with early enrollment encouraged.
*Alissa Paolella is a local resident and freelance writer for the News.
At a Jan. 28 work session, the school board continued a discussion of a proposal that was brought forward by district administrators last month: A possible change of start and end times at both campuses, and consolidation of school bussing into one, K–12 route.
If adopted, the proposed changes would begin next school year, coinciding with the expected completion of the district’s facilities construction and renovation project.
As the News reported last month, under the proposal, Mills Lawn Elementary School would operate from 8:15 a.m.–2:45 p.m. for students in kindergarten through fourth grade, while students in grades 5–12 at Yellow Springs Middle and High School would attend school from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. District leaders said last month that the shift is intended to reduce instructional disruptions tied to athletics and other activities, better align staff schedules across buildings as grade configurations change next year, and improve bussing efficiency.
During the work session, Superintendent Terri Holden said the district’s “priority ask” is adjusting the start time at the middle and high schools, adding that the board could elect to consider start times separately from the proposal to combine bus routes.
Board President Amy Bailey summarized questions raised by parents after the proposal was introduced last month. Questions included how bus pick-up and parent drop-off times might change, and whether families with students at both campuses would realistically have enough time to drop students off.
Administrators said the earliest current pick-up times typically fall between about 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., depending on the route and the campus, and that pick-up times can shift significantly from year to year based on how routes are built and how many qualifying students opt to ride.
District leaders said they have been meeting with drivers to explore whether transporting K–12 students together on each of the district’s three buses and running three routes could reduce the overall amount of time students spend riding the bus. At the same time, Treasurer Jacob McGrath noted that the district’s three bus drivers are contracted for minimum hours, so their hours would not be cut under the proposal. Nevertheless, he said that K–12 bussing would likely result in savings by reducing fuel use and wear-and-tear on the district’s buses by reducing daily mileage.
Board members pointed out that because state-drawn bus transportation eligibility maps rely on a home’s proximity to each campus, students in the same household may qualify to ride the bus to one campus while not qualifying for service to the other. Assistant Superintendent Megan Winston said that if a bus is already stopping for a qualifying student, the district would make an effort to accommodate a nonqualifying student in the same household.
The board plans to revisit the proposal in February, and potentially vote on the proposal in March so families can plan for next school year. Until then, Winston encouraged families to continue to send questions and comments on the proposal to communications@ysschools.org.
In other school district business—
• There will be no school for students and staff on Monday, Feb. 16, in observance of Presidents Day.
• The YS Board of Education will hold its next regular meeting Wednesday, Feb. 18, beginning at 5:30 p.m. As established in its January regular meeting, moving forward, the board has planned to hold its monthly regular meeting on the second Wednesday of each month, with work sessions scheduled on the third Wednesday of each month. However, due to board member conflicts, the February regular meeting will be held when a work session would typically be held.
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